The Montana post., 1866-12-01
Roger Williams.

4 l.,
steps were taken to erect to him some
suitable monument, but the storms of
revolution came on, and the work was
forgotten. But recently the question
has been agitated anew, and Williams
may yet at least have some outward
sign to mark his greatness and perpetu-
ate his name. During a period of one
hundred and eighty three years, not even
a rough stone has been set up to mark
the grave of the founder of Rhode Is
land, till the precise locality Of his grave
had been almost forgotten, and could
only be ascertained by the most careful
investigation. Suffice it to say, how
ever, that the spot was found, and the
exhunlation made short time ago, al
though there was little to exhume On
scraping off the turf from the surface
of the ground, the dim outlines of seven
grave es, contained within less than one
square rod, revealed the burial ground
OF Roger Williams. In colonial times
each family had it's own burial ground,
which was usually near the family resi-
dence. Three of these seven graves were
those of children, the remaining four
were adults. The easterly grave was
identified as that of Mr. Williams. In
digging down into the "charnal house."
it was found that everything had passed
into oblivion. The shapes of the coffins
could only be traced by black line of
carbonaceous matter, the thickness of
the edges of the sides of the coffins, with
their ends distinctly defined. The rust
ed remains of the hinges and nails, with
q few fragments of wood and single
round knot, was all that could be gath
cred from his grave. In the grave of his
wife there was not trace of anything
save single lock of braided hair, that
had survived the lapse of more than one
hundred and eighty years. Near the
grave stood a venerable apple tree, but
when and by whom planted is not known
This tree had sent two of it's main roots
into the graves of Mr.. and Mrs. Williams.
The larger root had pushed it's way
through the earth till it reached the pre-.
else spot occupied by the skull of Roger
Williams There making a turn, as, if
going round the skull, it followed the
direction of the backbone to the hips.
Here it divided into two branches, send
ing one along each leg to the heel, where
they both turned upward to the toes.
One of these roots formed slight crook
at the knee, which made the whole bear
very close resemblance to a human
form. This singular root is preserved
with great care, not only as an illustra-
tion of great principle in vegetation,
but for its great historic association.
There were the graves, emptied of every
particle of human dust! Not a trace of
anything was left 1t is known to chem
istry that all flesh, and the gelatinous
matter giving consistency to the bones,
are resolved into carbonic acid gas, wa
ter and air, while the solid lime dust
usually remains. But in this case even
the phosphate of lime of the bones of
both graves was all gone! There stood
the guilty apple tree" as was said at
the time, caught in the very act of {" rob
bing the grave" To explain the phe-
nomenon is not the design of this article.
Such an explanation could be given, and
many other similar cases could be ad-
duced. But this fact must be admitted
the organic matter of Roger Williams
had been transmitted into the apple tree
it had passed into the woody fibre and
was capable of propelling steam en-
gine it had bloomed in the apple bios
SONS, and had become pleasant to the
eye; and more. it had gone into the fruit
from year to year, SO that the question
might be asked: "Who ate Roger Will
liams p-LadteS' ReD0sit0ru. -..l