Lived Though Terribly Injured

1895

Henry J. Lutton is 60 years old, and his home is in Clarendon, Warren county, Pa. On Aug. 10, 1885, Lutton, who was an oil operator, was working at the foot of a derrick being built on the hillside. Through some cause or other a three-fourths inch iron bar 21 feet long fell from the top of the derrick, 74 feet. One end of the bar struck on the right of Lutton's neck, went in between the jugular and windpipe, came out 1½ inches from the right nipple, struck two inches below the groin on left limb, out 3½ inches above the right knee joint and took off one of his toes, the bar burying itself eight inches in the ground.

Lutton was standing on the hillside at the time, and 9 feet 10 inches of the bar passed through him. It passed through 17 inches of his neck and body, and 11½ inches went through his limb. The victim was pinned to the ground, but showed his wonderful presence of mind by sliding down from the slight elevation he was standing on to the ground. He called on a man of the name of Phillips, who extracted the bar.

Lutton lingered at the point of death for six weeks and lived six days and seven nights on beef blood and brandy, which was administered by means of a rubber tube. — Pittsburg Dispatch.

Man Sleeping By Tracks Declared Dead

Middletown, New York, 1914

"CHRISTY" WASN'T DEAD

But Everybody Thought He Was, and He Just Missed the Morgue

Christy Fisher, a well known resident of this city, felt tired this afternoon, and lay down alongside the Erie tracks and went to sleep. A little girl saw him and told her mother. The latter investigated and decided the man was dead. She notified police headquarters. Motorcycle Policeman Dopson investigated, and also pronounced the man dead.

Chief of Police McCoach, Coroner Harding, and an undertaker were called and the coroner was about to hold an inquest preparatory to taking the man to the morgue when Fisher opened his eyes and wanted to know "what in thunder was going on." He was informed that he was dead at which he scrambled to his feet and ran down the tracks, narrowly escaping being hit by a train as he got away. — Dispatch to New York Times.

Doctor Resuscitates Girl at Her Funeral, Sits Up in Coffin

Wisconsin, 1883

Sitting Up in Her Coffin

At Black River Falls, Wis., the sensation of the day is the return to life of a young lady who to all appearance had been dead three days.

Miss Lina Richmann, the daughter of a wealthy German, had been very sick for some weeks and died, as was supposed. Her body was prepared for burial, when it was suggested by some one that the appearance of the young lady's face did not indicate death; but on the fourth day the funeral services were held.

While the ceremony was in progress Dr. Baxter, of Milwaukee, looking at the face of the supposed corpse asked that the services be interrupted long enough for him to attempt resuscitation. This was done, and he succeeded so well that the woman arose in her coffin with a terrible shriek. The scene was highly exciting. Men turned pale with horror, women fainted, and it was a long time before anything like quiet was restored.

Friends are continually calling to see and congratulate one whom they never thought to see again in this world. She says that while in a trance-like condition, she realized with unspeakable horror that she was being prepared for the services but could not speak or make any motion.

—The Hopewell Herald, Hopewell, New Jersey, Nov. 7, 1884.

She Escaped Burial Alive

Des Moines, Iowa, January 1915

Powerless to Cry Out, Though She Tried for Hours, Mrs. A. Sedden, Was Pronounced Dead

Des Moines. — For eleven hours Mrs. August Sedden of Persia, lay in a trance and was pronounced dead by her physician. Unable to move a muscle of her body or to make a sign, she heard the sobs of her family, heard friends notified of her death, heard the doctor telephone the cemetery officials to have the grave dug, and heard the minister engaged to conduct the funeral service.

Then at the last moment she gave a gentle sigh, and was saved from being buried alive. She is in a precarious condition, and death may yet result from a long sickness and the shock to her nervous system engendered by her dreadful experience.

Her Body Turning Slowly Into Bone

1920

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- Mrs. Levi Shroyer, 27, presents to the medical world one of the most baffling cases in history. Experts, the world over, have studied her malady without being able to help her.

The woman's body, from her jaws to her hips, slowly is ossifying. It is feared ossification soon will reach the heart, causing death.

The strange affliction sized Mrs. Shroyer in 1916, shortly after an operation.

Mrs. Shroyer was brought here from the South to take chiropractic treatments.

While under treatment at one time she lapsed into a state of coma. Her heart stopped bearing for five minutes and afterward, she declared, she experienced the feeling of entering another world and having been in the arms of her late husband.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 27, 1920, page 1.