FORMALITIES AND THEIR FATAL CONSEQUENCES.
WHENEVER grave-yards have been removed, owing to the rapid expansion
of towns, in America, or examined elsewhere, unmistakable evidences of
premature burial have been disclosed, as will be seen in this volume;
bodies have been found turned upon their faces, the limbs contorted,
with hair dishevelled, the clothing torn, the flesh mutilated, and
coffins broken by the inmates in their mad endeavour to escape after
returning consciousness, to terminate life only in unspeakable mental
and physical agonies. It may be said that every grave-yard has its
traditions, but the facts are carefully concealed lest they should
reach the ears of the relatives, or incriminate the doctors who had
with such confidence certified to actual deaths which were only
apparent. It is not, however, the custom to remove grave-yards in
Europe until all possibility of such discoveries has disappeared.
To reopen a grave is to break the seal of domestic grief. There
is a widespread belief that where a coffin, with a duly certified
corpse,--dead or alive,--has been screwed up, it must not be opened
without an authorisation from a magistrate, mayor, or other official,
and many people have been suffocated in their coffins while waiting
for this formality. Common sense, under the circumstances, seems to be
often paralysed.
In England it has been decided, Reg. _v._ Sharpe (1 Dearsley and Bell,
160), to be a misdemeanour to disinter a body without lawful authority,
even where the motive of the offender was pious and laudable; and a
too rigorous interpretation of this and similar enactments in other
countries has led to the suffocation of many unfortunate victims of a
mistaken medical diagnosis, whose lives, by prompt interposition, might
have been saved.
Köppen, in his work, entitled “Information Relative to Persons who have
been Buried Alive,” Halle, 1799, dedicated to His Majesty the King of
Prussia, Frederick William III., quotes the following amongst a large
number of cases of premature burial:--“In D----, the Baroness F----
died of small-pox. She was kept in her house three days, and then put
in the family vault. After a time, a noise of knocking was heard in the
vault, and the voice of the Baroness was also heard. The authorities
were informed; and instead of opening the door with an axe, as could
have been done, the key was sent for, which took three or four hours
before the messenger returned with it. On opening the vault it was
found that the lady was lying on her side, with evidences of having
suffered terrible agony.”
[A MAGISTRATE CENSURED.]
Struve, in his essay on “Suspended Animation,” 1803, p. 71, relates
the following:--“A beggar arrived late at night, and almost frozen
to death, at a German village, and, observing a school-house open,
resolved to sleep there. The next morning, the school-boys found the
poor man sitting motionless in the room, and hastened, affrighted,
to inform the schoolmaster of what they had seen. The villagers,
supposing the beggar to be dead, interred him in the evening. During
the night, the watchman heard a knocking in the grave, accompanied by
lamentations. He gave information to the bailiff of the village, who
declined to listen to his tale. Soon afterwards the watchman returned
to the grave, and again heard a hollow noise, interrupted by sighs.
He once more hastened to the magistrate, earnestly soliciting him to
cause the grave to be opened; but the latter, being irresolute, delayed
this measure till the next morning, when he applied to the sheriff, who
lived at a distance from the village, in order to obtain the necessary
directions. He was, however, obliged to wait some time before an
interview took place. The more judicious sheriff severely censured the
magistrate for not having opened the grave on the information from the
watchman, and desired him to return and cause it to be opened without
delay. On his arrival, the grave was immediately opened; but, just
Heaven! what a sight! The poor, wretched man, after having recovered in
the grave, had expired for want of air. In his anguish and desperation
he had torn the flesh from his arms. All the spectators were struck
with horror at this dreadful scene.”
The _Undertakers’ Journal_, November 22, 1880, relates the following:--
“An extraordinary story is reported from Tredegar, South Wales. A
man was buried at Cefn Golan Cemetery, and it is alleged that some
of those who took part in carrying the body to the burial-ground
heard knocking inside the coffin. No notice was taken of the affair
at the time, but it has now come up again, and the rumour has caused
a painful sensation throughout the district. It is stated that
application has been made to the Home Secretary for permission to
exhume the body.”
Dr. Franz Hartmann, in his “Premature Burial,” pp. 10 and 44, relates
the two following cases:--“In the year 1856 a man died in an Hungarian
village. It is customary there to dig the graves in rows. As the
grave-digger was making the new grave he heard sounds as of knocking
proceeding from a grave where a man had been buried a few days
previously. Terrified, he went to the priest, and with the priest to
the police. At last permission was granted to open the grave; but by
that time its occupant had died in reality. The fact that he had been
buried alive was made evident by the condition of the body, and by the
wounds which the man had inflicted upon himself by biting his shoulders
and arms.
“In a small town in Prussia, an undertaker, living within the limits
of the cemetery, heard during the night cries proceeding from within a
grave in which a person had been buried on the previous day. Not daring
to interfere without permission, he went to the police and reported the
matter. When, after a great deal of delay, the required formalities
were fulfilled and permission granted to open the grave, it was found
that the man had been buried alive, but that he was now dead. His
body, which had been cold at the time of the funeral, was now warm and
bleeding from many wounds, where he had skinned his hands and head in
his struggles to free himself before suffocation made an end to his
misery.”
