PREMATURE BURIALS.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume X, Issue 571, 21 August 1880, Page 2 (Supplement)

PREMATURE BURIALS.

Tho difference between death and a "'J&tfte of trance—or, aa the Germans put it, Todt and ikheihiodt —has never been qnite cloarlj understood by the generality of nwnkiiid. Society, which Bometimes diwa its beat for the living, does no 1 always do ita beet for tho dead (or those who appoar to bo dead), and he would be a bold man who, without statistics, should assort that men, women and children are never, by any chance, buried alive in tho British Isles. Aro the bodies of the poor always examined with caro b«foro burial i Are deaths properly verified in days of epidemic, that is to say in days of social panic ] I propose in this article to call attention to a fow instances of premature burials on tho continent of Europe ; instances which involve stories of trance, or Scheiuto<tt —a trance, the semblance of death, holding its sway over the human body for hours and days, and not merely for minntea, an in the case of ordinary fainting fits. In days when land is dear, and burial rights are leas sacred than the rights of builders and contractors, coffins hava been opened with the pick-axe, in in tho act of converting cemeteries into streets and gardens. Hero a gravo has been discovered whose inmate has turned in its shroud ; here a corpse clutching its hair in a strained and unnatural position : dead men. and dead women lying in their graves aa dead men never lie in a Christian land at the moment of burial. Tho presumption is that these people have been legally murdered. A few months ago a young and beautiful Woman on the eve of her marriage, with the man sho loved, was buried in the neighbourhood of Lodi, in Piedmont, in accordance with tho doctor's certificate. The doctor was of opinion that the girl had died from excitement—over-joy, it is naid, at tho prospect of being marriod, but the legal name for the catastrophe was disease of tho heart, and with this verdict hor place of socioty was declared vacant. When the first shovol-full of earth was thrown down on tho coffin, Btrango noises wero heard proceeding therefrom, 'as of evil spirits disputing over the body of the dead. Tho grave-diggers took to Might, and tho mourners began praying ; but tho bridegroom, less superstitious than tho others, insisted on tho coilin being unnailed. This was done ; but too late : the girl was found in an attitude of horror and pain imjiossible to describe ; her eyes wide open, her teeth clenched, her hands clutching her hair. Life was extinct; but when laid in her shroud tho day before Iter eyes wero closed, her hands were folded on her breast as if in prayer. The 'Medical Academy' of Milan, in one of its weekly reports, published on 'Vednesday, March, 22, 1848, ([notes a a case of trance which occurred to an ex-nun of the suppressed convent of St. Orsola, named Lucia Marini. The lady was taken ill, and, to all outward appearance, died : sho was known to be' subject to a peculiar kind of fit, which required peculiar treatment, and was *taying at the time of the catastrophe in the house of a friend, who had been a nun. The- becohlai ( grave-diggers, who in this case wore tho undertakers) insisted on burying tho body before night ; the surviving ox-nun remonstrated, urging that sho must first try tho effect of friction and mustard-plasters applied to feet and atomach, Fearing to lose their fee, tho

men of death waxed wrath iu their contention, and, seizing the body by the shoulders, were about to drag it out of ita bed, when the ' debt lady,' moaning and muttering inarticulate sounds turned restlessly on her pillow. The friend of Lucia Marini broke out into f>rayers, interrupted by tears; the men et go their hold, and one of them (the elder of the tvro)cro3ced himself devoutly. Tho other with a great oath declared it was ' spasms ;' the dead, in his opinion, being liable to convulsive movements if not properly straightened. But humanity prevailed over ignorance, and cupidity gare way to medical skill. The lady was thoroughly revived by a medical practitioner of tho neighbourhood, and lived for many a long day to tell the story of her escape from tho tomb. Another case in point is that of Cardinal Espinosa, some time president of Castillo. Philip the Second, King of Spain, one day, in a movement of irritation, addressed him as follows : ' Cardinal, take heed ! You are speaking to the President of Castille.' The cardinal understood that ho was dismissed from .olHce (the King being his own president), and fell to the ground as if stunned. Tho pulse showed no eigns of life ; the parted lip 3 omitted no ,breath ;—the king's wrath had slain his minister. It was decided that the unfortunate cardinal should be cut open and embalmed. The surgeon arrived and commenced his operations, but lo ! in the midst of the cutting the patient awoke, and, with Bcreama of agony, attempted to •truggle with his operator ! But it was too lato. Tho wonnda were mortal, and the cardinal oxpired before the comforts of religion could bo administered to him. In some instances the victims of trance have been known to rise out of their coffins. A case ia recorded of a young lady in Liep;ug, who, beitg reported dead during a nervous attack, was placed in her cofh'n, in hor paronts' house, and there kept duly dressed for the grave, with the lid of the coflin still nn-nailcd. While* the family were at supper she Appeared in her winding-sheet at the parlour door ; pale and frightened, but t'*ir to see, as before her supposed death. Father and mother and sisters started up with erica of horror, and rushed out of tho room by another donr, believing her to bo a ghost. Jt was only after a long interval, during which thoy entered and found her at table, eatiug and drinking, that thoy pptMiiaded themselves that the girl still lived. They found her cofh'n empty; ergo, tho ghost iu the parlour was aliving soul ! The doctor, tho priest, and the undertaker saw tho error of their ways, and tho deed was cancelled which declared the lady a corpse. On the following jear another deed woi made out for the biiiuo lady, and the same priest officiated, but not the doctor or undertaker. The lady was married, and lived to be th«t mother of nnjiiy children.