Ernest Bowers is badly injured in a car accident, but there is a problem. Earnest is a cataleptic. Catalepsy is a disease of the nerves and mind. The physical conditions when a cataleptic has a spell closely resemble death and include the primary stages of rigor mortis. Ernest carries a note at all times inside his coat pocket stating that he is a cataleptic and that in the event of seeming death his wife or Doctor should be notified. The letter also requested that no autopsy or embalming should be performed on his body for 72 hours although in his particular case the duration of the attacks were usually four hours or less. Ernest Bowers also wore a sterling silver bracelet with an inscription reading do not embalm me I am not dead. Unfortunately, somebody steals the jacket containing the letter as Ernest lays injured and the silver bracelet he wore had snapped and fallen to the pavement and is picked up by two children.