Buried alive?

[Pauline]

Browsing through a parish register earlier, I came across the following burial:

"A Poor man found near Foxshut hill almost dead was buried the 19th day of March 1758"

Would it not have been better to have waited until the "poor man" was fully dead before they buried him?

 

[jorghes]

Perhaps there should be a comma between the "almost dead" and the "was buried"?

 

[Pauline]

Perhaps there should be a comma between the "almost dead" and the "was buried"?

Yes, the 'almost dead' presumably relates to the state in which they found him, but the ambiguity of the entry caused me some amusement.