The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-07-20
A BRIDE FROM THE DEAD.
TdE STRANGE STORY OF A Low
Bh'S Trance.
Saved From the Cof1n-Husbaud and
Wife Whose Nuptials Followed the
Tragic Scene Now In This City.


Wife Whose Nuptials Followed the
Tragic Scene Now In This City.
From the Philadelphia Record.
"You could get a mighty pretty story
from these folks" said prominent under>
taker, as he pointed at q name registered
among the arrivals at the Hotel Bellevue
yesterday. Those two young people have
just returned from their wedding trip to
Europe. and the experience 1 had with them
may possibly have had something to do with
their getting married.
at was like this: About two years ago
l was called in by a well-known Walnut
street family to conduct the arrangements
for funeral The deceased was a young
lady. AS l looked at the corpse / was
struck by its lifelike appearance and the
utter absence Of the usual indications of
death, such as livid eyelids. purplish lips
and dull eyes In spite Of the fact that she
had been dead for the last four days. and
notwithstanding the assurance of the
physician who had attended her, could
not help asking her relatives to wait another
day.
when l returned to the house on the
following morning the body presented ex-
actly the same appearance as on the pre-
ceding day. 1t was folly to think that she
had been alive and in trance for five DAYS
at a time, and SO decided to 90 ahead with
my preparations. There was nobody in the
room except young man who had been
the young girls sweetheart, and nothing
could induce him to leave the body. The
poor fellows eyes were red and swollen,
and his whole appearance denoted SO intense
a grief that | felt sincerely sorry for him.
He was very much excited, and walked
nervously ABOUT the room all the time.
SHUTTING OUT THE DEAD FACE.
"When began mailing down the lower
part Of the coffin lii he came over to where
l worked, and watched every one of my
movements like a hawk. Then | fastened
the name-plate. It was a silver one, brightly
polished, and as the sun-beams strayed into
the room, they caught the CLINT and sparkled
like an electric light.
ut may have taken me little longer
than usual to fix the plate, because l felt
somewhat uncoInfort table under that young
mans eyes. When was done l happened
to look up and was surprised to see my COM
panion stand bolt upright, his eyes tightly
closed like those of mau in trance, and
bis left hand resting on the forehead of the
dead girl. l spoke to him, but he did not
seem to hear me, and l tell you what, be-
gan to feel mighty scared.
A TRAGIC SCENE.
Suddenly he began to talk as q man
talks in his sleep. l could not make out at
first what he was saying. He seemed to be
answering questions. All 1 could under
stand was:
"'Because you have been dead these last
five days
Then came pause, during which he
looked as If he was listening.
"'He has been mailing down your coffin
lid came next.
Another pause, during which the young
maus features underwent the most fearful
change. He looked like one who is in NOR
tai fear His eyes opened and closed spas
medically, and he gusped as If he wanted to
cry out and could not because something
WAS choking him.
II ran for pitcher Of ice water that
stood on the chimney, and spattered few
drops of the cold liquid into his face. His
appearance changed Immediately TO his
former expression, and he looked around
him wOnderingly, as if he had just walked
up from long sleep.
THE CORPSE DRAGGED FORTH.
Suddenly he wrenched the hammer /
was holding out of my hand and with it
he broke the coffin-lid into 200 splinters
This done he lifted the corpse out OF the
rough box, laid it upon a lounge and be-
gan to draw the rigid jaws apart. Then
he poured a few drops of water down
through the aperture.
II have had more experience with dead
people than with lunatics, and did not
particularly care to interfere with a fellow
that thought had been driven crazy by
grief pitied him sincerely, and allowed
hlm to make this last attempt to resuscitate
her. Meantime he was rubbing her wrists
and sprinkling the cold water over her face.
Then he leaned down and began TO listen for
heartbeat. Shall l ever forget the ex-
preston OF supreme gratitude that grad
ually came into his facet
THE DEAD ALIVE.
His ear was still resting on the Young
lady's breast as he motioned to me with his
left hand to take the coffin away. Some
thing IN his manner made me obey imme>
diately, and L carried the box out into the
hall. Upon my returning found the Young
lady with open eyes. Her hands were feeblv
moving and her eyeballs rolled from side to
side. There was no mistake about her being
really and truly alive. OF course we called
In physician at once and had her properly
attended to. If she had seen the coffin it
might have scared her to death.
"Well, the doctors were wondering how
in creation it was pos 'ible for her to survtve
after the death certificate had been dnlv
signed, and after they had settled it among
themselves that she was really and truly
dead. But still the fact remained that she
was among the living and had only been in
a cataleptic Sleep
How do explain the young mans &C
tions3 don't attempt to explain them. bnt
you may go over to his hotel and maybe he
and his wife can enlighten you. Of course.
you can easily guess who his wifeis.n
The writer sent his card to the room of
the hero of the foregoing episode, and was
duly received by tall, Observation-Disclosures
young man, at whose side appeared his wife,
a handsome blonde. At first the pair were
somewhat loath to speak on the subject
upon which information was sought, but.
after promise was given not to mention
names and residence, the following explain
alton was given by the gentleman:
A MARVELLOUS TRANCE
II am dimly conscious Of having been in
a sort Of trance at the time held my hand
on nv wife's forehead While in that
state was fully cognizant Of her thoughts
You know she was only in state of cata-
lepsy and fully aware of everything going
on about her, although, owing to the TEN.
porary paralyzation of the motor nerve
center. she could not even as much as wink
her eyelids. [ could feel If 1T NAV be 30
called her ask me: why am l not IN nv
bed, but in this tight boxP and then again
What has that man been doing2' Next |
was aware of her realizing her fearful
position, and | experienced the same ter.
rors she felt when she thought of being
buried alive and slowly suffocating in a
living grave.
THE undertaken awakened me then, and
still had a dim recollection of having
AL