Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-11
BURIES HIS WIFE
ALIVE IN CRAVE
NEGRO HYPN0TlST ATTRACTS
THE CURIOUS
Woman Remains In Coffin six Days,
and Comes Out Feeling None
the Worse for Her
Experience
special to The Herald.


Is KINGSTON, Jamaica, Nov. 10.-"Pro-
fessor'' w A. Barclay, a colored hyp-
notist, hypnotized his white wife re-
Gently and in the presence of large
gathering of the public, buried her IN
a coffin under eight feet of earth.
The professor" announced that he
would leave his wife buried for six
days. After digging her up again and
reviving her, he declared, she would
be as fit and well as before burial.
The ceremony took place at Rock
port Gardens. The grave was already
dug when the professor" and his wife
arrived, and the coffin placed by its
side. Mrs. Barclay stepped into the
coffin, lay out at full length and closed
her eyes peacefully.
Professor Barclay, after making
passes over his wife's head, announced
that she was hypnotized and ready for
burial. The coffin lid was then fas-
tened down and the coffin was low
cred into the grave. The earth was
then piled on the coffin to a depth o.
eight feet.
Barclay assured the people that his
wife was not in the slightest degree
affected by the burial, and suffered
no discomfort. In fact he said, she
was much better off than a good many
Defiant Refusal
When the full details of the burial
became known a storm of protest was
raised in Kingston. Foster Davis, who
has control of Rockport Gardens,
sent a letter today to Barclay declar-
ing that he had no idea of the realistic
character of the performance, and add
ing:
~ 4t.s.o ot.o,ros+oooas T ,,,uet q elr
you to be good enough to make ar
rangements to disinter your wife this
evening"
Barclay, on receiving the letter, re-
Piled that he had pledged his word to
the public that he would bury his wife
alive for six days and he did not mean
to break it.
Professor Barclay kept his wife in
her living tomb for 104 hours. She rested
in a special coffin. to which two air
shafts one foot and six inches wide
were attached.
The grave was surrounded by inn
mense crowds day and night, and the
colored people took turns at peepins
through the air shaft to satisfy them
selves that she was not fed She re-
mained in the same srigid position
throughout, and when she was brought
ND it was found that she was perfectly
we'll Jul u1u lOoI Si5lAt ppuhhS -
weight.
Barclay claims to have done the same
thing before, and now offers to hypno-
tise any other person and keep hin
asleep in a glass case for advertising
purposes in show window.
The blacks of Kingston are terribly
excited over the incident, and for sew
eral days were almost ON the verge OF
hysteria.i
MANY Indian fakirs," says William
Crooke i'm his Things Indian" have
pretended to possess the power of re-
manning completely buried underground
for a considerable time without detri-
ment. Cases of the kind have been re-
ported from the Punjaub by travellers
like DR.. Honigberger. Lieut.. Boleau
and Capt Osborne.
Some of them are obviously impos-
lures; some, as in case reported from
Bengal in 1868. the acts of ignorant fa-
natics. Others again, like that of E
Guru at Dehra Dun, are possibly case:
of hypnotic trance. The man is said tt
have possessed the power of dying a
will and returning to life after a con.
certed interval. In the end he mistool
his reckoning, was not awakened at TIL,
proper time, and never revived" !"