A Man Who Was Hurled Alive.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXI, Issue 6204, 26 February 1904, Page 4

A Man Who Was Hurled Alive.

AN" EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE.

George Hay ward, a manufacturing jeweller, who died recently at his horns in rcd«'pend<«ncc, Amprica, nt tho ag9 of eighty two, wng buried alive whoa a young msiu in England, and was only suved iwiHUse the physicians differed ns to tlift O'hiso of hid duath and took up the body and v>lacp'l it ou the dissecting table, where Hiirsss of life were noted. This is the story i-f h s burial alive, as once told by Mr Haywrtrd to a reporter : —

•' It; was in Marshville, England, County of Gloucester, where I was buried." said Mr HaywHrd, very grimly. "My father hnd a lurge family of boys, and h9 raised us all on rh« t>mu near the villnge. I was young, inul it was my chief delight to £0 to the Hn.'fTs with my older brothers. In those days the farmhouses were surrounded by hi^ yards filled with straw. This straw was allowed to rot, and in the fall of the y^ar it; was loaded on waggons and carted to the fields as a fertiliser.

ma 1 on head nr stick,

"It was a bright morning when we started for the fields, and I run ahead of the horses. The horses in England are not driven with reins, but they follow the command of the voice. After reaching the field the pitching of the straw was completed. The men used hopstioks. which are fashioned somewhat after a heavy pitchfork. When standing near one of the hands by aocident I was struck on the head with one of the picks. It penetrated my skull and made me feel faint and dizzy.

"My injury was not considered serious. After returning to the house I was sent into the cellar, and much to my surprise I could see in the dark as well as in the light. After coming from the cellar my strength failed ma and I was soon bedfast.

"Two doctors were called. One insisted that my condition was due to the blow on the head, the other that I had pleurisy. At any rate, two weeks elapsed and my eyes closed in supposed death. "It was death, as far as my relatives were concerned. Yet I was painfully conscious of every movement going on around me. My eyes were half closed, and as I was laid out I heard my older brother, John, walk into the house. I saw him approach the cot with tears in his eyes and sympathising friends consoled him by asking him to dry his tears. •He is gone,' they said, and other similar expressions were used around the bier. Well known faces would peer down at me as I lay with my eyes half closed. Tears rained on my face as the burial shroud was wrapped arouud my body. "As soon as the undertaker arrived I knew I was to be buried alive. Try as I would, nothing could break the spell which bound me. Every action and every word spoken are as distinct to my mind now as then. LOWERED INTO THE GKAVE. " Well, the time for the funeral arrived, and the pervico was preached over my living bit rigid body. The undertaker approached and tlio lid of my little prison house was fastened down. Life seemed all but gono wh«-n tlii3 took place, but, as I said no effort of mine could break the spell.

" The coffiu wa3 put in the waggon and the trundling of the vehicle sounded in my ears. I wag painfully conscious of the fact tliat T was aoou to be lowered into the grave. Cut I did not fool foar at my impending fate. The coffin was tukeu out of the waggon and lowered into the gravp. In those days boxes w™ not used as receptacles for coffin?. " The clods of earth fell heavy on tho lid of the casket. There f was being entombed alive, unable to speak or stay the hands of ray friends. My efforts to move proved futile and the 010.-c air of the coffin seamed stifling to me. Suddenly the shovelling ceased and the silence of the tomb was comp-eta "I did not seem to have the fear then that a person would naturally expect under such circumstances. All I remember ia that the grave is a lonely place and thn silence of the tomb wasi horribly oppressive. A drenmy sensation cams over me and a sense of suffocation becnino apparent. My whole system was paralysed ; were it otherwise my struggles would hnve been desperate. AWOKE IN DISSECTING ROOT.r. "How long I reraiiiced in this condition Ido not know. The first sense of returning life carae over me when 1 heard tho scraping; of a spade on my coffin lid. I felt my self raised and boroe away. I was taken out of my coffin, nob to my home, but to a di?sßciing rnoui. I beheld the doctors who hud waited upon me at my home dressed in lonjr white apmnr. In their hands they had krives.

'• Through my half closfto 0703 I saw them engaged in .1 dispute. They were trying to decide how to cut me up. One argued cue way, while the other doctor took another view of the matter. All this I witnessed through my haif closed eyes. Mr sense of hearing was remarkably acute. Both approached the table and opened my mouth, when, by a superhuman effort, my eyelids were slightly raised. The next thing I heard was :—' Look out, you fo.ol ! He is alive.'

" ' He is <scad,' rejoined the other doctor. " ' See ! He opens his eyes !' continued the first doctor.

" The other physician let his knife drop, and a short time after that I began to recvoer rapidly. Instead of cutting me up they took me home. There was great rejoicing among my relativas. I owed my life to the doctors' dispute as to what axled me during my illness."