Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1873 — Almost Buried Alive. [ARTICLE]

Almost Buried Alive.

One of the most remarkable episodes that has ever occurred in the life of Frank Muhlbesch happened on yesterday. A few days ago Mr. Muhlbesch was taken suddenly ill at his residence. His disease was of a very acute nature, and in spite of all the efforts of his physicians, he died after a brief illness, and his sorrowing friends made ready for the funeral. An undertaker was--summoned and • the body properly laid"out, and on yesterday the funeral services took place from his late residence. After the customary services had been performed and the sorrowing relatives had taken their last look of the deceased, the coffin-lid was screwed down, and the funeral Cortege moved slowly toward the quiet confines of Graceland cemetery, wjiere the body was finally lowered sadly into the grave which had been prepared for it. The last prayer had been offered and the last solemn service repeated, when just as the sexton seized his spade and was about to drop the first shovelful of earth upon the coffin, a sound, something like a stifled groan, followed by a scratching noise, as if the dead man was trying to release himself from the confines of his narrow house, was heard proceeding from the still open grave. For an instant every heart stood still, and the blood of every listener seemed to curdle in his veins. The women screamed and hastened toward the carriage, while the men were not slow in following them. In an in-, stant the sexton was the only man .left at the grave, and he too trembled at hearing what he had never heard before. Finally he recovered presence Of mind enough to descend into the grave and break open the rough box which the coffin was encased. Then the noise Was repeated, andne knew that the occupant of that grave, who in a few moments more would have been consigned to a horrible death, and whom his friends had already mourned as dead, was still alive and anxious to be set free. A screw- . driver was soon procured from the undertaker present, and the coffin lid removed, when its occupant, instead of being cold and dead, as he had appeared when last seen, was found to be once more alive. His friends, who had by this time recovered courage enough to return tot he grave, were of course almost overjoyed at-this sudden and unexpected turn of affairs, and hastened to rescue the late deceased from his unpleasant quarters and remove him to one of the carriages in waiting, where he was rolled up in a plentiful supply of blankets and laprobes, and the friends who had lately followed him sorrowingly to the grave, now hastened joyfully toward their homes. The rescued’man was so overcome, on being rescued from his perilous position, tliat he was for a long time unable to speak, and what his feelings were while undergoing burial, or whether he was conscious at all or not until the last moment, when he managed4o signify that he was still alive, is not known.— Chicago Times.