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On this occasion, we cannot forbear to add an event more recent, but no less melancholy. The Abb? Prevost, so well known by his writings, and the singularities of his life, was seized with a fit of the apoplexy, in the forest of Chantilly, on the 23rd of October, 1763. His body was carried to the nearest village, and the officers of justice were proceeding to open it, when a cry which he sent forth affrightened all the assistants, and convinced the surgeon that the Abb? was not dead; but it was too late to save him, as he had already received the mortal wound.

In the civil wars of France, on account of religious disputes, when the Catholics besieged Rouen, in 1562, Francis Civile, one of the most intrepid gentlemen of the Calvinist party, received a wound which made him fall senseless from the rampart into the town. Some soldiers, who supposed him dead, stripped and buried him, with the usual negligence on those occasions. A trusty and affectionate person he had retained in his service, desirous of procuring for his master a more honourable burial, went with design to find his body. His search being fruitless amongst several dead bodies which were quite disfigured, he covered them again with earth, but so as that the hand of one of them remained uncovered. As he was returning, he looked behind him, and perceived that hand above the ground, and the apprehension he was under, that such an object might excite the dogs to unearth the dead body for devouring it, induced him to come back in order to cover it. The moment he was going to exercise this pious office, a gleam of light from the moon, just coming from under a cloud, made him perceive a diamond ring Civile wore on his finger. Without loss of time he takes up his master, who had still breath in him, and carries him to the hospital for the wounded, but the surgeon, who had been quite fatigued with labour, and who considered him as on the point of death, would take no trouble about dressing his wounds. The servant then found himself obliged to convey him to his own inn, where he languished four days without any help. At the end of this time two physicians were found who had the humanity to visit him. They cleansed his wounds, and by their care and attention put him in a way to live, and at length, to the astonishment of every one, he finally recovered.

But the misfortunes of this hero had not yet ended. The town having been taken by assault, the conquerors were so barbarous as to throw him out of a window. He fortunately fell on a heap of dung, where, abandoned by every one, he passed three days, until his relation Ducroiset had him carried off privately in the night, and sent to a house up the country, where his wounds were dressed as opportunity offered. There, after so many disasters, he recovered so perfect a state of health, that he survived forty years after all these accidents. That particular providence, which had saved this man from so many perils, also presided over his birth. His mother dying with child, during the absence of her husband, had been buried without any one thinking to extract the child, by the Caesarian operation, when fortunately the day after she was interred, the husband arrived, and learnt with surprise the death of his wife, and the little attention that was paid to the fruit of her womb. He instantly required her grave to be dug up, and having had his unfortunate wife opened, Civile was extracted while living.

The late Sir Hugh Ackland, of Devonshire, apparently died of a fever, and was laid out as dead: the nurse, with two of the footmen, sat up with the corpse. Lady Ackland, sent them a bottle of brandy to drink in the night: one of the servants being an arch rogue, told the other that his master dearly loved brandy when he was alive, and, says he, I am resolved he shall drink one glass, with us now he is dead. The fellow accordingly poured out a bumper of brandy, and forced it down his throat: a guggling immediately ensued, and a violent motion of the neck, and upper part of the breast. The other footman and the nurse were so terrified, that they ran down stairs; and the brandy genius hastening away with rather too much speed, tumbled down stairs head-foremost. The noise of the fall, and his cries, alarmed a young gentleman that slept in the house that night, who got up, and went to the room where the corpse lay, and, to his great surprise, saw Sir Hugh sitting upright. He called the servants; Sir Hugh was put into a warm bed, and the physician and apothecary were sent for. These gentlemen in a few weeks perfectly restored their patient to health, and he lived several years after. The above, says the writer, is well known to the people in Devonshire, as in most companies Sir Hugh used to tell this strange circumstance, and talk of his resurrection by his brandy footman, to whom, when he really died, he left a handsome annuity.

