Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-06-11
HORRIBLE If TRUE.
A Grave Yard Story from the
Windy City.
WAS GUS CANTOR BURIED ALIvE9

The Hair-Raising Narrative Told by n
Grave Digger-Knocks Heard from n
CONN After 1t Had Been Partly Cow
cred with Earth-what Was Seen Upon
Removing the Lid-Evidence of strug-
gle for Life.
CHICAGO, June 1.-THE Journal prints
the following fearful story:
Gustav Cantor is supposed to have died
at St. Elizabeth's hospital Feb. %. On
that day he became unconscious, and the
physicians gave burial certificate allee-
ing heart failure as the cause of death.
The funeral occurred two days after this,
and it is said that knocks were heard in
side the coffin after it had been covered
with earth to the depth of a few inches.
John Steir is large, innocent-looking
German, who does odd bits of work around
Montrcse and Irving Park, and ocbasion-
| ally digs graves at the cemetery. Feb. 25
last he was passing by the burial ground
when he was called in by Superintendent
| Miller, who was standing by a grave all
alone.
John Steir's Awful Story.
miller looked scared to death, said
| Steir, in speaking of what followed. He
| had thrown several spadesful of earth into
the grave.
| az believe that mans alive, said he; i
heard a noise in the coffin; listen
| ave both bent down oar heads and lis
| tened as intently as we could As I'm a
| living man we heard a sound as if some
one was knocking on the coffin lid The
knocks were perfectly plain, but the sound
| was duh and muffied, because the coffin
was partly covered with dirt. There was
water in the grave and it was gradually
I filling up. The knocks were repeated sew
eral times and then the water covered the
coffin and all was quiet. | suppose the
man was drowned and could not make an
other attempt for life"
Frightened Out of Their Wits.
didn't you raise the coffin and look al
the body?"
"No. Both Miller and were frightened
nearly to death, and when the noise stopped
Miller thought it best to proceed with the
burial But tell you it was an awful ex
perience to stand upon the edge of that
grave and listen to the sounds that issued
from it as they gradually grew fainter and
fainter. l suppose we must have been par
| alyZeu by Tear ana ulu not nave posoessiol
of our senses or we would surely have
taken up the body l.
The Coffin Opened Too Late.
1.-THE next day l saw Miller again. He
was as pale as ghost. He told me that
he had recovered his senses shortly after
left the grave, and that he eXhumed the
body. As he broke open the coffin there
were evidences that frightful struggle
had gone on within it. The man was
twisted all out of shape and his hands
were clntching his hair. Upon his face
was the most horrible expression of agony
that was ever seen. / have no doubt tina,
Cantor was alive when he was lowered t
the bottom of the grave, and that he did
not die until after the coffin WAS covered
up by the earth and water"
MilIer's Partial Denial.
| Superintendent Miller was in a very
nervous condition when asked about the
matter by reporter. His hand trembled
his voice shook, and he turned from red &c
pale and back to red again. He was 10th
to speak of the matter at all, and when hs
did it was simply to deny the story.
Il DID tell Steirs," said he, that heart
a sound from the coffin, but only did il
for a joke in order to scare him"
| Steir, however, makes the statement
that he heard the knocks upon the coflir
lid himself and that he could not hav,
| been deceived