RESUSCITATION OF AN EXECUTED CRIMINAL.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 395, 17 April 1871, Page 2

RESUSCITATION OF AN EXECUTED CRIMINAL.

A strauge story is told by the Louisville Commercial of the resuscitation of an executed criminal. A man named Kriel, in tliat cit^,| ; was lately sentenced to death for murderinghis wife, and was accordingly hanged in the middle of last month, llr. Kriel, we are told, " went to his doom grim, implacable, and un-i!; naturally firm." As is not unnatural with gentlemen in his position, " his desire to lire" V was paramount to every earthly desire." When the drop fell it was observed that the closed hands and position of the legs and feet of the culprit remained entirely unchanged, "showing a tremendous exercise of will and control of nerve." The neck was not broken, and General Whil taker, who was present at the execution, declared that pulsation in the' carotid arteries of the neck was' discernible after the gaol surgeon and his assistant) declared life to be extinct. After hanging some ten minutes Mr. Kriel was cut down, and his body placed in a coffin. "The eyes, that stared half open when the cap was withdraws, remained closed »ft*r I ' a slight touch upon them, and &« face assumed an appearance of *•*• The red flushing of the cheeks »me back to a certain extent, and the dark coloring on the neck under the knotted rope partially disappeared." No one i seemed ,t» have any charge of the body, and it wa> driven away in a hearse-to the vault in the cemetery. "Now," sa,ys the Commercial, " come 3 the closing scene in this strange story« Near midnight a light waggon was driven rapidly out of Walnut-street, in which W* seated three muffled silent figures; one of.*,, them a surgeon of great experimental know-ss, ledge, a firm believer iv the theory of resuKi* tation of animal life through the galvanic process. In the waggon were a mattress ana several blankets. The waggon halted new the cemetery fence ; the horse was held by the driver, and two men went to the vault* carrying between them a large sack well filled' In a short time they returned bearing wrtn them a motionless figure shrouded in a blanto • The figure was placed on the mattress, ano^ silence the waggon was driven back to tfce cnjThe body was conveyed to the surgery ot » most skilful and learned surgeon, Vuere? 0111, tj[ ten or twelve excited and expectdp stu£ eJT' >► stood anxiously awaiting the arroral or * strange party. The body was placed in > *£. cumbent position on the table, the olptWuß unloosed, the chest extended, and a" ,ft cision made in one of the veins 0> s arm. At first but a small drop of tW^ | colored blood came forth, but repeated i cisions and manipulations of the body ca ~ it at last to trickle forth more freely. -MV galvanic battery was then applied, and^ in H than fifteen minutes the warm blood 0?.-. ft menced to courso through the chilled .no jj c and at last the eyes were °P c j" hgr( jly students stood appalled, and could n» ' realise the extent of the demonstration oe them. One of them spoke to Kriel, •»

him, ' are you sensible ?' The eyes answered expressively, and the lips opened i»effectually, for no speech came forth. Stimulants were poured down the throat of the revived criminal, and in less than an hour after he had been placed in the surgery, Kriel sat up and asked them ' what have you done ? Am I alive ?' The consternation and yet the professional delight of the spectators were loudly expressed. Steps were immediately to save the life thus marvellously restored. Strangers disguised Jfr. Kriel, furnished him with means, and by daylight a man, weak and tottering, but firm and immovable in his demeanour, crossed the river, and was last seen by a watchful, silent, friend, who kept near him on the train leaving Seymour, Indiana, on his way to an unknown, but it is to be hoped a better future." Such is the tale told by the Louisville Commercial, Which does not tell us where Mr. Kriel proposes to spend his " better future." Possibly be arrived in England with the last mail, in which case we may hear of him as a candidate for Tipperary, with every prospect of success.