In Edge-hill fight, Sir Gervase Scroop, fighting valiantly for his king, received twenty-six wounds, and was left on the ground amongst the dead: next day, his son Adrian obtained leave of the king, to find and fetch off his father's corpse, and his hopes pretended no higher than a decent interment thereof: such a search was thought in vain amongst so many naked bodies with wounds disguised from themselves, and where pale death had confounded all complexions together. However, he having some general hint of the place, where his father fell, did light upon his body, which had some warmth left therein: the heat was with rubbing within a few moments improved to motion, that motion within some hours into sense, that sense within a day into speech: within certain weeks he arrived to a perfect recovery, living more than ten years after, a monument of God's mercy and his son's affection. The effect of this story I received from his own mouth in Lincoln College.

"We know some," saith Alexander Benedictus, "who have been laid in their graves half alive; and some noble persons have been disposed in their sepulchres, whose life has lain hid in the secret repositories of the heart. One great lady was thus entombed, who was after found dead indeed; but sitting, and removed from her place, as one that had returned to life amongst the carcases of the dead. She had pulled off the hair from her head, and had torn her breast with her nails, signs too apparent of what had passed; and that she had long in vain called for help, while alone in the society of the dead."

About seventeen years ago an innocent young country girl, of handsome and engaging person, was hired as a servant by a man at Paris, who was unfortunately for her contaminated with almost every vice incident to human nature. This wretch was so struck with her beauty, that he left no means untried to seduce her; but she was innately virtuous, and resisted all his wicked attempts. Being a stranger at Paris, and without any friend to receive her, she dreaded to quit the house of her persecutor, and with equal reluctance continued. At length her virtuous resistance so inflamed this wretched being, that not being able to gratify his desires in the manner he wished, he formed the most diabolical plan of vengeance that ever entered the human mind. He privately conveyed a quantity of plate, marked with his name, into the box where the girl kept her clothes, and then declaring he had been robbed, sent for an officer of Police, had her taken into custody, and made his report to the magistrate of the things that were missing. The officer on opening her box, and finding the articles supposed to be stolen, communicated the information to the magistrate, who, being fully persuaded of her guilt, committed her to prison. Here she fell on her knees, and supplicated the monster, but in vain; her tears were the only proof of her innocence, in opposition to the apparent fact, laid to her charge, which appeared to be incontrovertible. She was shortly after brought to trial, where, with the aid of the master's circumstantial evidence, she was found guilty, ordered for execution, and in short was hanged. But mark the secret workings of Providence in behalf of an innocent victim! The executioner was a novice in his profession, and in adjusting the rope round the neck of this poor creature, he fastened it so awkwardly, that respiration was not entirely stopped. After hanging the usual time, the body was cut down, and sold to a Surgeon, who ordered it to be removed to his house for dissection. In the evening, when about to commence the operation, he thought he discovered an unusual warmth in several parts of the body. On holding a glass close to her mouth, he perceived a dulness and humidity on its surface, which led him to conclude, that the action of the lungs had not entirely ceased. The almost fatal knife immediately fell from his hand, and with great humanity he had the body put in a warm bed, where, after applying the usual remedies in cases of suspended animation, he had the satisfaction to find his efforts effectual, in restoring to life this unfortunate innocent. The Surgeon then sent for a Priest, to whom he was known, and in whose prudence and secrecy he could confide, and after telling him the particulars of this strange affair, requested him to be witness of his conduct, and to further aid him with his advice. When this poor unfortunate creature opened her eyes, and beheld the priest standing near her, she believed herself in the regions of the blest, clasping her trembling hands together, she exclaimed,--"Eternal and heavenly Father, you know my innocence!--Have mercy on me!"--Nothing could be more moving and expressive than the supplications of this much injured girl, who being roused from a death-like state, fancied herself in the presence of the Supreme Judge, and, in fact, could hardly be prevailed upon to desist from her invocations to the priest as to the Almighty: and so strongly was the idea of her late dreadful sufferings impressed upon her, that it was with much difficulty she could be persuaded she was again an inhabitant of the earth.

