Necklace of the Dead (1910)

A girl is given a present of a necklace by her lover. She becomes an invalid, and in time passes away. The young man comes in to take a last farewell of his beloved. He places a bouquet of flowers on the pall, and encircles the dead girl's neck with the jewelry he had given her. Later, the undertaker's helper comes to perform the last sad office. This man is poor, and the sight of the necklace recalls to his mind the poverty of his home. Accordingly he goes during the night to the vault where the remains are entombed, unscrews the coffin, and removes the shroud. Horrors! He feels a movement. Unmanned, he flees from the spot, but reasoning the thing out afterwards, he comes to the conclusion that the movement he felt was not a ghostly visitation, but that perhaps the girl was buried alive! He goes to her lover, confesses all, and the two hasten to the vault. Meanwhile, the girl has really regained consciousness and gets out of her coffin, and finding that the door has shut, waits with what patience she can muster, hoping to make someone hear in the morning. For the sake of warmth she wraps herself in the pall which covered the coffin. When her lover arrives he finds her senseless with terror at her grim surroundings, but in his arms she recovers. Learning the undertaker's story, she gives him the necklace, the desire for which led to her preservation from a living grave. The man, however, feels that the only thing to be done in view of the circumstances is to devote the gift to the service of the church, and this he does.