Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1890-03-14
BURIED ALIVE.
A Sure Method of Ascertaining
if Life is Extinct.
Fire Applied to Corpse's Fin
ger VIII Raise No Blister.

about once in so often the newspa-
pers are filled with accounts of prema-
ture burials, and writer's with abnormal
imaginations are in demand to paint in
vivid colors tho agonies that must have
been endured by the hapless wretches who
up and found woke themselves dead. A
few days since such case was re ported in
South Carolina. When the coffin of
young girl who had recently been bur-
led was exhumed the body was con-
torted in horrible manner, the finger
nails were deeply buried in the paine
of the hands, the face was lacsrated,
and the appearance of the corpse indi-
Gated that death had not finally come
without fearful struggle. 1t was a
good story, and whether or not it was a
'fake," it will probably start the takers
of the newspapers to work, and there
will be no lack of similar blood-curd-
A we'll known Chicago physician read
the yarn referred to, and he was so
much wrought up over it that he came
down town to the office of the Herald
to learn whether the case was duly
authenticated.
'There are plenty of people moulder
ing under the sod," he said, "who
were buried before life became extinct,
but they were never made aware of the
fact. Collins nowadays are Theoretically
sealed, and there is not enough air in
one of them to bring person to life
out of a trance. The lungs must have
a certain amount of oxygen before the
heart will begin to act, and one full in
haation would exhaust all of the
oxygen in a modern casket, and the
lungs would, of course, be unable to
take another. All these stories of
fear full sufferings endured by persons
buried alive are false; there's nothing g
to them.
''No doubt, bodies are frequently in
tered while life is yet extinct, but
this would not be the case if everybody
knew of certain infallible and abso-
lutely certain test of death. Such a
test have. 1t has never, so far as /
am aware, been in print, and tho Her
aid could do no better service to hui
manity than to publish it. l was a
coroner once upon time, in one of the
Southern states. An old colored man
had died suddenly, and l was called
to sit upon the body and determine the
cause of death. When ! arrived The
man had been dead twenty four hours,
and his friends in the neighborhood
were preparing to hold the funeral. l
impanelled jury; the family of the
deceased testified to the extent of their
knowledge; but I was unable to find
that the old fellow had any disease
sufficient to kill him. looked at the
body, aud examined it carefully. Then
a thought struck me, and l lighted a
match and applied it to the end of one
of the fingers of the corpse. Immedi-
atcly blister formed. / had the deed d
man put back into his bed, applied va
rious restorations and today that same
o.d colored man is alive and well.
"That is the test. DO you see the
phil osophy of itl If you are alive you
cannot burn your hand without raising
blister. Nature, in the effort to pro-
tect the inner tissues, throws a covering
of water, non conductor OF heat, be-
tween the fire and the flesh. If you
were dead, and flame should come in
contact with any part of your body, no
blister would appear, and the fish
would be burned. The blood has been
withirawn from the arteries, and your
body is like SO much beefsteak.
''All you have to do is to apply a
match to any part of the supposed
corpse. If life remains, however little
blister will at once form. Simple,
isn't III Why, it is so simple that the
most ignorant person in the world can
apply it, and no expert physician could
settle the question of life or death any
more certainly"