Note--Celibacy in men was very common in France before the Revolution, and it was there no disparagement to a girl's character to have lived in the house of a bachelor as servant.

On the 23rd of March, 1756, a peasant, about sixty years of age, of the province of Scheeren, in Sweden, having been made very drunk with brandy, was, in his way home, thrown down by the violence of the wind: and as he was too far gone in liquor to recover his legs again, he soon fell asleep where he lay. Not being discovered till the next morning, he was found then frozen stiff, and taken up for dead. He was put into a shell in order for interment, when fortunately Mr. Nauder, a physician of the province of Gothland, being on a journey, arrived on the spot where the accident happened. He examined the body; the face, and all the extremities, were cold as ice, and the cheeks of an extraordinary red colour. The joints were immoveable, the eyes were fixed. Not the least motion of the heart or pulse, or the smallest signs of respiration were left; and the feet were so completely frozen, that the toes were all become black, except the great toe on the right foot. After some time contemplating on these unfavourable circumstances, Mr. Nauder imagined he could perceive some warmth at the pit of the stomach, which encouraged him to hope the poor object might be recovered; but there being no Apothecary, or medicines of any kind to be had in the place, he was induced to try the following methods. He begun, by ordering the arms, legs, and loins of the patient, to be rubbed with coarse woollen cloths. He put on the stomach and belly warm cloths of the same kind, which were frequently changed, increasing their warmth by degrees. At the same time, the patient was laid on a mattrass on the floor; no care being as yet taken about his feet, which the physician supposed it was impossible to save. On reflecting afterwards, however, on the custom of putting frozen meat into cold water, in order to thaw it, without prejudice, he had a mind to try the same expedient. But, as the joints were as yet inflexible, he could not find means to immerse the feet in water, so was obliged to content himself with ordering wet linen cloths, frequently changed, to be wrapped round them.

There was a young man in the hospital of the Holy Ghost, who being attacked with the plague from the violence of his distemper fell into so perfect a syncope, as to be imagined dead. His body was placed among those who, having died of the same malady, were waiting for interment. Whilst these carcases were transporting across the Tyber in a bark destined for the purpose, the young man exhibited some signs of life, upon which he was immediately carried back to the hospital, where he recovered. Two days afterwards, however he relapsed into a like syncope, and his body once more numbered with the dead, was again transported across the Tyber for burial. Again, however, he came to himself; new cares were bestowed upon him, and the assistance of suitable remedies, not only completely restored him to life, but even cured him so completely, that he lived for many years afterwards.

Hasty interment is still a prevalent custom in Russia, and even premature burials are said to be not quite unknown. A short time ago the following horrid circumstance happened at St. Petersburg.

A young nobleman, who had squandered away his fortune, found his sister, to whom he applied for assistance, not the least inclined, to sacrifice her patrimony to his taste for dissipation. As he considered himself her heir, the wicked thought arose in his breast, to make himself master of her fortune. With this view, he found means to give the unfortunate lady a sleeping draught. She was now considered as dead, and with every appearance of the deepest sorrow, her interment was resolved upon. The corpse was already placed before the altar, when one of her friends happening to pass through the place, was informed of her sudden death. She hurried to the church, where the priest was already pronouncing the blessing over the corpse; and in order to impress the last farewell kiss on the lips of her late dearly beloved friend, she hastened to the coffin. She seized her hand, and found it rather flaccid, but not stiff. She touched her cheek, and imagined she felt some natural warmth in it. She insisted on stopping the ceremony, and trying whether her friend might not be recalled to life. But all was in vain; neither the brother nor the priest, would listen to her solicitations: on the contrary, they ridiculed her as a person out of her mind. Unfortunately, she no where found assistance. She immediately, in her anxiety, threw herself into her carriage, and hastened to the neighbouring seat of government. Here she found a hearing; proper persons accompanied her to investigate the affair, and she drove back with speed, but found her friend already covered with sacred earth. The interment had taken place the day before, and the inhuman brother had already obtained possession of her property; while priests and witnesses attested that the unfortunate person was actually dead. Among the Russians, it is reckoned to be a heinous sin to dig up a corpse; and thus the desire of the generous friend, for a long time experienced the most violent opposition, to convince herself of the truth by ocular demonstration; till at last the commission of inquiry conceived some suspicion, and insisted on opening the grave, when the poor unfortunate lady was discovered to have been buried alive, as her face was much lacerated, and the impression of her nails in the coffin lid. The brother and the priest were immediately taken into custody, confessed their crime, and under went the punishment they so justly deserved.

