Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1907-05-08
"Returned from the Dead"

When the Will OF Herbert Spencer
was published a smile was provoked
by one Of it's provisions. The aged
philosopher had directed that, pre-.
paratory to cremation, his body
should lie in coffin with loose lid
and easily opened from the inside.
A still more startling clause had
a place in the last testament of Miss
Frances Power Cobbe, who ordered
that her windpipe be severed before
her body was committed to the
ground. She, like Spencer, feared
that she would be buried alive. She
had reason. A kinswoman of hers,
a famous heiress, was declared to
be dead, placed in her coffin and
made ready for burial. The hearse
was at the door, the funeral guests
all assembled, when by some merci-
full Providence friend insisted on
having one last look at the body.
TheIsupposed corpse revived under
the Inspection and lived to marry
and become the mother of % chill
dren. This sort of story may read
like the weird material of which
gruesome fiction is made, but it is
only one Of many similar cases.
One that has recently greatly ex-
cited the public mind is of a woman
residing with her husband and
children near Accrington, England.
She lay as dead; her husband had
prepared her for the interment, and
the poor creature came to life while
actually being measured by the un-
dertaker for her coffin. The doctor
in attendance upon the unfortunate
woman had been completely deceiv.
ed by her symptoms and certified
her death.
She is by no means the only per-
son living in England who has been
certified to be dead. There lives a
lady in Holland road, Kensington,
who possesses, in the form of death
certificate, a memento Of a miracu-
lous escape from the grave. The
doctor had certified, the lady was
laid in her coffin and about to be
screwed down when her daughter,
who could not believe her dead,
placed brandy to her lips. The cof-
fined figure sat up and is alive today
to show her friends her own death
certificate.
The well known instance of the
member of Lord Mount Edgcumbe's
family, who, having been laid in the
family vault, was visited by the sex
ton for the purpose of plumber and
revived. is to we'll known to need to
be told at length.
Somewhere in England is GER
tain Trooper Holmes, who, accord
ing to evidence in the possession of
the Society for the Prevention of
Premature Burial, was dead" yet
is alive. Greviously wounded in
the Afghan war Of 1878, he was be-
ing brought down to Deolali, enroute
for England, when he appeared to
relinquish hold on life. There were
difficulties in the way of an immed-
late interment, so the body was laid
in the field mortuary. There it re-
mained for three day. On the third
day the surgeons went to perform q
post mortem examination. They
raised the tarpaulin beneath which
the body reclined, and were Mortified
to see hundreds of field mice, with
which the district is infested, scurry
from beneath the covering.
But they had been the means of
saving that soldiers life. The warm
tn of their little bodies had had a
terminating effect upon his. More
important still, however, they had
nibbled his calves, and SO brought
him to. He was breathing slowly
when found, was nursed back to con.
valesence, and went forth bravely to
rejoin his regiment at Meerut.
A we'll known character in Guer.
nsey used to be an old soldier who
had been cast into and redeemed
from the grave. After sanguinary
battle in the Crimea he was picked
up with a score more to be thrown
into the hugh trenches where tht
dead were to lie. Before the worl
could be completed one of the buria
party thought he observed a move
ment in this mans body. Efortl
at reviviication were successful,
attempted, and the soldier lived t
fight again many another day. 1
similar instance is recorded of