New-York tribune., 1901-01-12
THREE TESTS TOSHOW LIFE.
DOCTORS CAUTION SAVES WOMAN
FROM BURIAL ALIVE.

ATTRACTS WIDE ATTENTION-UNDER-
TAKEP CALLED DEATH RE-
CORDED. But SHE LIVES.
The timely arrival Of DR.. L. s Ward, of No.
sos Lexington at the home of Miss Louise
Schaefe., No. 40 East observation-disclosures
twelfth-st. few minutes after l. o'clock noon,
one week ago last Thursday. prevented the pre-
mature burial of Miss Schaefer. or at least pre-
vented her from being taken in hand by the
undertaken and put on ice. The undertaken was
in the and was preparing to go ahead
with the preliminary burial arrangements when
DR. Ward arrived The Tribune yesterday
morning exclusively made public the remarkable
case of Miss Schaefer and the story of her ex-
perence was widely discussed yesterday
Miss Schaefer lived with her father and her
sister. Miss ElzabeeS Schaefer, at the address
given. The sisters are>teachers in School No.
25. at No. 32S Fifth-st. Miss Louise Schaefer
IS forty-two years old. ana has been a school
teacher twentythree years. One week ago last
Thursday the father Of Miss Schaefer called at
the Office of Dr. Ward, in Lexington-ave., around
the corner from her home in East one hundred
and-twelfth-st.. and said: Doctor my daughter
Lou.se die' :His morning. and ! wish you would
ccme around and the body so that the un-
dertaker Will feel at liberty to go ahead. I
have already called the undertaken"
The old gentleman seemed much agita ted"
said Or. Ward to a Tribune reporter yesterday.
''and decided 10 go around at The
dertaker arrived at the same time. l do not re-
call his name l was shown to the room on the
second floor where the body lay. and hastily
concluded that my task would be a short one
as Miss Schaefer had every appearance of a
dead person. In fact. l might say that never
before have l seen living person have a more
positive appearance Of being dead.
THREE TESTS APPLIED
Il thought it only prudent to make sure that
she was dead however, and bent over and ex-
amined her neck over the carotid artery. There
pusation. l then applied the stetho-
scope. and the action of the heart and lungs
slight that l again thought that there
was no life in the body; but trying it again
l thought l detected a slight response. l then
tried the mirror test, and found that there was a
suggestion of moisture on the glass after holding
it close to the lips of the patient. The under
taker was watching me at the time and when
ne the moisture he said Doctor. l guess
I'm not needed in this case after all l then
held a lighted candle close to the eye and de
tected a slight dilataton of the pupil. I gave
Miss Schaefer rather powerful injection Of
o-glycerine, and evidences of life became
to patients in my office. and at the end of about
hour ] returned to Miss Schaefers. The
heart action was slightly stronger but she had
not regained consciousness. I gave another in
lection Of nitro-glycerine, and remained the
greater part of the afternoon at the house Tow
ard o'clock Miss Schaefer opened her eyes.
slightly turned her head and began TO ask ques-
tions. She improved steadily. and l advised the
family to send her to a hospital where her
could be constantly watched. At the end of
three or four days she removed to city
hospital where she Is at present"
VIII she recover" the doctor asked.
She is in a very low condition. said DR..
Ward, "and her recovery. all the circumstances
considered. would be very unusual"
What is the matter with herr"
II don't know of any better word than mall
assimilation of food. She can't eat anything.
Her nervous system is shattered"
At the house no information could be obtained
about the sick woman. The servant said that
Miss Elizabeth Schaefer and her father were
nearly sick from shock over Miss Louse's case.
DEATH ANNOUNCED AND RECORDED.
At Public School No. - Miss McAleer. princi-
pal of the girls department, in which Miss
Schaefer is a subordinate said
Last week Thursday at o'clock Elizabeth
Schaefer. sister of Louise, received a telegram
from her father saying: Louise is dead. Come
home at once Elizabeth started for home, and
that afternoon | announced the supposed death
of Miss Schaefer to the other teachers. We made
arrangements to send flowers On Friday morn
ing l got a dispatch saying that Louise was not
dead l had already notified the Board OF Edu-
cation. where an entry Of her death was made
1t was learned last night that the family ply
sician was busy on difficult case Thursday
and could not be reached. This given
reason for the absence of a physician at the
house on Thursday forenoon. DR.. Ward said
last night that Miss schaefer had had good
from her sister and friends. Undertakers
supposed to have the certificate of death in
all cases before they begin the burial arrange
ments but where there is no mystery about the
death they frequently go ahead without the GER
tificate, and that is what the undertaken in this
case was about to do.
Miss Schaefer went TO Hurleyville. Sullivan
ALL DEERFOOT FARM SAUSAGES
are made at the Farm. in SOuthboro, Mass. Their