The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-22
AFTER HANGING 10 DAYS.
Durand Tells How II Feels to BE
Strung Up by the Neck.

From the New York Press.
In Paris a man named Durand has been
trying the sensation of being hanged. He
wishes to prove that one may hang by
the neck during several days. and still not
die. He permits himself fifteen minutes
out of the moose each day. He has for
thirteen days been hanging by a rope.
There is a stake of 10000 francs for him If
he succeeds.
He describes his feelings as follows:
thought three days ago that | was going
70 lose the large sum which is at stake.
MY fatigue was great had an intense
fever; my eXtremities were congested,
and my ankles made me suffer horribly.
The most curious sensation comes when /
step down and attempt to walk. l have
vertigo; my foot strikes the floor and 1
Imagine myself always in my stocking
emptiness in my head, and ! imagine
have just got up from q long Illness. /
cannot eat, and only take from time to
time a mouthful Of bOuillon."
When he rehangs himself the strangu-
lation Is sufficient TO cause protrusion of
the eyebalis and tongue. The features be-
followed by a state of stupor and semi
consciousness which lasts until the next
recess of fifteen minutes at the end of
twenty-four hours. All Paris has been ex-
cited over this thirteen-day hanging
achievement Of Durand.
The self hanging of Durand proves that
many criminals who have been executed
on the gallOws, have been only Temporal
rily suffocated and eventually have been
either buried alive or dissected alive by
the doctors and pathologtsts. Physicians
have been in constant attendance on Du-
rand and explain his enduring the strang-
ulatiOn as follows
The condition of suspended animation, or
existing without breathing, IS an old trick,
pract.sed by Indian jugglers, or faklrs, for
centuries. They not only know how to sim
ulate or initiate death, but actually are
able to exist without breathing for indef-
mite periods. They do this by inducing a
condition of catalepsy, practically hypno-
daily sitting In cramped or painful posi-
tons and accustOming themselves to hold
ing the breath for prolonged periods.
They practice this until they are able to
permit themselves to be placed in a her
metically sealed box, and even to be bur
led alive for hours or days. One religious
sect have made practice of the twenty
four cuts of the tongue" as they call II,
one cut being performed daily until the
tongue is so far loosened from its attach
ments that they can bend the tip back
ward and stop M the windpipe Al viii
Instead of choking to death they merely
develop a semi-unconscious condition,
which may last for hours 1t Is said that
they will allow their mouth nostrils and
ears to be Theoretically sealed with cotton
and wax, so that no air can possibly be
admitted. Before doing this, however, they
Ill their stomach and aesophagus with
air. 50 that they really do have some
fresh" air
DundnQ uOcS not snow the symptoms OF
suffocation or asphyXia as much as the
symptoms Of a hypnotic condition. He
seems to have learned by some means this
Hindoo method of auto-hypnotism.
Among the artist models Of Paris the
trick of hypnotizing themselves, so as to
keep quiet a half day in the altogether
In some strained position, has been quite
common. The prototype Of Trlby, a beau
tiful young woman in Juiian's studio In
Paris, was one Of the first to do this, or
one Of the first known to have habltualiy
practised II. When the art students found
how susceptible she was to hypnotism
they tried experiments on her, with the
result that Julian's studio was closed by
the Paris police, for a month.
Durand allows the rope to be adjusted
around the neck, closely binding the wind
pipe. The physicians in attendance, assist
ed by an English hangman, hired for the
occasion, see that there is no chance for
any tricky knot that will not tighten up
and merely catch the base Of the skull, in
stead of the throat The rope. with Du-
rand dangling at the end, is gently pulled
up, so that the neck viii moi be broken,
and then the daily exhibition Is begun.
The usual crowd OF Paris novelty seekers
fill all the seats and standing room, though
the admission is five francs a head.
1t is curious that the symptoms which
Durand mentions as his sensations during
the "unhung' interval are very like those
OF locomotor ataxia, a disease Of the spi-
nal cord, characterized by staggering-a
sensation of walking in the stocking
feet" and sharp and peculiar pains.
The only treatment ever devised for this