Fanny Fry Run Over by Her Handcart — No Pulse, Sewn into Her Burial Blanket, and Restored to Life (1859)

Sixteen-year-old Fanny Fry, emigrating from England with the George Rowley Handcart Company in 1859, was assigned to a cart carrying six people's luggage with only three pullers — a woman, a lad of sixteen, and herself. Exhausted while pulling the overloaded cart up a long, steep hill, she fainted, fell under the cart, and was run over. Her companion Emmie could find no pulse, and Captain George Rowley, examining her closely from horseback, could find no life at all. He sent a cart back and she was carried into camp, where her grave was dug two feet deep and the sisters sewed her up to the waist in her blanket, ready for burial. She then opened her eyes and returned to life. She remained weak for the rest of the journey, surrounded by friends who cared for her, and lived to raise a family in Utah (she died in 1916).

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

While pulling this heavy load, I looked and acted strange. The first thing my friend Emmie knew I had fallen under the cart, and before they could stop it, the cart had passed over me, and I lay at the back of it on the ground. When my companions got to me, I seemed perfectly dead. Emmie could not find any pulse at all. She was so frightened she did not know what to do. Captain Rowley came up on his horse and said, 'What have you got there, Emmie?' She said, 'Oh my, Fanny is dead.' It frightened him, so he got off his horse and examined me closely but could not find any life at all. He asked Emmie to stay with me and he would go and stop the company and send a cart back for me, which he did. When I came to myself, my grave was dug two feet deep, and I was in a tent. The sisters had sewed me up to the waist in my blanket, ready for burial. I opened my eyes and looked at them. I was weak for some time after. I did not fully recover during the rest of the journey. Through it all I found I had a great many friends in the company.