This lady had been a long time ill in consequence of the recent death of her brother the Duke, but one Sunday fancying herself better than she had been for some time, and able to go to chapel; as she was dressing for that purpose, she suddenly fell down to all appearance dead.

The screams of her woman, and a female friend, brought Colonel Godfrey into the room; who, having probably seen instances of persons remaining in a state of insensibility for a considerable time, and afterwards recovering, directed that his lady should be immediately put to bed, and that two persons should constantly continue with her, till indubitable symptoms appeared of her decease.

The consequences proved with how much judgment the Colonel had acted. Notwithstanding the opinion of the physicians, who all declared that the breath of life was irrecoverably departed; and in opposition to the solicitations of his friends to have the body interred, he continued resolute in his determination to the contrary till the Sunday following; when, exactly at the same hour on which the change had happened, signs appeared of returning sensibility. So punctual was nature in her operations upon this singular occasion, that Mrs. Godfrey awoke from her trance just as the chapel bell was once more ringing; which so perfectly eradicated from her memory every trace of her insensibility, that she blamed her attendants for not awaking her in time to go to church, as she had proposed to do.

Colonel Godfrey, whose tenderness to his lady was unremitted, taking advantage of this incident, prudently gave orders, that she should by no means be made acquainted with what had happened, lest it should make a melancholy impression on her mind, and it is supposed, that to the day of her death, she remained ignorant of the transaction.

Upon our arrival at Dublin my mother and myself were very kindly received by an old acquaintance of hers, the lady of the well known Doctor Walker. This gentleman at that time, was esteemed so eminent in his profession, that he was accumulating by his practice a capital fortune, notwithstanding he lived in a very genteel stile. The Doctor was then writing a treatise against the Irish custom of burying the dead within a few hours after their decease. He endeavoured therein to dissuade the Hibernians from pursuing so hazardous a mode, as by interring bodies before any symptoms of putrefaction appeared, it did not unfrequently happen, that those who might have recovered their vital powers, were prevented from doing so.

When my mother heared on what subject the Doctor was writing, she related to him the story of Mrs. Godfrey and as soon as she had concluded it, to shew the Doctor, how consonant her opinion on this point, was to his own, she promised him, that if she was in the same kingdom with him when the king of terrors made his approach, she would carefully attend to the state of his corpse, and take care that it should not be entombed whilst there was the least probability of its restoration to life.

In a subsequent letter, she resumes the subject, and concludes it with the following melancholy narrative.

In the afternoon I sent my servant, to enquire after our good friend Doctor Walker, who was ill of a fever. About seven she returned with a countenance expressive of horror, and informed us that the poor Doctor had died during the last night, and that they were already going to bury him. And added, that as they were about to shroud the body, the orifices which had been made in his arms, on bleeding him before his decease, had bled afresh.

As it was now so late in the evening, and the house we had lately removed to, being full two miles from the Doctor's residence, my mother confined with the rheumatism, and myself much indisposed, rendered it impossible for either of us to reach the place of his abode, time enough to prevent his premature interment; which, but for these reasons, we certainly should have done. We likewise found that Mrs. Walker, had been prevailed on by the earnest entreatise of her sister, to leave the house and retire with her to Dunleary. My mother, therefore, ordered the servant to take a coach, and, if the corpse was interred, to have it taken up at all events, cost what it would.

