Year: 1865




grave! With another shrek | turned


in my narrow house, gathered in my


strength as il were, and threw it out from


me with what seemed the bursting pow.


er of giant. There came sharp crack


my prison seemed slightly to expand, and


! fancied felt a change of air. Irested a


moment, prayed God to help me and re-


peated the effort with even greater pow.
er. There was no resisting this The


coffin lid was burst asunder with a crash


and my limbs and body were free in the


awful darkness which enveloped me-the


rayless darkness of tomb


In considering this wonderful feat, il
should be borne in mind that none of my
strength had been exhausted by sickness,
and that besides being naturally very
strong, powerful man, my physical powers
were perhaps doubled and trebled by my
fear and despair.


was free now, to breathe the damp,
deleterious air of what / believed to be a
vault or tomb but confess my ter
ror was scarcely lessened at tie thought
of having thus extended the limits of my
prison; for after all | might not be able
to escape from this horrible place, and
if not, it would only be prolongation OF
the agonies OF life and death. Fortu-
nately had been coflined in my own
garments, and il was season of the year
when | could not suffer from cold, so that
the question of life without escape was
reduced to two points, suffocation from
foul air or starvation. If | could escape
the first, / knew there were several days
of life yet before me, and perhaps the time
would be long enough, with unremitted
toll, for me to dig my way out, like a
convict from his prison.


The first Important thing for me to as
certain was the dimension of my sepul
chre. Whether it was day or night |
could not then tell but / could see moth
ing whatever-not even my hand when
l held it close up before my eyes. Every
thing must be done by feeling; and
though sbuddering with horror at the
thought of what 1 might discover, | knew
that delay could avail me nothing, and
resolved to set about the work before
me. rose up in my coffin and stretched
my hands above my head, but they came
in contact with nothing. felt on either
side, but touched no object. put them
down below the coffin, and found it rest
ed on a slab that was supported some
distance above the ground, | could not
exactly tell how much. / got out of the
coffin carefully, stretched down my feet
till they touched solid basis, and then
slowly and cautiously began to grope
around the vault. soon touched the
wall on one side, and carefully felt of the
stones, | found them, as / feared should,
large, solid, hewn, and evidently put to-
gether with cement. There seemed little
hope of my ever finding my way through
them. l followed the wall along till
came to pile of cofiins, one upon the
other, reaching up as high as my head.
They had evidently been there long
time, and / lancied, from the Shiny feel,
were miIdewed and decayed. After pas
sing these, / came TO another pile Of
coflins, not SO high as the frst, but even
more decayed. In turning from these
my feet slipped, l fell against them, and
the upper one came down with crash,
burst open, and the bones rolled out with
a phosphorescent glare, lighting up the
and looking like so many Goals
Of fire. l staggered back with an invol-
untary yell Of horror the thing was so
sudden and the spec.acles so awful.


My reason returned in a moment; and
though my nervous system had received
a shock that for a long time kept me weak
and trembling, yet / saw at once how
much / was the gamer by the accident,
since by this means | now had a dim
view of the charnel house, which had be-
come my prison if not my grave. The
vault was not large, but contained quite
a number cofins, not one of which was
new save my own, which led me to be-
lieve il had seldom been used of late
years, except perhaps as place of tenn.
porary deposit. 1t was a strange light
to see it blythe phosphoresence of a
dead mans bones; and when | take
everything into consideration-my re-
turn to consciousness, the horrible sus-
picions, certainties and discoveries, which
followed in appalling order-I am even
now compelled TO wonder how it Yves
possible for me to keep my senses and
continue my efforts TO escape with even
the GOODNESS / did.