The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-10-11
HOW IT FEELS TO DIE
EXPERIENCE OF A MAN WHO BE-
LlEvES HE WAS "STONE DEAD.p

rs He Sank Into Unconsciousness-There
Was No Mental Pain Whatever-The
Fear of Death Is Physical Dread.
All my life long have been singularly
destitute, | believe, of that physical shrink
Ing from death which so many human
beings feel so acutely. do not mean to
say am in any hurry to die; as long as
things go tolerably well with me in the
world / have no insupportable objection to
living, but whenever 1 stand face to face
with death, as happened to me several
times in the course of my career, regard
the prospect of annihilation with perfect
equanimity. l can honestly declare that
on all such occasions my own doubts and
fears have been for the safety and pecuni-
ary position of the survivors, especially
those more Immediately dependent upon
me-
For myself have never felt one mo-
ment's disquiet. And attribute this en-
tire absence of fear of death to the unusual
fact that have already tried dying and
found it by no means painful or terrify-
ing experience. l mean what say quite
literally. | have not the slightest hesita-
tion in asserting that once in my life
really and truly died-died as dead as it is
possible for human being to die, and that
afterward | was resurrected. / have felt
and know the whole feeling Of death-not
part of it only, but the actual end of dying.
l did not stop half way. l died and was
done WITH and when l came back to life
again it was no mere case of awakening
t,,bo ic fDnlie bl,ro
animation" but a genuine revival, res
toration of vitality to man as dead as he
ever can be or will be.
1t happened in this wise, and though it
was good many years since have still
most vivid recollection of every moment
of it: | had been skating On lake in a
very cold country. l am Intentionally
vague because do not desire to disclose
my personality. The surface was smooth
as glass and perfectly free from snow or
ridges But not far from where l was
skating some men had been cutting out
great blocks of ice the day before for sum-
mer use.
During the night this open spot of blue
water had frozen over slightly-perhaps
an inch thick. / skated incautiously from
the solid ice on to this thinner piece, and
moving with considerable impetus went
through it at once and was carried on un-
der the thicker and firmer ice beyond it.
The first thing l knew was that | found
myself plunged suddenly into ice cold wa
ter, and struggling for my life in skates
and winter clothes against chill and drown
ing.
| went down like lead. When 1 came up
again it was with my head against the
solid ice. If l had had full possession of
my faculties l would have looked about
for the hole by which / broke through and
endeavored to swim under water for it.
But was numbed with the cold and stun
ned with the suddenness of the unexpected
ducking; so, instead of looking for the
place by which l had got in, tried inef-
fectually to break the ice over my head
by humping and butting against it.
In so doing, l do not doubt, must have
made matters worse by partially stunning
myself. At any rate could not break it,
and was soon completely numbed by the
cold l gasped and swallowed great deal
of water.
| felt my lungs filling. A moment Of
suspense, during which l knew perfectly
well was drowning, interviewed, and then
! died. was drowned and dead knew it
then, and | have never since for q moment
doubted it.
Just before died, however, noticed
deliberately noticed, for am pshycholog-
| l by nature-that my whole past life did
Sbt come up, as | had been given to under
stand it would in single flash before me.
On the contrary, felt only a sense of cold
and damp and breathlessness, a fierce, wild
struggle, horrible choking sensation, and
then all was over.
was taken out stone dead. Unless ex-
treme remedies had been applied | would
have remained stone dead till the present
moment. If nothing more had been done
my body would have undergone no further
change till decomposition set in. Heart
and lungs had ceased to act. | was truly |
dead; there was nothing more that could |
happen to me to make me any deader
However, a friend who was skating with |
me raised the alarm, and / was shortly
after pulled out again, still dead, with y
boathook. They tried artificial respira
tion, brandy heat-all the recognized
means of reviving q corpse after drowning.
After awhile they brought me back. be- |
gan to breathe again.
If there had been no artificial respiration |
l would never have revived again, and my |
body would have undergone dissolution in |
due course, without any return of con-
sciousness whatever. So far as conscious |
ness goes, therefore, was then and there
dead, and l never expect to be any deader. |
and the knowledge that have thus once |
experienced in my own person exactly what |
death is, and tried it fully, has had great |
deal to do, think, with my utter physical
Indifference to it. know how it feels, and |
though 1t is momentarily uncomfortable |
1t isn't half as bad as breaking your arm
or having tooth drawn.
In fact the actual dying itself, as diving,
Is quite painless-as painless as falling |
asleep. 1t is only the previous struggle
the sense of its approach-that is at all un- |
comfortable. Even this is much less un-
pleasant than should have expected be-
forehand, and l noted at the time that |
there was a total absence of any craven |
shrinking-the sensation was mere phys
ical one of gasping and choking. When
ever | have stood within measurable dis
tance of death ever since my feeling has
been the same-I have been there already. |
and see no cause to dread it. OF course
one might strongly object to painful end.
on account of its painfulness, and one
might shrink, and ought to shrink, from
leaving ones family, especially if young or
insufliciently provided for, but death it.
self, as death, it seems to me, need have
absolutely no terrors for sensible per-
son.-Pall Mall Budget.
Outwitted Their Friends.
A terribly pretty" Boston bride, as
Harvard called her, found when she, with
the happy groom was about to depart ON |