You can give the common people of Ireland no greater treat than a Wake. Our maid consequently had many companions before she reached the house, especially as she made no secret of her errand. When they arrived, they learned that the body had been interred immediately after her departure, lest the disorder he died of, which was thought to be epidemic, should prove contagious. They were further informed, that as Mrs. Walker was of the sect of Anabaptists, it had been deposited, by her order, in their burying ground, which was situated at the extremity of the city.

The people who accompanied our servant, having come out with an intention of spending the night in their favourite amusement, now resolved to seek the sexton, and carry my mother's commands into execution: but as it was late, and they could not find his house, they clambered over the gate, and thus entered the receptacle for the dead; and whilst they sat round the grave, my servant heard, or thought she heard, a groan, which made them expect, with great impatience, the return of day light.

As soon as Aurora made her appearance, some labourers, who had just come to their work, acquainted them where the sexton lived, and he was prevailed on, though not without some difficulty, to comply with their request. Accordingly, the canonized bones of the doctor, which had a few hours before been hearsed in death, revisited the glimpse of morn. Upon opening the coffin, they found the body now totally deprived of life, but observed, that the late inhabitant of it had endeavoured to burst his cearments, and leave the dreadful mansion in which he was confined. He had actually turned upon his side; and, as my servant had reported, his arms bled afresh. The coffin was carried to the house of the Sexton, where multitudes, excited by curiosity, flocked from all parts, to see this memorable instance of fruitless precaution. The family, however, hearing of the circumstances, the body was ordered to be re-interred, and the affair was hushed up.

Are you casuist enough to tell me, how it happens that we are generally disappointed in the grand expectations of our lives, and find our favourite wishes crossed? Never was there a more singular confirmation of this fact, than in the case of the Doctor. The fear of being buried alive, seems to have engrossed all his thoughts. The apprehensions which arose in his mind, both on his own account, and that of others, furnished him an inexhaustible fund for conversation, and gave frequent employment to his pen. The presentiment which had taken possession of him, was not to be suppressed. But, alas! how unavailing, from a combination of preventive circumstances, did it prove!--Let it serve as a document to us, not to fix our hearts with too much anxiety on any object that lies within the reach of the accidents of life, or to indulge too great apprehensions of any dreaded evils.

I was greatly affected at the melancholy accident which had just happened; but my mother was almost distracted at being obliged to break a promise she had so solemnly made, and which would have proved so consonant to the wishes of her old friend.

I have often wondered that humanity, exclusive of affection, does not prevent those, who have a regard for persons during their lives, from leaving them in their last moments, through a false tenderness, to the care of nurses and servants, who are usually insensible to every claim but those of their own ease or interest. Too susceptible of pain, from beholding the expiring pangs of a beloved object, they hasten from it; whereas, that ought to be the strongest motive for their stay, as these would stimulate them to unremitted assiduity in administering every needful assistance whilst life remains, and to a due attention to the body till its interment.

The heroine of this event was named Retchmuth Adoleh. She was the wife of a merchant of Cologne, and is said to have died of the plague, which destroyed the greatest part of that city in 1571. She was speedily interred, and a ring of great value was suffered to remain on her finger, which tempted the cupidity of the grave-digger. The night was the time he had planned for the plunder. On going to the grave, opening the same, and attempting to take the ring from off the finger of the lady, she came to herself and so terrified the sacrilegious thief, that he scampered away with speed, and left his lanthorn behind him. The lady took advantage of his fright, and, with the assistance of the lanthorn, found her way home, and lived afterwards to be the mother of three children. After her real decease, she was buried near the door of the same church, and a tomb was erected over her sepulchre, from whence this record is taken.

