The Van Buren press., 1904-10-15
FEAR OF BURIAL ALIVE.
so Haunted an Old Man That He Mads
Strange Provision
Against II.

Burial alive has been the theme OF
many startling tales. and the idea IA
even to this day often found embodied
the plot OF play and story. Probably
everyone has at some time or other
come across this weird thought sx-
pressed in some form OF written or
spoken narrative There are people.
says the Baltimore Herald who shud-
der at the very suggestion OF such a
possibility, while others, notably med
ical men and those who fancy the
bizarre and the starting like 10 let tho
imagination play with the horrible de-
tails ot such q condition
A gentleman In northeast Baltimore
told a curious story Of this sort the
other day. The story was told him by
his grandfather, who. he said, knew It To
be fact
Years ago an old man living IN an out
of-the-way place in the country got hold
Of a newspaper which contained story
about man who died aud was buried in
the usual way--that is lying in the cof-
I'm face up. Some time afterward oc-
casion demanded that the grave should
be opened To the CONSERVATION anu
horror of all the body was found faces
down and the limbs in such position A.
to Indicate that terrible struggle To be
tree had taken place. The inference
was. Of course, that the man was not
dead when put into the ground, and that
he recovered from an extreme state or
coma after the last rites had been ad-
minstrel over the supposed corpse.
The story made deep impression
upon the old man He Was unable to rid
his mind OF the horrible thought II sug-
gested and hts one great dread came 10
be that he might meet with similar
late. He was afflicted with mild form
of mental alteration, and one OF ths
symptoms OF his trouble vas tendency
TO drop on into long aud dreamless
periods Of deep slumber This afiiiction
strengthened his dreadful forebodlng
At length, haunted by the thought un-
III he was almost crazy. he called his
eldest son to him and told him the story
and what effect II had upon himself
And then he Mortified the young man by
making the request that when In tins
the physicians pronounced him dead he
would take long knife and secretly jab
II into his heart,
The son had to promise and kept hia
word When the father died aud ar
rangements were being made for the
funeral he quietly stole into the room
where he lay and plunged a sharp knife
into the heart
The young man the story goes, be.
came very morbid ard never recovered
from the spell bis fathers condition ana
unusual last request seemed to have hal
upon him he lived to be an old msa
himself. and as each member Of the fam
ily died he performed the same deed to
their bodies AZ he had done In the case
OF his father. He had horror 1t Is said
Of being buried alive even more violent
than his fathers When he came to dia
he expressed wish to speak alone with
one OF his sisters TO her he related thu
whole story. beginning with the begin.
ming, when his father asked him to
plunge the knife into his breast, AMI
ending with the last time he had done
| like deed for his youngest brother He
had kept the secret well and not word
Of It had gotten out until he told his sis'
ter He pleaded with her to promise ~
do the same for him She promised
but the story goes dId not keep her
word