The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1893-07-07

Fear-SOme feCulldT SdScSs
So deceptive are many of the ordinary
evidences of death that medical science
has given to this subject great deal OF
attention. 1t used to be supposed that
people were often buried alive through
accident, and writers of romance have
dwelt upon this species of horror with
much JUNCTION. During the war of the
rebellion many soldiers were said to
have been inferred while living who were
merely in a lethargy or stupor arising
from loss of blood. exhaustion, cold and
fear. Bodies have often been found
turned over in collins, as if the occupants
had walked up and tried to get out. In
numerous other cases of similar sort
the tongue has been discovered protrud-
ing from the mouth, as if from suffoca-
ton, and there have been stains from
bleeding on the burial clothes.
Now, such facts as these were amply
sufficient in former days to convince the
most skeptical that the persons concerned
had been inferred alive. But it is now
known that such phenomena are exhib-
tied by dead bodies under conditions
wholly normal The turning of corpse
in its coffin is brought about by the ex-
pansion of the gases Of putrefaction.
The projection of the tongue from the
mouth is an effect of the same cause.
Bleeding often occurs after death. In
fact, such hemorrhage is known to have
taken place eight days after death. In
this instance the bleeding was from
wounds inflicted during life.
The stoppage Of the hearts beating is
not regarded as a satisfactory evidence
of death. In some cases on record that
organ has apparently ceased to perform
its function for as much as 10 min
utes, and yet the person has revived.
Tidy, the great English authority, speaks
of the instance of a certain Colonel
Townshend, who was seemingly able to
die at will and to come to life again
when he chose. On number of OCCASION
he had deliberately suspended his own
vital processes for short time. Finally
he consulted physicians on the subject,
deerning his ability to do this sufh-
GENTLY abnormal symptom to be some
what alarming. In the presence of the
doctors he voluntarily lapsed into Estate
of torpidity. his heart stopped and his
breathing also, mirror held at his
q 11liouth showing no Iii1nness.
This case was apparently unique. At
the same time the peculiar faculty de-
veloped by Colonel Townshend-whc
died that same night for good and all
bears seeming likeness to the peculiar
power exhibited by certain fakirs of In
dia. For centuries it has been familiar
trick for certain of these fakirs who pos.
sessed the accomplishment to permit
themselves to be buried alive for months,
coming to life again after being dug up.
That this remarkable feat is wholly bona
fide has been satisfactorily demonstrated.
It has been repeatedly performed in the
presence of most skeptica1 witnesses un.
der circumstances which preclude all
possibility of deception. It is an arul-
fetal suspension of vitality, bearing some
relation to the natural Information OF
bats and other animals.
:. # the finger of a person In whom the
vital spark still fingers be tightly bound
with piece of string, the end of the fin
ger will soon becomered and then blush.
But if the individual be dead no such
effect will be produced by the applica-
ton of ligature. If during life clean
and bright needle be thrust into the
muscles of the body, the steel rapidly
rusts on being withdrawn. After death
no such oxidation takes place, it is said.
However, the certainty of this latter test
is disputed. One of the most familiar
methods of determining absence of life
is that of producing blister by heat, as
with the flame of a candle. If the skin
beneath and around the blister becomes
red, the individual lives; otherwise he is
dead
One of the most reliable tests of this
question is made by holding the hand Of
the. supposed cadaver between the eye
and the light of a candle or lamp. When
thus examined, the hand of living per
son has rosy color between the fingers
This is not the case with corpse. Only
few days ago woman was found dead
in bed at hotel in Chicago with pisto
in her hand and bullet hole in her tenn
pie. A man who is supposed to have
left her few hours previously was &C
cused of having murdered her, but tn,
coroner's jury decided that it was case
of suicide So far as the newspaper re
ports indicated, the jury did not pay an.
attention to one most important point il
the evidence. If the revolver was Tight,
grasped in the dead woman's hand, sh
must have committed suicide. 1t is no
possible for another individual to tighter
the relaxed grip of a dead person upol
weapon.
If the person has committed suicide
the weapon will be found rigidly graspet
with fingers stiffened by the rigor morris
But after death the fingers cannot b
made to take grip firmly. This is re
garded as most important point from
the medico-legal standpoint. 1t has de
termined the fate of an accused prisone
in many.a trial. Army surgeons say tina
the expressions on the faces of soldier
killed in battle reveal the causes O
death. Those who have persisted fron
sword wounds have a look of repose
while there is an expression of pain o.
the conn tananca of those Slain bv br1lats