Two men in trade, who lived in the street, St. Honor?, in Paris, nearly equal in circumstances, both following the same profession, and united in the closest friendship, had each of them a child, much about the same age. These children were brought up together, and conceived a mutual attachment, which ripening with years into a stronger and more lively sentiment, was approved by the parents on both sides. This young couple was upon the point of being made happy, by a more solid union, when a rich financier, conceiving a passion for the young maiden, unfortunately crossed their inclinations, by demanding her in marriage. The allurements of a more brilliant fortune, seduced her father and mother, notwithstanding their daughter's repugnance to consent to the change. To their entreaties, however, she was obliged to yield, and sacrificed her affections, by becoming the wife of the financier. Like a woman of virtue, she forbad her earlier lover the house. A fit of melancholy, the consequence of this violence done to her inclinations, by entering into an engagement of interest, brought on her a malady, which so far benumbed her faculties, that she was thought by all her friends to be dead, and was accordingly consigned to the grave. The former lover conceiving, and hoping what he had heard of her death, might only prove a syncope, or fit of lethargy, bribed the grave-digger, to convey the body to his house in the night time. He then used every means recommended for restoring suspended animation; and at length was overjoyed at finding his efforts prove effectual.

It is not easy to conceive the surprise the young woman was in on her resuscitation, when she found herself in a strange house, and as it were in the arms of her lover, who informed her of what had taken place, and the risk he had run on her account. She then comprehended the extent of her obligation to her deliverer, and love, more pathetic than all his persuasions to unite their destinies, determined her, on her recovery to escape with him into England: where they lived for some years in the closest union.

At the end of ten years, they conceived the natural wish of revisiting their own country, and at length returned to Paris, where they took no precaution whatever, of concealing themselves, being persuaded that no suspicion would attend their arrival. It happened however by chance, that the financier met his wife in one of the public walks. The sight of her, made so strong an impression on him, that the persuasion of her death could not efface it. He contrived it so as to join her, and notwithstanding, the language which she used to impose upon him, he left her with the conviction that he was not deceived.

The strangeness of this event, gave more charms to the woman in the eyes of her former husband, than she had for him before. He acted with such address, that he discovered her abode, notwithstanding all her precautions, and reclaimed her with all the regular formalities of justice.

It was in vain that the lover maintained the right which his cares for his mistress gave him to the possession of her: that he represented her inevitable death, but for him: that he ought even to be accused of homicide, for want of having taken proper precautions to assure himself of her death, and a thousand other ingenious reasons which love suggested to him, but without the desired effect. He found that the judicial ear was against him, and not thinking it expedient to wait the result of a definitive judgment, he fled with his mistress into a foreign country, where they passed the remainder of their days, without further molestation.

We have before observed that several persons reputed dead, had exhibited signs of life under the blade of the Anatomist, and had consequently deceived the judgment of the surgeon who regarded them as defunct. Hence it follows, that apparent death often carries with it the exterior characters of real death; that men of the faculty may be deceived, and much more so those who are less instructed; hence it follows likewise that for the good of humanity it is indispensible that a regulation should be adopted, which would save us from the dreadful horrors of so cruel an event.

As the fault was notorious, the judges of this tribunal were for condemning him to the punishment attached to the impiety. But fortunately for him, the King of Spain, by his authority and entreaties, delivered him from this certain danger, on condition of his expiating his crime by a voyage to the holy-land. But the unfortunate Vesabe did not long enjoy the pardon which he thus obtained. The Venetian senate having sent for him to fill the place of Falloppe, a violent tempest overtook him on his passage, and cast him on the island of Zante, where after wandering about for several days in the deserts, and suffering all the rigours of hunger, he ended his life deplorably in 1564, at the age of fifty eight.

We are informed in a treatise by Terilli, that a lady of distinction in Spain, being attacked with hysteric suffocations, was regarded as dead. Her relations applied to a celebrated Anatomist to open her, and acquaint himself more particularly with the cause of her death. At the second stroke of his knife she revived, and gave evident signs of life, by the cries that were forced from her by this fatal instrument. The dreadful spectacle excited such astonishment and horror in those present, that this physician, who had hitherto enjoyed the fairest reputation, abhorred now, and detested by every one, was compelled to quit not only the city, where this tragedy was acted, but even the very province itself, in order to withdraw himself from the effects of public indignation.

