The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1900-11-14
/ SCARED CRAZY
Man Came Out Of Comatose
State as He Was Being
Put Into Morgue
Wagon.
A BLUNDER SOMEWHERE
No Physician Was Called
to Decide Whether
Thornton Was
Dead.
A BLUNDER SOMEWHERE

William Thornton, a negro, twenty-five
years old, of No. 144 Railroad avenue,
| awoke from a comatose state last night
just as he was being put into an icebox
| in the morgue wagon He is now a
dangerous raving lunatic in the City Hos
pital He barely escaped the horror Of
being taken to Speer's morgue as a corpse
and it is probable that the fright un-
balanced his mind. He is considered un-
curably insane and is awaiting removal to
the Insane Asylum at Snake Eill.
| Shortly after eight o'clock last evening
Mrs. Hannah Bodine, of No. IA Railroad
avenue, rushed into the First precinct
police station and told the sergeant at the
| desk that there was dead man AT her
home. She did not know what caused MS
death.
Her story was that on the previous
evening Thornton and his mother were at
her home. Mrs. Thornton left yesterday
| morning for Hackensack. The young man
remained at the house and in his room all
day. Mrs. Bodine saw nothing of him
during the day and shortly before eight
o'clock decided to see if he was in his
room. There was no response to the re-
peated rappings on the door. She entered
the room through a window and saw
Thornton stretched out on the bed appar-
emily dead.
Being satisfied the man was dead Mrs.
Bodine notified the police Policeman
Brumwald was sent to the house to in
vestigate and Speer's Morgue and County
Physician Converse were notified
When the policeman reached the house
he entered as Mrs. Bodine had, through a
window. He made an examination of the
body and found it was cold. He was also
satisfied that the man was dead. Shortly
after Brumwald had finished his examina-
tion the morgue wagon with two attend
ants arrived and they prepared to place
the body in an ice box preparatory to re-
| moving it to the morgue.
While the men were in the act of plac-
Ing the body in the box, Thornton sudden
ly came to life. Everyone was naturally
frightened, but the unfortunate object of
the mistake Mas, most affected. AS he
saw where he was Thornton, became raw
Ing mad. He tore about shouting venge-
ance on all about him
Brunwald notified the station of the
affair and they sent in call for an am
bulance to take Thornton to the City
Hospital. The morgue wagon went away
and the ambulance arrived.
Thornton was taken to the hospital,
where his rawlings increased. All night
long he shouted and talked incoherently
and made rest for the other patients i'm
possible. A strait jacket was neces-
sary.
Whether the happenings of last night
were responsible for Thornton's condition
today or not is unknown 1t is thought
that when hewa considered deal he was
in comatose condition Mrs. Bodne's
error in believing him dead was justified
to some extent. Brumwald also thought
him dead and Chief Murphy says this
officer is an unusually competent man.
No physician was sent to the house to
make an examination before it was de-
cided to have the man removed . the
morgue
Chief of Police Murphy, in speaking of
the manner of handling such cases, said
when the police receives a report of a
death. the causes are first inquired into.
If crime is suspected, the body is not
moved, but if death is due to natural
causes, and there is no one, willing to take
charge of the body, as in this case-the
dead mans mother being out of the city
the morgue is notified to remove the body
and the County Physician is also notified
We do not think it necessary to keep the
body under such circumstances in the
place it was first found.
"The County Physicians examination
can be made at any place and because of
that officials heavy duties it is not al
ways possible to have him at any certain
point at a moments notice. we have not
been in the habit of having bodies ex-
amined by a physician to be sure of death
in these cases. 1t is expected that death
under ordinary circumstances can be de-
tected by the ordinary laynaan and we
were not cognizant of the peculiar details
of this case until after man awakened
Had we known of the circumstances we
would have had a physician examine the
body The woman was positive the man
was dead and we had no reason to believe
otherwise