It is not always safe to conclude that persons enfeebled by age, or exhausted by long and severe illness, and pronounced dead by the attendant doctor, are really so. The Undertakers’ Journal, August 23, 1886, has the following:—
“It appears that George O. Daniels, of Clinton, Kentucky, had been ill for several months, and at length, to all appearance, died. The body was put in a coffin, where it remained for twenty hours, awaiting the arrival of relatives to attend the funeral. At midnight the watchers who surrounded the coffin were startled by a deep groan emanating from it, and all but one, a German of the name of Wabbeking, rushed from the room. Wabbeking remained, and as the groans continued he raised the coffin-lid and saw that Daniels was alive. Seizing the body he placed it upright. A few spasmodic gasps, a shudder, and the corpse spoke. The relatives returned to find the man sitting in a chair, and conversing with reasonable strength. Mr. Daniels claims to have been perfectly conscious of everything which passed around him, but says he was unable to move a muscle. He heard the sobs of his relatives when he was pronounced dead by the doctors, and noticed the preparations for the funeral. He is about eighty years of age.”
The same journal for July 23, 1888, reports the following under the head of
“RETURNED TO LIFE TWICE.
“The following details are given by the Cincinnati correspondent of the New York Herald from Memphis, Tennessee:—Mrs. Dicie Webb keeps a grocery store on Beale Street, and is well known to hundreds. Two years ago John Webb, a son of Mrs. Webb, married Sarah Kelly, a pretty girl, to whom the mother-in-law became greatly attached. Before one year of their married life had passed, Mrs. Webb, jun.,RETURNED TO LIFE TWICE. was stricken with consumption, and on several occasions came near dying. About a month ago the young woman became very anxious to visit her parents in Henderson County, and she was taken there. At first she appeared much improved, and hopes were felt that her life might be preserved through the summer, but two weeks ago last Tuesday a telegram announced her death, and the husband hurried to her parents’ home. Three days later he returned with the corpse. The mother-in-law pleaded so hard for a sight of the dead woman, that finally, despite the belief that the body was badly decomposed, it was decided to open the coffin. While looking at the placid face Mrs. Webb was terrified at beholding the eyelids of the dead woman slowly opening. The eyes did not have the stony stare of death, nor the intelligent gleam of life. Mrs. Webb was unable to utter a sound. She could not move, but stood gazing at the gruesome sight. Her horror was increased when the supposed corpse slowly sat upright and, in an almost inaudible voice, said, ‘Oh, where am I?’ At this the weeping woman screamed. Friends who rushed into the room were almost paralysed at the sight, and fled shrieking. But one bolder than the others returned and spoke to the woman, who asked to be laid on the bed. Hastily she was taken from the coffin and cared for. In the course of the day the resurrected woman fully regained her mental powers. The day following she related a wonderful story. She said she was cognisant of all that occurred, and did not lose consciousness until she was put aboard the train for Memphis. Soon after being placed in her mother-in-law’s house she came to her senses and knew all that was passing. While her mother-in-law was looking at her she made a supreme effort to speak. Mrs. Webb lived a number of days, when she again apparently died. The doctors pronounced her dead, and she was once more placed in the coffin. While the mother-in-law was taking her final farewell she heard a voice whisper, ‘Mother, don’t cry.’ Looking into the girl’s face, she saw the same look that she had noticed before. She called for help, and several women responded. Some one cried, ‘Shake her; she’s not dead.’ In the excitement of the moment, the women, it is thought, shook the life out of the poor consumptive, and last Saturday she was buried. The family and friends have endeavoured to keep the matter quiet.”
The Daily Telegraph, January 26, 1889, reports:—
“A NARROW ESCAPE.
“A Rochester correspondent telegraphs that a woman named Girvin, living at Burham, near Rochester, has just had a narrow escape of being buried alive. She fell into a kind of trance, which was mistaken for death. The coffin was ordered, and the usual preparations made for a funeral. But while a number of the relatives were gathered at the bedside bewailing their bereavement, the supposed corpse startled them by suddenly rising up in bed and asking what was the matter. The woman is making good progress towards convalescence.”
And on July 6, 1889, the same journal says:—
A CASE AT ST. LEONARDS.