Acilius Aviola was concluded dead, both by his domestics and physicians; he was accordingly laid out upon the ground for some time, and then carried forth to his funeral pile: but as soon as the flames began to catch his body, he cried out that he was alive, imploring the assistance of his schoolmaster, who was the only person that had tarried by him: but it was too late; for encompassed with flames, he was dead before he could be succoured.

Plato tells us of Erus Armenius being slain in battle, among many others; when they came to take up the dead bodies upon the tenth day after, they found, that though all the other carcases were putrid, this of his was entire and uncorrupted; they therefore carried it home, that it might have the just and due funeral rites performed to it. Two days they kept it at home in that state, and on the twelfth day, he was carried out to the funeral pile; and being ready to be laid upon it, he returned to life, to the admiration of all that were present. He declared several strange and prodigious things, which he had seen and known, during all that time that he had remained in the state of the dead.

One of the noble family of the Tatoreidi, being seized with the plague in Burgundy, was supposed to die thereof, and was put into a coffin to be carried to the sepulchres of his ancestor, which were distant from that place some four German miles. Night coming on, the corpse was disposed in a barn, and there attended by some rustics. These perceived a great quantity of fresh blood to drain through the chinks of the coffin; whereupon they opened it, and found that the body was wounded by a nail that was driven into the shoulder through the coffin; and that the wound was much torn by the jogging of the chariot he was carried in; but withal, they discovered that the natural heat had not left his breast. They took him out, and laid him before the fire: he recovered as out of a deep sleep, ignorant of all that had passed. He afterwards married a wife, by whom he had a daughter; married afterwards to Huldericus a Psirt; from his daughter came Sigismundus a Psirt, chief Pastor of St. Mary's Church in Basil.

In the year 1650 Anne Green was tried at Oxford, before Serjeant Umpton Croke, for the murder of her bastard child, and by him sentenced to be hanged; which sentence was accordingly executed on the fourteenth day of December, in the Castle-Yard, Oxford, where she hung about half an hour, being pulled by the legs, and, after all, had several strokes given her on the stomach with the butt end of a musket. Being cut down, she was put into a coffin, and carried to a house to be dissected; where when they opened the coffin, notwithstanding the rope remained fast jammed round her neck, they perceived her breast to rise: whereupon one Mason, a tailor, intending an act of humanity, stamped on her breast and belly; and one Oran, a soldier, struck her with the butt end of his musket. After all this, when Sir William Patty, Dr. Willis, and Mr. Clarke, came to prepare the body for dissection, they perceived some small rattling in her throat, which induced them to desist from their original design, and began to use means for her recovery; in which they were so successful, that within fourteen hours she began to speak, and the next day talked and prayed very heartily. Nor did the humanity of the Doctors stop, till by obtaining a pardon for her, they secured that life, which their skill had restored. She was afterwards married, had three children, lived in good repute among her neighbours, at Steeple-Barton, and died in 1659. What was very remarkable, and distinguished the hand of Providence in her recovery, she was found to be innocent of the crime for which she suffered; and it appeared the child had never been alive, but came from her spontaneously, four months after conception.

In the year 1658, Elizabeth, the servant of one Mrs. Cope, of Magdalen parish, Oxford, was convicted of killing her bastard child, and was according hanged at Green-ditch, where she hung so long, that one of the by-standers said, if she was not dead, he would be hanged for her. When cut down, the gallows being very high, she fell with such violence to the ground, that seemed sufficient of itself to have killed her. After this, she was put in a coffin, and carried to the George Inn, in Magdalen parish; where signs of life being observed in her, she was blooded, and put to bed to a young woman; by which means she came to herself, and, to all appearance, might have lived many years: but the next night, she was, by the order of one Mallony, a bailiff of the city, barbarously dragged to Gloucester Green, and there was hanged upon a tree, till she was dead.

