A GIRL COFFINED IN A TRANCE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2090, 18 March 1889, Page 2

A GIRL COFFINED IN A TRANCE

The "Melbourne Herald" relate* » remarkable instance of trance whloh occurred In a Melbourne suburb about • fortnight ago. On laat Wednesday week a young ; girl employed it * fading drapery establishment In the central portion of one of the largest easier* suburbs was dis-' covered by her companions to be very lU, and after the had reoovered from what appeared to be a oataleptlo or epileptic fit, she «raa removed to her home m the neighborhood. Here she fell into a state of etnpor again, and her family becoming alarmed at her condition, secured the services of a medioal man, who admlnfi* tered oertaln remedies under the inflaenoa of vrnloh the girl returned to oonioiouanesa. After the doctor's departure' the young patient relapsed Into her formte Insensible condition, and upon the recall I of the medical practitioner be pronounced her to be dead, The supposed oorpa* was then prepared for Interment, and subsequently wan plaoed m a coffin, the) lid of which it was not intended to affix until some hours later. In the darkened ohamber, one window of which was, ton. the pcrpoies of ventilation, left open, the dead girl lay m her burial cerement*, while her sorrowing sister watohed beside the body. During her vigil the girl waa terrified at seeing the drapery m whloh the body was dad suddenly move, and faint with fear, ocreamed for aiaiitanee. Her mother was on the acece In an Instant, and finding that. the grave clothes of her danghter had been disarranged, galled for the neighbors. A oonßultation was held, and one wise peraon suggested that the body should be taken out of the coffin, lest if It were . a f aot that life had really returned, the shook to the entranced girl, la finding herself prepared for the tomb, might induce fatal consequences so soon as oousciousn ess was regained. A quick and excited rush waa then made for the blinddrawn room* and there the startled household beheld the whilom dead gift struggling In her coffin and endeavbrinf to free her limbs, from the cerements that bound them. It is easy to believe that joy preponderated over fear amongst those who witnessed this wondrous reiurrestion and that deft and willing hands quickly thrust from sight every traoe of the funeral arrangements. On the following day the girl, who had been literacy snatched from the jaws of death, was obnvaleacent, and she oontlnued to Improve until last Sunday week. But there is a sad ending to this strange history after all, for though she wm brought to life (n the manner related, she. again siokened, and on Wednesday last she died, aad reoocupled the coffin from whloh she had been reooveced only sarea days before,