THE LATE CAPT, BAILEY

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2999, 10 September 1888, Page 2

THE LATE CAPT, BAILEY

Father Cassidy's Account of the ■ Eyes Opening,

The Rev Father Oassidy, one of the spectators who stated .that they saw the eyes' of the late' Captain Bailey opep, TOtea m follow to the Taranaki News;, P ; cut away the iStnp to'perrpit ib'e^lide covering the glass .breastplate to bo moved back, wo moved it; At .'this tiroe Mr 'Dickie was islanding: at the lelt, nVartlie of tKe j'l wap opposite.' Ho looked .through' the glass,and immediately very exclaimed, .'My l God, ho-is 'alive I Send for the doi)}op." J looked then, and! certainly saw the right" eye of| deceased: fixed/, as it were, ploadipgly i upoi) pe,' It opened wido in an

instant and closed; :vlt Hashed a-ligh't upon certainly l nover fiaw coming from any dead eyes before) aud a strange - feeling seized me tbat I neVor, until tben, experienced io the miny hundred cases of the dying and ! the dead that I have attended, This was the work of a few seconds. The eye, when we removed ! the: lid,-was halt .open again j but it no longer, had the samo look; that light seemed to havo left xb, and its fixed sternness seemed to tell its own story. When I sow all tins, no other was looking in, as it was impossible to see distinctly through the glass on account of the heavy moisture that covered it on the inside, This moisture which was very watery, covered all the iasitle of the glass; but a: rim of about two inches, right across it towards the head, ; of the coffin was quite clear,, No moisture had gathered there, and through this rim a most distinct and clear -vision, of the face could be seen, ;• I held the candle in : my hand, saw clearly what I saw, and felt then what I could not express, There was-perspiration on the forehead of deceased, aud then I thought it strange that no moisture should have covered.or gathered on this part of the glass that covered from the eves upward, or no moisture should, hive gathered anywhere , but on the brow of our dead friend, While I :looked. :anxioußly in tbo others were standing round,, and when 1 lifted myself up; after the eye' had opened, again •> and assumed its now stern, glassy gaze, - some of the others had a look, but they noticed no change in' the eye, but were. strangely;surprised at the wonderfully'life-likelook and freshness of the face, We sent a messenger for thedoctor, ard another for a: screwdriver. The doctor was away; the screwdriver came j and in a few minutes the lid was off. We were surprised, and all astonished, at; at the absence of all signs, of decomposition, at the red freshness of the cheeks, and placid face before us, There was nothing ;on the body but the shirts, which were certainly on when the accident happened; they were wet. We removed the sleeve links from the outside Oho; it apparently had not been opened, and the inner ones were certainly not removed after the body came ashore. We lifted up the limbs of deceased, and shook them about;they were stiff, spotlessly white, and showed no signs of scars or marks whatever, We examined the heart, put our hands along the spine, lifted him up, shook him, called him, moved his arms to and fro. They were quite limp, one was jammed tight along the side, the other was resting on the breast: We got the looking-glass and held it for a few seconds, but it was not moistened. We opened the mouth; one thought he felt a very slight odour. I remarked it was impossible, and tried my best to find it; but, no, everything secmedquite fresh, The ears were a little blue tinged, but did not look half so blue as hundreds of strong and healthy people do during these frosty evenings, On the right frontal bone there was a little skin cut about an inoh'long, and the flesh for an inch round it looked red, No sign of the inner or outer skull being, injured, nor does it seem possible there could havebeen with such slight tracesof injury on theouter surface. A scratch on the nose, another behind the right ear, and loin, were all that were notioeablo, Tho body had; hot been knooked about much, as had been assorted, but quite the reverse. The body was not then taken out ofthe coffin; but next morning, to be becomingly attired, After these, things had taken.place, after expressing very strong 'thoughts on all the strange circumstances of the. case, and after fully convincing ourselves that then at least the nobler part had passed out into eternal sun-, shine, we temporarily.putonthelid, the friends and relatives came in,' and all again feltthe strangeness of:that lifelike face, The glass was oleaned.be-fore-replacing. Next day the face had changed, It was then a dead face without doubt, But decomposition was not visible or noticeable anywhere, and I have seen hundreds look more ghastly and deadworn a few hours after their demise, I felt uneasy and Dr, Blundell was sent for, He came and convinced us that all was over, no matter how it happened, and where, I considered it advisable to furnish you with these particulars, as the case has excited considerable interest, and the public are, no doubt, anxious to know the true facts, and from them they can form their own conclusions, be thoy what they may."