Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1909-10-24
FACE TO FACE WITH DEATH
Events of Lifetime Pass in Review in Course Of
Moment When End Seems Near

Two men were sitting at a table in
restaurant discussing various psych-
illogical phenomena. Both We're pro
iessional men and familiar with the
technical as well as the popular side
of the subject they were reviewing.
which was the concentration OF the
attention when face TO face with
death.
"One often hears wonderful stories
of the instant review of the events
Of a lifetime experienced by drown
ing persons or those who are in
danger of imminent death" remarked
the older of the two, but | have al
ways been a little sceptical about the
possibility of such a complete revival
of the memory and the condensation
OF the events of lifetime into the
minute and a half that it takes TO
drown"
! But" objected the other, 1t has
| fallen 10 my lot on two separate occa-
sions to be thoroughly convinced OF
the rapidity of thought which is pos
sible when one is face TO face with
death. Instead of a rapid and extern
sive review of past events ] have
: found my thoughts concentrated on
one fixed idea always Immediately
connected with the danger in which |
was placed.
My first experience OF the kind
was in the river Shannon, when | was
learning TO swim | had taken only
few lessons in shallow water when,
being in rowboat on the river with
two others, one. a MI Brown, who
was a very fine swimmer, proposed
that We should take dip. A Mr..
Smith stayed in the boat to guide it.
After | had tried a few strokes.
staying close to the boat. | would
grasp the stern and rest myself. Mr..
Brown. who did not know | could not
swim, got behind the boat and gave
it a good push ahead as [ reached for
the stern afeer one of my efforts, and
| went down.
Not knowing anything about swim
ming except the stroke, mad no idea
of the movements necessary to bring
ME to the surface, SO persisted calm
ly in using the regular breast stroke.
This. of course. carried my head
down every time | extended my arms,
and the natural consequence was that
( nothing came TO the surface but my
fingers Had l brought my hands
down to my side of course | should
have come to the top at once.
The water being very muddy in
this part of the river and the current
very swift, it was extremely difficult
for Mr.. Smith to locate me although
Mr.. Brown stood up in the boat and
pointed the place where my hands
came up last By the time Mr.. Brown
got to the spot and dived, my errone-
Gus notions about swimming mad car
ried me a yard or two away just
enough for him to miss me.
AS | went down for the traditional
third time Mr.. Smith noticed that my
fingers were quite limp and that the
stroke had ceased. Fortunately for me
it had, because after final dive and
failure to reach me Mr.. Brown hap
pened 10 touch with his foot what he
took to be a half sunken sod or turf.
many of which float down the Shannon
under the surface. Instinctively he
made another dive and got his hand
upon it only to find that he had hold
of the hair OF my head.
This is what went on above the
surface. as learned later. Under the
water there was only one idea in my
mind. and that was whether or not
Mr.. Smith, who was sitting in the
boat rowing, had noticed that ! had
gone down. Mr.. Brown | knew had
his back to me.
AS long as retained conscious
ness | kept up the breast stroke with
the precision of a drill movement. Du-
ing the whole time, even when the
water began to trickle into my ears
with soft. musical sound, and | felt
myself swallowing it in large quanti-
ties, there was no review Of any past
life. No fear OF death. no thought OF