The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-02-20
BURIED, BUT WILL RISE AGAIN.
Interesting Specnlations Regarding This Mys-
terious Fest Indian Performances.

To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal:
Many persons, when they heard that DR..
Tanner was going to undertake @ fast of
forty days. were free to say that they
thought him crazy. but when a few years
ago he came to this city and announced
that he was about to allow himself to be
buried, and have his grave kept green with
oats. which were to grow from the seed
strewn over 1t. the grain to be ripened and
harvested, he then to be resurrected. those
same people were now quite sure of their
OPINION regarding his mental condition,
even though they were mistaken the first
time. The doughty Doctor did not attempt
the grave experiment, claiming as q reason
for his failure that he had been unable to
fix upon a trusty person to officiate at the
brInging-to end of the line. But now there
is O prospect that the feat will be attempt
ed. as may be seen from the following re-
cently-published dispatch from Rockford
ILL.,, which. no doubt, Is yet familiar to your
many readers:
Prof. Andrew J. Seymour, of this city, who
has been before the public as q mindreader for
the last twenty-three years, has begun prepare
tons for a feat he proposes to accomplish next
summer. On June p he will go 10 u place al
ready selected near here, throw himself into a
state OF insensibility, and be buried in grave
several feet deep. This grave Is to be watched
barley is sowed. rlpened and harvested over it.
Mr.. Seymour will then he disinterred and return
been performed by the fakirs of India, under
conditions that prevented imposition, and DIR.
Seymour says he has such control over his mind
and nervous system that he is confident he can
perform IL himself He has frequently suspend
cd animation for considerable periods.
There are few scientific men who will ad-
nit. az least from personal observation.
that man can voluntarily suspend his
breath more than very few minutes, but
it must be upon such procedure that the
success of the grave trick" depends. And
indeed. if we are TO believe the reports of
most of the travellers In India, the fakirs of
that weird country think nothing OF going
hours without breathing or moving even
though maintaining difficult equili bristic
attitudes. We know that animals that
hibernate make storage of all the air posi-
BILE, often TO an extraordinary amount, and
that these acquire in a wonderful degree
the power of supporting the abstraction of
atmospheric air and deprivation from food
and drink, as familiar examples of which
may be cited the hedgehog, the marmor
the hainster. the dcrmouse, the bat and
possibly the bear and many others. And
we know that many fishes suffer no injury
from freezing solidly. nor do frOgs. and that
frogs often have hopped alive from split
block OF granite, and that even warm.
blooded animals have been restored to life
after apparent death from freezing.
OF course, thanks to the advance In the
science of nesmerism. we all know that
the human being can for weeks lie in q cat
leptic, unconscious state which may defy
about all the most skillful tests of science
TO distinguish from actual sOmatic death,
and yet life Is present, as In the Hopper
case. Toledo last month. that most I'm pres
siye warning against the premature burial
procedures so prevalent in this country.
But these not voluntary acts.
During the tour of the Prince of Wales
through India the high-caste show fakIrs
were greatly stirred up. ana evidently
tried to outdo themselves. and how well
that would he mil ht be inferred from the
report of magician kellar that, though he
had thirty years experience n profess
sional magician. he vas still unable TO mr.
achievements of the highest class of Indian
magicans. but had about concluded that
they were psy chIcal In character, sometimes
even mesmeric, as proved by his camera c
critical points. He is certain that death is
simulated.
This grave trick has been described so
many times. as have many other confess
eddy strange and apparently inexplicable
Indian feats or occurrences, that the testi-
inony In their support - so strong as
to prevent their ranking as mere
made-up stories. Kellsr reports il. 1t Is
described az having been performed before
our own William IL. Seward. also before
the Prince of Wales. and on the authority
of Col. julius Medley. commander OF the
British forces at Lahore. In the latter in
stance the grave being guarded In the reg
ulation manner by British soldiers for
forty days at the end OF which period the
buried mans confreres returned and OK
humed aud resuscitated him. On the other