We have been particular in stating the above facts, from an idea that the knowledge of them may prove useful in similar accidents, and indeed in all cases of suspended animation.

Mr. Tossach, Surgeon at Alloa, relates the case of a man suffocated by the steam of burning coal, who he recovered by blowing his breath into the patient's mouth, bleeding him in the arm, and causing him to be well rubbed and tossed about.

And Doctor Frewen, of Sussex, mentions the case of a young man who was stupified by the smoke of sea coal, but was recovered by being plunged into cold water, and afterwards laid in a warm bed.

Even in old age, when life seems to have been gradually drawing to a close, the appearances of death are often fallacious.

A Lady in Cornwall, more than eighty years of age, who had been a considerable time declining, took to her bed, and in a few days seemingly expired in the morning. As she had often desired not to be buried till she had been two days dead, her request was to have been regularly complied with by her relations. All that saw her looked upon her as dead, and the report was current through the whole place; nay, a gentleman of the town actually wrote to his friend in the island of Scilly, that she was deceased. But one of those who were paying the last kind office of humanity to her remains, perceived some warmth about the middle of the back; and acquainting her friends with it, they applied a mirror to her mouth; but, after repeated trials, could not observe it in the least stained; her under jaw was likewise fallen, as the common phrase is; and, in short, she had the appearance of a dead person. All this time she had not been stripped or dressed; but the windows were opened as is usual in the chambers of the deceased. In the evening the heat seemed to increase, and at length she was perceived to breathe.

Mr. Glover, Surgeon in Doctor's Commons, London, relates the case of a person who was restored to life after twenty nine minutes hanging, and continued in good health for many years after.

The principal means used to restore this man to life were opening the temporal artery and the external jugular; rubbing the back, mouth, and neck, with a quantity of volatile spirits and oil; administering the tobacco clyster by means of lighted pipes, and strong frictions of the legs and arms. This course had been continued for about four hours, when an incission was made into the wind pipe, and air blown strongly through a canula into the lungs. About twenty minutes after this the blood at the artery began to run down the face, and a slow pulse was just perceptible at the wrist. The frictions were continued for some time longer; his pulse became more frequent, and his mouth and nose being irritated with spirit of salammoniac, he opened his eyes. Warm cordials were then administered to him, and in two days he was so well as to be able to walk eight miles.

In the parish of St. Clements in Colchester, a child of six months old, lying upon its mother's lap, having had the breast, was seized with a strong convulsion fit, which lasted so long, and ended with so total a privation of motion in the body, lungs, and pulse, that it was deemed absolutely dead. It was accordingly stripped, laid out, the passing bell, ordered to be tolled, and a coffin to be made; but a neighbouring gentlewoman who used to admire the child, hearing of its sudden death, hastened to the house, and upon examining the child, found it not cold, its joints limber, and fancied that a glass she held to its mouth and nose was a little damped with the breath; upon which, she took the child in her lap, sat down before the fire, rubbed it, and kept it in gentle agitation. In a quarter of an hour she felt the heart begin to beat faintly; she then put a little of the mother's milk into its mouth, continued to rub its palms and soles; found the child begin to move, and the milk was swallowed; and in another quarter of an hour, she had the satisfaction of restoring to its disconsolate mother the babe quite recovered, eager to lay hold of the breast, and able to suck again. The child throve, had no more fits, is grown up, and at present alive, i. e. 1803.

These means, which are certainly in the power of every person, were sufficient to restore to life an infant to all appearance dead, and who in all probability, but for the use of these simple endeavours would have remained so. There are however, many other things which might be done in case the above should not succeed; as rubbing the body with strong spirits, covering it with warm ashes or salt, blowing air into the lungs, throwing up warm stimulating clysters, or the smoke of tobacco into the intestines, and such like.

When children are dead born, or expire soon after the birth, the same means ought to be used for their recovery, as if they had expired in circumstances similar to those mentioned above.

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