VICTIM HEARD KICKING INSIDE COFFIN
Redding, California (JFK+50) On March 12, 1921, charges were presented to the District Attorney that William Taylor, a member of the Hat Creek Indian Tribe* afflicted with smallpox**, was "buried alive" two weeks earlier.
Chief Samson Grant learned of this tragedy in a letter from his daughter, Mrs. Lein Rhodes.
Mrs. Rhodes claimed that two Indians were in the process of burying Taylor at night when they heard him "kicking inside the coffin." She wrote that the two Indians were afraid to open it up, preferring to avoid "the wrath of the health officer."
*Hat Creek Indians, a.k.a. ATSUGEWI, live in Northeastern California. Hat Creek is the English name of a river located inside the tribal territory. In 1977, the HCIs numbered 200.
**Smallpox was an infectious disease, often deadly, in which patients experienced a rash on the face, hands, forearms & trunk. There was no treatment or cure, but it was eradicated by 1980.
JFK+50
This bizarre story might seem to be rather insignificant (unless of course you were the man inside the coffin), but it was published on the front page of the Sunday Evening Star one day shy of a century ago.
SOURCE
"Buried Alive, Indian Smallpox Patient Kicks Coffin in Vain," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., March 13, 1921, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
