Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-03-21
BURIED ALIVE.
A Sure Method of Ascertaining
if Life is Extinct.
Fire Applied to a Corpse's Fin
ger VIII Raise No Blister.

About once in so often tho ncwspa
pcrs are filed with accounts of prcma
turc burials, an writers with abnormal
imaginations ARE in demand TO paint in
vivid colors tho agonics that must have
been endured by the Ia pies. wrctchcs who
up and found woke Themselves dond. A
fcwdays since such case was reporto in
South Carolina. When tho coffin of
young girl who had recently boon bur
led was cxhumcd the body was con-
tortcd in horrible manner, the finger
nails were deeply buricl in tho pal ms
OF the hands, the face was lac .ratcd,
and tho appearance of tho corpse indi-
Gated that death had not finally come
without fearful struggle 1t was n
good story, aud whether or not it was
"fakc." it will probably start tho takers
OF the newspapers to work, and there
viii be ITO lack Of similar blood -curd-
ling tales for month or two.
A we'll known Chicago physician read
tho yarn referred to, and he was 80
much wrought up over it that he came
downtown to the office of tho Herald
to learn whether the case was duly
authenticated.
There arc plenty of peopi(fmouldcr.
ing under the sod," he said, "who
were buried before lifc became extinct.
but they were never made aware of the
fact. Collins nowadays arc hormcticaly
scaled, and there is not enough air in
one Of them TO bring u person to life
out of trance. The lungs must have
certain amount of oxygen before the
heart will begin to act, and ono full in.
ha'ation would exhaust all of tho
Oxygen in modern ca,kot, and the
lungs would. Of course, be unable TO
take another. All these stories of
fear full suiTerings endured by persons
buried alive are filsei there's nothing
10 them.
"No doubt, bodies are frequently in-
tered whilo life il yet extinct, bu.
tins would no: be the case if everybody
knew of certain infalliblo AMI ALSO
iutcly certain test OF death. Sue, a
test have. Ii has never, so far "a |
am aware, been in print, and the Her.
1M could do no better service to h,,.
manity than to publish it. l was a
coroner once upon time, in ono of the
Southern states. An old colorcd man
had died suddenly, and 1 was called
to sit upon the body aud determine the
cause of death. When l arrived the
man had boon dead twenty four hours,
and his friends in the ncighborhood
were preparing to hold the funeral. |
lmpanclled "A jury; the family of the
deceased testified to the oxtont of their
knowledge; but was unable to find
that the old fellow had any disease
sufficient to kill him. looked at the
body, and examined it carefully. Then
thought struck me, and lighted n
match and applied it to tho end of one
of the fingers of the corpse. Immedi.
atcly blister formed. had the dead
man put back into his bed. applied va
r'ous restorations and today that same
Old colored man is alive and well.
"That is the test. Do YOU SEQ the
philosophy of it! If you arc alive you
cannot burn your hand without raising
blister. Nature, in the effort to pro.
tect the inner tissues, throws covering
of water, non- conductor of heat, be-
tween tho fire and the flesh. If you
were dead. and flame should como in
contact with any part Of your body, no
blister would appear, and the flesh
would be burned. The blood has been
withdrawn from the arteries, and your
body is like so much becfstcak.
CAN you have to do is TO apply
match to any part of the supposed
corpse. If life remains. however little,
blister will at once form. Simple,
isn't it, 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"