The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1865-07-31
Delging About Dead Mems Bones

Delging About Dead Mems Bones.
At its last session, the City Council
passed :>n ordinance requiring the hu-
man remains in the old City Cemetery,
on Arsenal street, to be removed to
the Quarantine b.srying ground, and
the land laid off in lots and sold For
several days past workmen have been
engaged i'll removing these bones, and
transferring them to their new rest INC,
place. The cemetery is about seven
teen acres in extent and is well filled
with graves. The removal of these
remains is q l;:borious task, and will
require several weeks and Il considcra-
bic number of labcrers. The cemetery
has not been used for several years.
and the graves are nearly all old, and
but few collins remain.
This graveyard VAS extensively
used lii the spring ard summer OF
1870, when the chc;"r. ragged in the
city, and 5000 persons were stricken
down by tho pestilc"cc. Ii thos,,
days the coffin makers :5rcw rich. and
the public administrator an1:Sscd ii
fortune. Corpses multiplied so I'll
pidly that there was no time for maxim =
wills, shrouding the bodies, or holding
wakes over iha dead. a. man would
rise in the morning in perfect health.
and before night his remains would he
carried to the potter's field. without !,
mclrner to drop y tear upon HIS
coffin, or a friendly hand to nl.r!: the
spot OF his yepose. Strangers who
died We're tumloled into rude collins.
with their clothes on, and hurricdlv
placed in the ground in the old city
cemetery.
We understand that in digging MP
some Of these old graves, the laborers
have found money enough to make
the work interesting; not such valua-
bic treasures as were discovered in the
graves at ChiriGui, but still enough to
excite their cupidity. In one grave
the sum of $500 in French gold coin
was dug up; it appeared to have been
sewed up in the collar Of the owners
coats who doubtless had died of cho-
iera, and had been buried without
being undressed. In another grave,
$50 was unearshed and S12O in an
other. Larger sums may be found,
.oiANe VIZ 11OO1C1o a1C OlA CilC IctC CGCC
for the precious metal. Grcenbacks
wero unknown in those cholera times,
and gold and silver were more plenti-
full than at present.
Among the graves dug up was that
Of Mrs. Shea, an Irish actress, who
was killed ten years ago on the stage
OF the ST. Louis Theatre, by the fall
ing of a weight from one Of the beams
supporting the scenery. The play
was "Jacll Sheppard;" Ben. DeBar
was playing Blueskin, and Mrs. Shea
was acting the part of Mrs. Sheppard.
The weight fell upon her head, frac-
turing her skull and killing her in
atantly. She was buried in metallic
coffin with q glass face, and was in
tered IN her stage costume, with her
bracelets, breast-pin, SC, on her per-
son. On opening the grave, the re-
mains OF Mrs. Shea were fdtlnd in a
good state OF preservation. The work
men examined her bracelets through
the glass, but did not open the coffin,
although 1t WAS reported among them
that the Jewelry was worth over $5, 900.
The TACT is, however, that it is only
stage Jewelry, and not worth over $40.
Mrs. Shea's relatives axe all in Europe.
and her remains have never been sent
iol and probably never VIII.
ST. Louis Democrat.
The DeODlc Of Christ Chrr,J, p,r;I