Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-11-28
FRANCES LIKE DEATH.
SEVERAL STRANGE CASES OF SUS
PENDED ANIMATION.

SEVERAL STRANGE CASES OF SUs.
PENDED ANIMATION.
Little Doubt That Sometimes People Arc
Buried Alive-Others Have Had Mar
row Escapes from Such n Horrible
Fate-Some Recent Cases.
There is nothing more repugnant to the
human mind than the awful possibility of
a living person being consigned to the
tomb. Nevertheless such cases have &C.
Cured, and, %unhappily, recent proofs are
forthcoming that they still ecu despite
the fact that in most countries precautions
are now taken to prevent premature inter
ments. In England as a rule the bodies
of deceased persons are not buried till signs
of decomposition begin to manifest them
selves, and elsewhere it is enacted by law
that interments must not take place till
three or more days after death.
Nearly three-quartecs of a century age II
somewhat grewsome book was published.
The first section of its formidable title
which is too long for quotation in its en-
tirety, runs, "The danger Of premature in
terment proved from many remarkable in,
stances of people who nave recovered after
being laid out for dead, and of others be-
ing lntombed alive for want Of being prop.
erly examined prior to interment." And
the author submits the following grim
quotation AS a prelude: '"To revive nailed
up in a coffin! To return to life in dark
ness, distraction and despairl The brain
can scarce sustain the reflection in our
coolest moments"
A STATE OF COMA.
Having thus at the outset put his read
ers in q d~readfully uncomfortable frame OF
mind, he proceeds to pile on the agony by
citing numerous we'll authenticated cases
of persons supposed to be dead coming to
life. Several of these owed their restora-
ton to consciousness to the ofliciousness or
irreverence Of friends, who persistently de-
clining to believe that they were absolutely
dead forced liquor down their Threats.
The Hon. Mrs. Godfrey, sister Of the
great Duke of Marlborough, while prepar-
ing for chapel Sunday, fell down to all ap.
pearance dead. In spite of the positive as
surance of the physicians, who declared
her to be ir~revocably dead, her loving hus.
band, Col. Godfrey, persisted in believing
that she was only in a trance.
So she lay till the following Sunday,
when exactly at the same hour as her seiz-
ure, just as the chapel bell was once more
ringing, she awoke. She was not aware
that she had been in a state Of suspended
animation for a week, and the first thing
she did was to scold her attendants for not
waking her in time to go to church. as she
had intended to do.
SOME AMERICAN CASES.
The following one was reported from
Nevada, Miss, Aug. "A, 1888: While the
remains of twenty-three unknown dead
bodies were being removed from Deepwood
cemetery, in that town, superintendent
G. w. Mccain discovered Il body which
was partly petrified, ald from its position
evidently had been buried alive. The body
was that of an infant probably a year old,
and was lying on its face, with its legs
drawn up and the bottoms of it's feet rest
Ing on the coffin lid"
The Philadelphia Press published a re.
markable case, vouched for by Mr.. Thomas
Hooper, formerly of that city, but now a
resident in New York. 1t is that of a lady.
the wife of a musician, who apparently
died in Media some years back. Her body
was placed in a casket and taken to the
church, where funeral services were held.
At the close of a solemn address the min
lister said that all who wished might take
a last look at the remains. Among those
who went forward was a woman, and she,
after bending earnestly over the coffin,
exclaimed, "See, her eyelids quiver!"
Great excitement followed, but a doctor
present ridiculed the suggestion, declared
that life was extinct, and urged immediate
interment. The husband, however, in.
sisted on the application of restoratives.
The wife was removed home, the grave
clothes were stripped off, and within four
days, thanks to continuous effort, she was
quite we'll Six years after her restoration
to life She, while singing at Il musicale,
was suddenly stricken with blindness. and
blind she still is.
; RESCUED By STUDENTS.
! From Orcuh"rg, in Russia. a very pain.
full case has been reported. During the
funeral of IL wealthy peasant the coffin was
seen to rise and the corpse proceeded to get
out. The nfTrightcd priests and mourners
ran off The CORPSE followed, but the
j., peasants, having by this time rc,ained
courage, proceeded to exercise the ghost
which they did so effectually with guns
n pine stakes that they killed the un.
fortunate man, who, it was ascertained,
had previously been in a state of coma.
The funeral of II young woman was
about to take place at Alessandria, Pied
mont, when, owing to the jolting of the
hearse. the supposed dead person was
aroused from the lethargy which was mis-.
taken for death. The bearers in the GENE
terry heard sounds issuing from the coffin.
The lid was torn off, and the young woman
was found to be alive and conscious, though
in a state of great agitation. In Italy bod,
! les are inferred very soon after supposed
death, and a doctor in Rome has compiled
and published statistics showing that thou.
sands of persons are annually buried in a
state of coma throughout Europe.
A man named John j. O'Connor had, it
is alleged, an exceedingly lucky escape
from the dissecting table in the American
city of St. Louis. He being supposed to be
dead his body was identified at the morgne
by his wife. y funeral followed, and it is
positively asserted that he was buried in
Calvary cemetery But, to the amazement
of all who knew him, he was afterward
seen walking about as if nothing in particu.
lar had happened to him. His own version
of the affair was that he was really buried;
that his body was afterward taken up and
conveyed to the dissecting room, and that
the first incision made in his abdomen caus
| ing blood to flow his consciousness, which
bod opt,- baop e,,rpo,,daI ra+,r,,a3 70 bip,