“A frightful case of premature interment occurred not long since, at Tonneins, in the Lower Garonne. The victim, a man in the prime of life, had only a few shovelfuls of earth thrown into his grave, when an indistinct noise was heard to proceed from his coffin. The grave-digger, terrified beyond description, instantly fled to seek assistance, and some time elapsed before his return, when the crowd, which had by this time collected in considerable numbers round the grave, insisted on the coffin being opened. As soon as the first boards had been removed, it was ascertained, beyond a doubt, that the occupant had been interred alive. His countenance was frightfully contracted with the agony he had undergone; and, in his struggles, the unhappy man had forced his arms completely out of the winding sheet, in which they had been securely enveloped. A physician, who was on the spot, opened a vein, but no blood followed. The sufferer was beyond the reach of art.”
RESUSCITATION IN GREENWOOD CEMETERY.
Mr. Oscar F. Shaw, Attorney-at-Law, 145 Broadway, New York, furnished the author with particulars of the following case, of which he had personal knowledge:—“In or about the year 1851, Virginia M’Donald, who, up to that time had lived with her father on Catharine Street, in the City of New York, apparently died, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y.
“After the burial her mother declared her belief that the daughter was not dead when buried, and persistently asserted her belief. The family tried in various ways to assure the mother of the death of her daughter, and even resorted to ridicule for that purpose; but the mother insisted so long and so strenuously that her daughter was buried alive, that finally the family consented to having the body taken up, when to their horror, they discovered the body lying on the side, the hands badly bitten, and every indication of a premature burial.”
The Lancet, May 22, 1858, p. 519, has the following:—
“INTERMENT BEFORE DEATH.
“A case of restoration to consciousness after burial is recorded by the Austrian journals in the person of a rich manufacturer, named Oppelt, at Rudenberg. He was buried fifteen years ago, and lately, on opening the vault, the lid of the coffin was found forced open, and his skeleton in a sitting posture in a corner of the vault. A Government Commission has reported on the matter.”
From the Lancet, August 20, 1864, p. 219.
“PREMATURE INTERMENT.