CERTIFIED DEAD.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3079, 9 April 1892, Page 1 (Supplement)

CERTIFIED DEAD.

A cortiin pious monk was wont to

thank Providence for placing death at the end of lifo instead of at the bogin.iing. booause. under existing circumstances, men are enabled to prepare themselves for that solemn event in a manner whi :h wonld otherwise be quite impossible

Had that monk lived during the nine teenth century, under some modern rod tape regime, he might, have been less profuse in his gratitude and confident in his assumption that death always comes at the end of life. Is was only a few months ago that a man was accused in one of the Paris courts of being drunk in the streets. He proved ably, by references to official documents, that ho had been killed twenty years previously in the Franco-Prussian war. It was very hard, he urged, that

a corpse like himself should not bo allowed to indulge in a little merriment by way of raitisating its lugubrious con dition. Unfortunately for the poor corpse, death was not considered incompatible with punishment, and the merry body was incarcerated in prison pending measures being taken for its official resurrection. They manage these thinjra rather funnily in France, but often they are not allowed even to be borr. ; or if born, they are not at all unlikely to bo officially changed at birtb. It was in the latter part of ISS7, or early in 18SS that a young woman named ' Henriethie' was drawn for the military conscription. It is not usual to obtain vivandieres in this manner, nor had the lady any desire to follow the drum in any case. She therefore made enquiries at the registration office, nnd there, to her surprise and disgust, ascertained that the clerk had entered her name as

' Henri,' and that consequently she was, in the eye of the law not a woman but a man. A similar accident befell a young lady who had been christened ' Louise Felioite,'. Her fancy had been liuhtly turning to thoughts of love and on Valentino's Day, 1888, all unconscious of her sex, she presented herself in company with her mother at a mayor's office in the Suburbs of Paris, in order to get a copy of her baptismal certificate, and to publish the legal banns for the approaching marriage with the rain of her choice. The registrar's clerk looked over the book but found no ' Louise Felicite' marked down on the day mentioned. However, the birth of a boy was renistered his name being as ' Louis Felicien.' It was then broken to the unfortunate and love lorn maiden that she too, lilea Henriette, was really a man, liable to be called upon to defend his country; and it was literally not till throe or four months later that her real sex was restored to her by a special iujunction of the Civil Tribunal. Then, and not till then, was slie allowed to assume the congenial role of bride.

A Swis3 captain at the end of a sanguinary aud prolonged battle, caused the dead aud dying to be thrown alike iuto the pits and buried together. Someone pointed out to him that many of the bodies still showed signs of animation. 'My good sir,' replied tin: Swiss, 'if a man were once to pay attention to the signs they show, there would not be dead body amongst them.' A similar power of preventing the mind being turned aside by trifling considerations appears to have characterised a certain Kazi in the city of Cairo, Mansur Bin Slusia by name. To him is attributed, among others, the celebrated pound of flesh judgment given in favour of the Jew creditor. His decisions were usually rather exlraordinary, but every now and then they were so remarkable as to attract attention from disinterested outsiders. On one occasion, the inhabitants of Cairo were shocked to seo a living man borne througn the streets, tied fast to a bier, and hurried towards the cemetery to be buried alive. His lamentable shrieks were eutiroly disrts^

"•arded by the bearers, who remorsely carried out their duty to its bitter end. It was soon ascertained that tho Kazi Mansur was responsible far this atrocity ; and, although Orientals are not easily shocked where tho administration of

justice (so-called) is concerned, yet, in this case it was felt that some enquiries should be made. Accordingly, the Kuzi was interviewed, and he was asked why it was that he had caused a liviiis? jian to be buried alive. Like Mr Gilbert's young lady in the Mikado, it was doubtless pointed out to him that burial alive is too ' stuffy ' a death to be agreeable. They found the Kazi quito ready to satisfy their doubts. 'You wish,' ho said, 'to know why this man has been buried alive. Woll, his burial has been ordered by me, in due form, because six years ago his wife was married to another nan according to the deoreo of the law, two witnesses of a very resectable character having certified his death at Bagdad. The man, however, ca.na before the court this morning, pleading that he was not dead, and advancing a claim to recover his wife. I ordered the two witnesses to reappear, and they proved beyond doubt by fresh evidence that they had attended his funeral at Bagdad, were he was buried in their presence. From this circumstance it is easy to conclude that the man cannot fee a real one, but the ghost of the former, and must therefore be laid, in order to put an end to all future disputes respecting the woman.' The bystanders thereupon, as we are told, dissembled their misgivings, praised tho Kazi's justice, and" retired. So much for the poor Enoch Arden of Cairo. His fate was sad in the extreme, and the details of it are harrowing to read ; but we may derive some little consolation from reflecting that probably they are not altogether accurate. The following, however, is a true story, and it must bo owned that it is near enough in its main ontline t-> that just narrated to give only_ too much reason for believing that Mioh judgments as those of Kazi Mansur Bin Musia were, and are still, possible in Oriental Courts. Mr Isaac Taylor published the tacts nearly four years ago ; the account which follows is in his own words :—' A man named Mahomet, a resident at Khartoum, nhortly before the siege, for greater security, entrusted his whole fortune, i amounting to £1600, to a friend, n Mamur in Upper Egypt, and promised him £200 for his trouble. When Khartoum fell, the Mamur put on mourning for his friend, who, hn gav« out, had the mercy of Allah. Ho kept the money on the ground that it lapsed to him as the cousin and next friend of the deceased, After a while, however, Mrthoraet turned up and demanded the restitution of his money. The Mamur denounced him as an impostor, declaring that he had never seen him before in his life. Mahomet sent for his wife t> testify to his indentity ; whereupon tho Mamur generously offered, as a mark of regard for his deceased friend, to marry her; as on his theory, she was now a widow. Thecasd was taken before the local judge, who informed the Mamur that unless he gave £500 backsheesh he would have to disgorge the whole sum. The Mamur considered the proposal extortionate, and the ease went up on appeal to Cairo, where the Mamur expended £1100 in squaring the officials all round, The balance he succeeded in keeping for himself, while poor Mahom jt. lost his fortune and was condemned in costs. What became of the wife I did net hear'