The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-02-21
BACK FROM The GRAVE.
The Wonderful Resurrection OF an.
Indiana Man,

IT remained for al Indiana man 10
first tell the world how il really feels IA
die Levin p Otis of Hammond, Ind. =.
was stricken with pneumonia a few days;
ago in Chicago and was taken to hos
pital After prolonged illness he was.
pronounced dead and in due time buried
He had been permitted TO rest for but
one day and part of a night, when sew
eral medical students dug him up. They
shipped him back To Chicago and placed
him in the disSecting-rOom, In the COLI
lege of which they were students. and af-
ter getting out their knives and rolling
up their sleeves were about 10 proceed
to cut him up after the most scientific
mode when he opened his eyes and
asked them for drink of water. The
students in spite Of their calloused nerves.
were horror-struck and fed from the
room, leaving Mr.. Otis in fun possession
He in a moment sank again into insen-
sibility and would no doubt have died in
earnest ina short time had the fright
ened studentS~pot recovered themselves
and returned to apply restoratives.
In speaking Of his horrible experiences
and sensations while Sinking into the
grave and from thence 10 the dissecting'
table, where he so narrowly a1d miracu-
lousy escaped the keen and eager knives
Of the students, Mr.. Otis said;
Il was sick and in great pain. once Z
ing TO invite death. 1 dismissed the idea
But my suffering increased and ] knew
that ] was becoming weaker and weaker
day by day. Oh. the dreariness OF the
long nights, ] lay sketching plans for
future work and I looked back upon the
skeletons of good resolutions. But my
life. my misdeeds. did not pass before ma
in review. 1 simply pronounced myself
a failure in the aggregate and regretted
it, and l am now constrained 10 THINK
that no matter how much a man may
have accomplished be must as death
draws nigh regard himself as failure.
lone night all pain suddenly ceased
This was hopeful. and I thought I'd tell
my attendant about II. but when L at
tempted to speak I found that / could
not This however. did not worry me
any. But why should so heavy weight
be placed upon my breast2 I looked
down to see what II was. but could see
nothing Oh. how tired l was. but 1 suf-
fered no pain. 1t was the rest that must
come after SO long ard exhaustive
fight / attempted TO raise my hand and
couldn't ! couldn't even raise finger
This was strange, but not alarming
What was that l heard? The doctor
had said that I could last but few mo-
ments longer. That was nonsense.
would show him How quiet were my
nerves and had been SO nervous What
a relief! The heaviness was gone, but I
couldn't move
.'Why had they put out the light2
What was that? Some one said: Pull
down the shade, the sun is shining i'm my
face sun shining i'm my facet Why,
the sun had gone down hours ago Oh,
how the human family persisted i'm lying
What was that drop? They had taken
the pillow from under my head What
was that faint sound away off yonder2
4 voice that said How he must suffer-,
Suffer, I wasn't suffering at all But [
couldn't remain much longer i'm this con-
dition And I unused that II 7 could
only turn over / would 60 TO sleep. L
couldn't move, though, and 1 lay there
thinking.
suddenly I thought: This is death.
Why didn't I think of it before? When
did l begin dying? Oh. il must have been
years ago. Why, j have been dying all
my life Well. was glad it was all over.
Then / unused: L wonder if ] am dead
now. How am / to know when I am
dead? / will put il all aside. l viii
sleep
THE next thing 1 knew was a feeling
of thirst. and that was when / asked
those carvers for a drink Of water. And
l want TO say that they may call il sus-
pended animation and all that sort Of
thing. but l know that 1 have been