A medical correspondent communicates to the author particulars of the
following case, which occurred at Salzburg, Austria:--“Some children
were playing in the Luzergasse Cemetery, and their attention was
attracted by knocking sounds in a newly-made grave. They informed the
grave-digger of it, and he secured permission to open the grave from
whence the sounds seemed to come. A man had been buried there at two
p.m. that day. The formalities of the permission to open the grave
delayed it till seven p.m., when, on opening the coffin, the body
was found to be bent completely over forwards, and was frightfully
distorted and bleeding from places on the hands and arms, which seemed
to have been gnawed by the man’s own teeth. The medical experts who
were called in to examine the case declared that the man had been
buried alive.”
From the _Undertakers’ and Funeral Directors’ Journal_, January 22,
1887.
[FATAL RESULTS.]
“Another shocking case of premature burial is reported; the distressing
incident took place at Saumur, in France. A young man suddenly died, at
least to all appearance, and his burial was ordered to take place as
soon as possible. The _croquemorts_, or undertaker’s men, who carried
the coffin to the grave, thought they heard a noise like knocking under
its lid, yet, being afraid of creating a panic among the people who
attended the funeral, they went on with their burden. The coffin was
duly placed in the grave, but, as the earth was being thrown upon it,
unmistakable sounds of knocking were heard by everybody. The mayor,
however, had to be sent for before the coffin could be opened, and
some delay occurred in the arrival of that official. When the lid was
removed, the horrible discovery was made that the unfortunate inmate
had only just died from asphyxia. The conviction is spreading that the
terrible French law requiring speedy interment ought to be modified
without delay.”
Mr. William Harbutt, School of Art, Bath, writes to me, November 27,
1895:--“The copies of the pamphlet ‘The Perils of Premature Burial,’
by Professor Alex. Wilder, you kindly sent me are in circulation.
Almost every one to whom I mention the subject knows some instances.
One, a case at Radstock, twelve miles from Bath, where the bearers at
the funeral heard noises inside the coffin, but were afraid to open it
without the authority from a magistrate. When it was opened next day
the appearance of the body showed that he had been coffined alive, and
had had a terrible struggle to escape.”
From the _Star_, London, May 13, 1895.
“A WOMAN LOSES HER LIFE THROUGH LEGAL FORMALITIES.
“Paris, May 11.
“A woman who was believed to have died the day before was being buried
at Doussard, when the grave-digger, who was engaged in filling up the
grave, distinctly heard knocking coming from the coffin. He called
a man who was working near, and he came and listened, and heard the
knocking also. It was then about nine o’clock in the morning. The
knocking continued, and they listened for about half an hour, when it
occurred to one of them that they ought to do something, so they went
to inform the local authorities. The curé of the village was the first
to arrive on the scene; but as no one had any authority to exhume the
body the coffin was not taken up. All that was done was to bore some
holes in the lid with a drill in such a way as to admit of air. By
mid-day all the necessary formalities had been gone through, and it
was decided at last to open the coffin. This was done; but whether
the unfortunate woman was still alive at this time is doubtful. Some
of those present affirm that she was. They state that they saw a
little colour come into her cheeks, and the eyes open and shut. One
thing is certain--viz.: that when at half-past six in the evening it
was finally decided to consult a doctor, the practitioner summoned
declared that death had taken place not more than five or six hours
before. It was thought that had the coffin been opened directly the
sounds were heard the woman’s life might have been saved, and she
would have been spared hours of indescribable torture and suffering.”
The Paris edition of the _New York Herald_, May 14, 1895, says:--
“The case of the woman buried alive at Annecy, in the Haute-Savoie,
the other day, has almost found a pendant at Limoges. A woman,
belonging to the village of Laterie, died, to all appearance at least,
a few days ago. After the body had been placed in a coffin, it was
transported to the village church. On the way the bearers heard sounds
proceeding from it, and at once sent for the mayor, who ordered it to
be opened. The woman was found to be suffering from _eclampsia_, which
had been mistaken for death by her relatives.”
The following case is instructive in that the victim was exhumed
without an order from the Home Secretary, or waiting for any
formalities, and was restored to life:--
“BURYING ALIVE.
[From the _Spectator_, October 19, 1895.]
[RESUSCITATION IN IRELAND.]
“Sir,--_Apropos_ of your article and the correspondence about being
buried alive, in the _Spectator_ of September 28, the enclosed may
interest you. It is an extract which I have copied to-day out of a
letter to a neighbour of mine from his brother in Ireland, dated
October 6, 1895:--‘About three weeks ago, our kitchen-maid asked leave
to go away for two or three days to see her mother, who was dying.
She came back again on a Friday or Saturday, saying her mother was
dead and buried. On Wednesday she got a letter saying her mother had
been dug up, and was alive and getting all right. So she went up to
see her, and sure enough there she was “right enough,” as G---- says,
having got out of her trance, and knowing nothing about being in her
grave from Saturday till Tuesday. The only thing she missed was her
_rings_; she could not make out where they had got to. Her daughter,
it seems, told the doctor on her way back here that it struck her that
her mother had never got stiff after death, and she could not help
thinking it was very odd; and it made her very uncomfortable. He
never said a word: and the kitchen-maid heard nothing until she got
the letter saying her mother was back again and alive. Luckily, she
did not “come to” until she had been taken out of her coffin. It was
a “rum go” altogether. They say exactly the same thing happened to a
sister of hers who is now alive and well.’--I am, Sir, etc.,
“PEVERIL TURNBULL.”