The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-24
DEAD MAN COMES TO LIFE.
AFTER BEING OFFICIALLY HANG
ED, GUY WILSON IS AT LARGE.

Dead Man Creates a Racket in the
CONN on the Road to the Gene
terry, and After the Use of Stfmu-
Iants Becomes Fully RestOred-A
Mute because of His seven-Minute
StrangulatiOn.
From the New York World.
There is now at large in the neighbor-
hood Of Mayersville. Miss. a sturdy negro
who was Officially executed near that place
on July g. He was hanged by the neck
until dead" and. being cut down, was ex-
amined by the physician OF the state n
the presence of large number Of people.
This physician testified that he found
life extinct, and Grant Wilson, 1.-The de-
ceased" was. in the opinion of all those
who had witnessed the execution, as dead
as the other two negroes who were hanged
with him at the same time.
His body had even been left hanging
by the neck after the other two had been
cut down, and when finally placed upon
the ground the heart had not only ceased
to beat, but the corpse was cold. Wilson
was. moreover. stiff.
This is the testimony of the men who
placed him in the coffin prepared for his
reception, and "a deader man never was
seen in Mississippi" as one of the wit
nesses had testified.
Now, however, Grant Wilson is alive
and well with the exception of a slight
throat affection. He is the only man in
the whole history Of criminal jurispru-
dence who was officially pronounced to
be dead, and vet came to life
He is the only man who was actually
himself resurrected.
If ever, in the history Of the world, there
was a man who arose from the dead and
walked he is the man.
So much is this the case that the Grim
inal lawyers and jurists of Mississippi,
who are now discussing the fact in this
remarkable case, are completely dazed at
the legal perpleXities involved. Here is
man who was regularly tried and con-
victed Of murder He was duly sentenced
to death Then he was regularly taken
out and hanged.
1t appears almost as if he was actually
dead for several hours, as a long period
elapsed after the time when the drop fell
before he got up out of his coffin and
walked. In the meantime the sheriff Of
the county had duly executed the legal
forms prescribed in such cases, certifying
that the sentence of the law had been
complied with; that Grant Wilson was
dead, and annexing to this return the Of
fetal certificate of the attending surgeons
These gentlemen had carefully examined
all of the three corpses, and were certain,
as were the sheriff and his jury, that all
the men were dead. All of these papers
have been regularly executed. they were
forwarded by the sheriff to the governor
of the state.
Thus it will be seen that Grant Wilson
had ceased ayigf in "a
and proper manner with which event the
law itself can find no fault
What then, is the position of the state
as regards this man? A criminal cannot
be twice executed.
When a man is oficialIy dead, he can
not be brought into court to be tried
again. He cannot even be arrested upon
the old charge. This convicted murderer
and criminal can walk about the streets
as freely as the most innocent man, for
he has expatiated his crime upon the gall
lows. He has officially given up his life
in accordance with the sentence of the
court.
And yet he has preserved his life and
gained his freedom at the expense of a
throat affection. This throat affection,
by the way, has prevented Wilson from
speaking, so that he has not yet been
able to tell how he was hanged" or de
scribe what death feels like" but he may
DE dDie yet 10 regain MS voice ana per-
form both Of these astonishing feats for
the first time in the history of the world.
His eyes were turned the wrong way by
the effct of the hanging when first he
came to life But clever doctor turned
his eyes right again. and he is now able to
see with them as well as ever. Who knows
but that this doctor will also be able to
straighten out the thorax of Grant Will
son and then enable him to find his voice?
Grant Wilson was hanged for the muir
der of a man named King, at Carolina
Landing. His two companions were killed
almost at the fall of the trap by having
their necks broken. Wilson, however,
seemed to die hard. His neck was not
broken by the drop, and the authorities
waited fully seven minutes for the con-
vulsive movements of his body to cease,
as a sign that the unfortunate man had
been strangled.
When the strainings and twitchings and
commissions finally did come to an end,
the man was cut down and carefully ex-
amined by the physicians, who had at
tended especially for this purpose. After
feeling the pulse and listening to discover
any symptoms of remaining activity in
the heart, they all agreed that he was
dead. According, then, to the custom OBJ
served at Mississippi official hangings,
the body was deposited in a coffin, which
had been prepared beforehand, and had
been placed with the cover off, in an in
viting position before the eyes of the muir
derers as they were being arranged on
the scaffold. The bodies were at the dis
posal of the relatives as soon as the state
had through the solemn proclamation of
the doctors. announced that the legal pun
atty of life for life had been inflicted.
The coffin containing Wilson's body was
a rude affair, simply an implanted pine
board box. 1t was lifted into wagon, and
the driver whipped UP and started for the
Wilson home, down by the river some
miles from the town.
He had not proceeded far when he
heard strange sound somewhere from
the wagon behind, as II some one were
tapping with hammer. At first he paid
no attention, thinking, perhaps, that the
sounds were caused by the jolting of the
wagon. But shortly after they were re-
peated, this time louder than before, and
yet muffled not at all like the clatter Of
a wagon on a rough road. The driver
drew up sharply and listened, not daring
to turn his head. After some moments
he could hear the unmIstakable sound
of knocking, or pounding, as if made
with knuckles, against the sides and top
of the coffin.
The driver, like a great many of the
farmers in that region, was a supersti-
tious man. The proceedings of the morn
ing-the killing of three human beings,
=