Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-01-17
PREMATURE BURIALs.

The New YORK Herald, DOln IN JUS
home and foreign issues. has started
afresh discussion as to the probability
that many persons are entombed alive.
Nothing could justify the projection Of
so disagreeable a topic upon the public,
except a hearty belief in the danger al
legged, and a sincere hope that agitation
Of the question may result In more care
being taken to avert it.
It adds a new horror to the King Of
Terrors, when one thinks that he may
possibly close his life within the con-
fines of q coffin five feet below the sur
face Of the earth. But we have never
taken much stock in the average story
of men and women buried alive. Usually,
the evidence relied upon to establish the
fact is of he "thinnest" description.
We know Of undertakes who have had
occasion to disinter many dead bodies
and who have said that in the course
Of their long lives they have never seen
any proof that any one of these bodies
had been buried alive. SO far from 1t,
to their minds, the proof was quite con-
elusive in the other direction.
OF course, we concede that men and
women have been unintentionally buried
alive, but in modern times such cases
have been of exceeding rarity. In times
of epidemic, or where from other causes,
burials are very numerous, and very
hastily made, people may be buried
alive, but 1t cannot easily occur other
wise. Yet there are many who, in their
last hours, are haunted by the fear of
being hurried into their graves untimely.
and who make requests to ward off such
calamity. And, Of those who direct that
their bodies be cremated not few. we
suspect, are moved thereto by the fear
of premature burial. We are not quite
sure that one who awakens from a death
like sleep in a fiery furnace is much bet
ter off than he who awakes in a grave;
but, possibly, the preparations for in
cineration afford some protection that
the preparations for burial do not.
In this day and generation, when the
arrangements for burial are in the hands
OF skilled funeral directors and embalm-
ers we may be quite sure that the dam
ger of being buried alive is much lesA
than ever before. Certainly, after one
has been embalmed, there is no posi-
bility of his being buried alive. The
character of the embalming process
totally precludes that idea.
Nor, in the country districts, where the
services OF men skilled in the details of
burial are not to be had, is the danger
in question great. 1t seldom occurs in
the country that a body is buried until
the unmistakable signs of death have
appeared.
The Herald may gather here and there
evidence OF premature burial, but the
cases are few, indeed-possibly, a few
out of millions. Yet, as none of us wish
to share the fate Of these unhappy few,
we cannot but wish that in every case
due precautions should be observed.
Usually, we may adopt, as competent
advisers, physicians and experienced un-
dertakers. or funeral directors, though
in the process OF decomposition nature
herself has provided safeguard better
than any other.
The efforts Of the Herald to put this
whole question before the public may
arouse dreadful forebodings upon the
part of some; but. in the end. viii doubt
less produce good results, and cause
greater care to be exercised than ever
before.