The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-10-16

ROGER WILLiAMS---SEARCH FOR HIS Re-
MAfNs--HIs BODY ABSORBED BY THE
ROOTS OF A TREE---A CURIOUS INCi-
DENT.
Ninety wears after the death OF Roger WI
liams in 1771, steps We're taken 10 Greet SUM
suitable monument, but the storms OF the
Revolution came on and the work was Tor
,,otten But recently the question has been
Sn;tated anew. and Williams may yet at
least have some outward sign to mark his
greatness and perpetuate his name. During
a period of 1873 years. not even rough stone
has been set up to mark the grave of the
founder of Rhode Island, till the precise To-
cality of his grave had been almost forgotten,
and could only be ascertained after the most
careful investigation. Suffice it to say, how
ever, the spot was found and the exhuma-
ton made a short time ago-though there
was little to exhume. On scraping off the
turf from the surface of the ground the dim
outlines of seven graves, contained within
less than one square rod, revealed the burial
ground of Roger Williams. In colonial times
ecah family had its own burial ground which
was usually near the family residence. Three
of these seven graves were those OF children,
the renainding four were adults. The east
erly grave was identified as that of Mr. Will
liams. On digging down into the charnel
house." it was found that everything had
passed into oblivion. The shapes of the cot
fins could only be traced by black line of
carbonaceous matter the thickness OF the
edges of the sides of the collins, with their
ends distinctly defined. The rusted remains
of the hinges and nails, with few fragments
of wood and single round knot, were all
that could be gathered from his grave In
the grave of his wife there was not a trace OF
ANYTHING save single lock of braided hair
which had survived the lapse OF more than
$50 years. Near the grave stood venerable
apple tree, when and by whom planted is not
known. This tree had sent two of its main
roots in to the graves of MIR. and Mrs. Will
liams. The larger root had pushed its way
through the earth till it reached the precise
spot occupied by the skull of Roger Williams.
There making a turn as it going round the
skull, it followed the direction of the back
bone to the hips. Here it divided into two
brunches, sending one along each leg to the
heel, where they both turned upward to the
toes One of these roots formed a slight
crook at the knee, which makes the whole
bear a very close resemblance 10 human |
form. This singular root is preserved with |
great care, not only as an illustration of a
great principle in vegetation, but as great
historic association. There were the graves, |
emptied of every particle of human dust !!
Not trace of anything was left 1t is
known to chemistry that all flesh, and the |
gelantinous matter giving consistency to the
bones are resolved into carbonic acid gas, |
water and air, while the solid lime dust usu-
ally remains. But in this instance even the |
phosphate of lime of the bones of both graves
was all gone There stood the guilty APP
pie tree" as was said at the time caught in
the very ac of robbing the grave"
To explain the phenomenon is not the de-
sign of this article Such an explanation
could be given, and many other similar cases
adduced 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 fiber and was capa-
BILE of propelling a steam engine it had
bloomed in the apple blossoms, and had be-
come 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 Rog-
er Williams ?-Hartord Press.