Year: 1877

the published statements of persons be-
ing buried alive, under the supposition
that they were dead. In every instance
the story has proved to be false


Yet there is not year without a hor-
being consigned to the tomb, and, for
some cause or other, the grave or vault
being opened, the discovery was made
that the buried individual had "come
to-" and had perished miserably in fran
tic efforts to obtain deliverance. 1t has
been my habit, on seeing in the newspa-
pers one of the statements, to send a
letter of inquiry to the minister or some
other resident of the region, requesting
the precise facts in the case. Invariably
the story proves to be a fabrication, or
growth out of something that had moth
ing terrible in it. One person heard
somebody say that she had heard of a
man who told another that he believed
that a man had been buried before he
was dead. And then it gets into the
papers, and into the traditions of the
neighborhood, and then into the books,
and so it becomes a part of the grave
yard literature of the world.


The latest instance to which have at
tended is that of DIR. Green, of Hoosic
Falls, New York. Some few years ago
he lay two or three days in trance A
few weeks ago he died. At the proper
time he was laid in vault. When it
came to be talked about that he was
once in trance state, there was some
anxiety as to his condition, and the vault
was visited, only to find the most obvi-
Gus evidence-the same that Lazarus
gave-that he had been dead all the time
he lay there. But this was enough to
start the story, and the telegraph-not
from H0Osic, New York, but from Ben
ningtoa, Vermont-sent the startlingin-
telligence that signs of life were dis
covered, the body was taken home, and
the result was yet awaited with intense
| anxiety! / wrote to a friend in Hoosic
and learned the facts, which are with
out any romance or sensation. The
doctor died and was buried. That is
all.


Now, do not deny that such dread
| full accidents as premature burial may
and do happen. There are on record
some instances of which there is no
reason to doubt the truth But even
this is admitted with mental reserva-
ton, for the books insist that no such
authentic cases are on record. The
mother of the Scotch preachers, the
Erskines, is traditionally held to have
been placed in vault when she was
supposed to be dead. A ring on her
finger tempted the sexton to undertake
its abstraction, but when he used his
knife she started from a trance; he left
somewhat hastily; she followed him and
went home, to the great surprise of her


husband. This is the tradition, but if it
were traced to its source it would be
found as unfounded as all the rest. No


better proof of the unreliability of these


stories than the results of the system


adopted in Germany, of placing the


dead in houses prepared for their recep-


ton, where they are watched profession


ally until decay makes it obvious that
life is extinct. At Metz, a surgeon was


forty-fve years attached to one of these


houses, and, although it was rare for the


house to be without an inmate, in all


that time there was not an instance of a


person being restored. When / was at


Halle, at the grave of Gesenius, asked


the sexton to show me the arrangements


to prevent premature burials. He was


an old man; sections are often old men


he led me to a house near the gate of


the cemetery; in one of it's two rooms


was bed, on which the body of the one
supposed to be dead is placed; it is COW
) cred up as in sickness, and the air care


fully kept in state favorable to health.


On each finger is placed thimble, and


from each one extends thread, passing


through wall to bell, so delicately


hung that the least pulsation or move.
ment of finger would set the bell ring
ing, to the alarm of the attendant, who
instantly flies to the reviving sufferer.
"And how many times, in your long
service, have you rescued your custom
ers from an untimely gravep"


Not once" he answered. 81 hav,


never had case Of recovery, nor of ont
! who has given any signs of life.''
"Have you heard of any cases in 9th
,, er places?''


! alt is said that one was saved in Er
= furt, but it is only report; may be tru
, or may be not.'


+ This is the testimony that comes uni


formly from all the books and all tn


countries where the subject receive


careful attention. While it goes to shoy
+ that instances of premature burial ar
exceedingly rare, it does not show tha


such cases are impossible. In times G


prevailing epidemic, when bodies ar
: carried off by authority as rapidly a
4 possible, to retard the progress of pes
{, thence, it would not be strange if mi:
i takes were made Asiatic cholera some
times brings the victim to state of aE
e parent death, from which he may recoy
y ,lndo,. na,ofral AID