The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-01-06
In THE MORGUE..
Lies a Woman in a Long Trance
Thought to BE Alive.

New York, Jan. Els Margaret Nc
Cabe dead or alive? The physicians at
the Presbyterian hospital say she is
dead Mrs. Shannon, of No. 126 East
Eighty-fourth street, with whom the
woman lived for weeks, says she is
alive. Coroner's Physician Weston says
he is uncertain-that the woman is just
as liable to be alive as she is dead. The
facts are unusual and as follows:
Three weeks ago Mrs. Shannon, who
is the janitor at No. 1926 East Eighty
fourth street met a strange woman in
her hallway. The stranger was hungry,
ill and penniless. Her clothing was be-
dragged, as of one who was not I'M
familiar with the gutter. She begged
for help.
I'm only a poor woman" said good
Mrs. Shannon, ''but you shall share
what I have.'
So she took the friendless woman in,
fed her, and when she fell i'll put her to
bed and ministered to her.
The woman said her name was Mar
garet McCabe and that she was twenty
four years of age. She did not wish to
talk, apparently. and Mrs. Shannon
made no effort to learn more.
Several days after the woman was
taken in by Mrs. Shannon she acted
queerly. She was in bed at the time
wildly, and with eyes fixed on vacant
space fell back as if dead. Her body
was rigid as that of a corpse, but re-
manned strangely warm. Mrs. Shan
non concluded that she was dead and
went out to arrange for the funeral
When she came home she found her
strange boarder sitting in a chair. She
was very much alive, and told strange
story of having seen spirits and of Wis
iting with the dead.
Yesterday afternoon Miss McCabe
was seized with a violent attack. There
was no doubt of it's genuinenesS. Unlike
any that had preceded it, this was ac-
companied by a violent hemorrhage, and
Mrs Sherman. thoroughly alarmed,
blaming herself for not having sooner
called a doctor, notified a policeman.
He sent for an ambulance, and Miss
McCabe was taken to the Presbyterian
hospital
She was placed in one of the wards
and two hours later, when one of the
physicians had occasion to treat her,
he declared her dead.
Attendants came, placed the body on
a stretcher and it was wheeled to the
hospital morgue and placed a slab.
A clerk called up the coroners office
and asked for an official to come out
and investigate the case.
Coroner's Physician Weston, in the
course of his days work, reached the
hospital, and asked to see the body He
said he wished to make a post-mortem
examination He was shown into the
morgue, and, arranging his instru-
ments, he waited for the attendants to
bring the body.
AS the men wheeled the inanimate
form forward there was a connection
in the hallway, and the next minute
Mrs. Shannon rushed into the room and
catching Weston by the arm, cried:
You're not going to cut her open!"
| Then while she was hurriedly, hysterf-
| cally explaining about the cataleptic at
tacks to which Miss McCabe had been
subject Mrs. Shannon, whose eyes were
! fixed on the body, thought she saw it
! move.
Look! LookI Looki" she cried.
''She's moving. I saw her move her
| ARM
DR.. Weston made a close examina-
ton and then slowly picked up his in
struments. One by one he slowly put
them in his case, and closing with a
snap, remarked quietly:
| 81 won't hold an autopsy tonight. I
will not take any chances He then
| ordered the attendants to take the sup
| posed body into the hospital and wrap
it in warm blankets. He further sug-
/ gested that a nurse be placed on guard
1 to watch the body constantly to detect
| any sign of returning consciousness.
! At 1:20 a. m. there was sign of re-
| turning life, and the hospital doctors
| insist there never will be any,