Death of An Officer

An English officer, after a gruesome experience during the Boxer rebellion in China, fell asleep in church during the sermon. He was dreaming that the executioner was approaching him to cut off his head, and just as the sword was descending on the officer's neck, his wife lightly touched her husband on the back of his neck with her fan to awaken him. The shock was so great that the officer fell forward dead. Could this story be true?