A weird adventure befell Mrs. Rafaela Mercurio, an Omaha woman who, after
apparently dying, awoke in the land of the living instead of the spirit
world. After her physician had pronounced her dead, her life was restored
by an injection of adrenalin, administered by Dr. W. A. Gerrie.
To all outward appearance, she was quite dead. There was no indication of
breathing or heart action. Prayers for the dead were started in the bed
chamber where her body lay.
Then Dr. Gerrie injected the gland extract in her heart, and after
several days she showed signs of returning life. Upon regaining
consciousness, she was confused and puzzled, uncertain, it seemed,
whether she was alive or dead. Later she described her strange experience.
“I could feel death pulling me,” she said. “I was slipping. I tried to
find something to hold to, but could not. I felt far away and alone, yet
it seemed there was something I must do before I slipped entirely away.
“I had just a few minutes. I must straighten out in bed. I must cross
my hands on my breast. I must smile. My children must know that I died
in peace. From far away there seemed to be people around me. But their
voices grew more distant.
“Then there seemed to come to me the comforting words of a priest. They
added to my peace and content. I was ready for death. I smiled, I think.
I know I wanted to. It was the last thing I remember.”
And then, days after the first injection of adrenalin, the “dead” woman
regained consciousness. It was four o’clock in the afternoon.
“I shall never forget that hour,” she said. “I heard the clock strike
four times—and I realized I was a living person in a living world.”
_A Fanciful Novel of the Red Desert Complete In This Issue_