Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1892-09-06

ing from lofty places. The testimony
from all these sources is practically
unanimous that the passing from Life te
death Is painless, peaceful and usually
pleasurable. The return to consciousness
10 usually the reverse of these conditions,
being often exceedingly painful, . fact
which might be taken by the pessimistic
| IS an indication that IL 10 better TO die
than to live.
An interesting case of Q man who has
come back from death to life is that of
Michael Blume, who, some weeks ago,
was twice strung up TO q beam by a
rope around his neck by q mob or lynch-
ers near Fresno, Cal. Blume was In iatI
at Sanger, near Fresno, on o charge of
being implicated In q murder. Feeling
against him ran high, and one night q
mob of people took him from the poor
ly guarded jail and endeavored to extort
Q confession from him. His hands were
tied, he was made to stand on q barrel.
and rope was passed over q convenient
beam and fastened In q moose around his
neck. He declared he had nothing to con-
fess, and after some parley the barrel was
knocked from under him, and at the same
time he was jerked up toward the beam by
the lynohers pulling on the rope.
A few days later Blume described his
sensations at the end of the rope:
f1 expected to die. They pushed me
off and / felt my neck crack. Then
heard a harsh, grating sound, which now
suppose was caused by the rope being
drawn over the beam as the men were
hauling me up. Consciousness was of
very short duration. There was no pain
after my neck cracked. 1 seemed to be
swimming In air that was intensely dark,
but thought was In some familiar place
It was like dream. I seemed to be fiosts
ing away faster and faster, and lighter and
lighter, until passed into nothingness.
81 did not know when was let down.
l returned to consciousness as gradually
and as painlessly as had passed away. It
was like vision, very strange and won
derful. and gradually thought I was re-
turning from some place, did not know
where, and by some means, I knew not
what. The first thing I remember was
seeing the eyes of the men who were
standing around me- I saw nothing but
their eyes at first; but gradually 1 could
see their forms, and knew that they were
men; but still it seemed like some dream.
At last came to myself and was able to
get upon my feet. The rope had been
loosened."
Another attempt was made to extort a
confession, but the dazed and half dead
man declared he had nothing to confess,
and after q few minutes spent in this way
the lynchers again stood Blume on the bar
rel and again hauled him up:
81 think did not drop 30 far as before
At any rate my experience was not quite
the same / was conscious of Q painful
and somewhat long struggle. But as
grew weak and exhausted quit struggling
and experienced the same almost enjoya-
BILE sensations. l passed psinlessly into
nothingness. My return to consciousness
was about the same as before, except that
an acute sense of distress was associated
with my other feelings of dimly seeing and
hearing things"
We ourselves have heard similar testi-
mony from q gentleman of intelligence
and education, who practically experienced
the sensations that attend dissolution. He
had been sick with fever, and to all ap-
pearances died. He thought he was dying
and his friends thought he was dead. If
he had really passed into death instead of
into the corpse-like trance, from which he
subsequently revived, he would have suf-
fered no additional pang. His report was
that the sensation of dying was physically
pleasurable, relief and a luxury; and all
of the physical pain and mortal distress
that attended his remarkable experience
were the sensations that accompanied the
struggle back to life.
Such cases confirm the evidence already
accumulated that the actual grip of death
is friendly, kindly clasp, that the pains
of death are like the pleasures of life,
greatest in the anticipation, and however
severe the struggle may seem to an on
locker, dying is as painless, because as
natural, as falling asleep.