The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1868-12-25
sINaULAR cIRoUMsTANcn.
Solution of Mystery and Identified
ton of Corpse by Science.

! .
Among The victims oeths recent hsari.
rending and i6le calan1it7 on the beshti
! ful Ohio were Afs. Ca1modore Thomson. q
] young married lady Of New Oaleans, on her
way back TO the Crescent City, and COM
panion named Mrs Griffin, who had resided
ia The sane place. The day foliowingsf the
awful night Of the accident the bodies OF
both these ladies were found, as it was
thought, and taken charge of by grief-str ck-
60 friends for interment. They were placed
! in The Episcopal Church at Madison, ind,
1 pot far fremsthe scene of The wreck and the
ladies Of ths parish Esfy kindly rendered
tho remains every proper attention, and
took place in Christ Church, Rev. James
Runcel DID. officiating. Fhe graves were
prepared, and the interesting funeral services
hal progressed nigh to an end, when mes
sage was received from Commodore Thom-
son, directing that the bodies Of his wife and
Mrs. Griffin be forwarded TO Philadelphia
for intermsnt there. At the same 7momesnt
Mr, Wolf, cousin of Miss FahBestock, who
was also lost in the disaster, appeared in the
church and laid claims TO the supposed body
of Mrs. Thomson as that of kiE unfortunate
relative The friends of Mrs. Thomson in
sisted that the charred corpse belonged to
her, and 10 order to prove that they were not
mistaken, produced evidence to show that
their deceased friend owned Snd wore ablhins
gold ring on her finger With, ,thss aRms,
"Grace' engraved inside, aud it was By this
ornament that they had succeeded in identi-
flying the body Mr. Wolf was Surprised at
this announcement as it was on Just such
ring Of that identical shape and! bearing the
very same simple legend {" Grace that he
depended on making good his claims to the
corpse as that OF Miss Fahnestock He had
positive kRoWledgsOf heTOwning and, wear
ing such a ring in life, and was doubly as
sured of the fact by kilograms from Pittsburg,
asserting that while there, Just a few days
before her terrible death, the y0dHg lady had
on her finger such q ring Here was a
dilewms. The friends of Mrs. Thomson
we're equally positive with those of Miss
FahnestOck,' that the ring found oh the corpse
bad bsen vOrn by her. and beyond doubt
fixed, Identification. After calm discussion
the friends determined 10 forward the body
to Fhiladelphia, and there iendeavor 10 solve
the mystery. The two lost ladies' were iof
shout the same size and build, tsnd ss the
clothing had been burned, away and the
features horribly mutilated, the confusion
arising from the remarkable coincidence of
both having rings on their fingers of exaeily
the same kind, end besTingt6e same legend,
was quite natural and, OF course, sorelY ,dis-
tressed the respective friends. The corpse
Arrived in Philadelphia, ana the question of
Identification vas still unsettled HAs last
resort several gentleuen of the mediealpfo@
fession were called to bring science to solve
the perplexing problem. A post mortem
examination revealed the fact that the dis
figured body was not that Of almarried lsdV,
and the friends Of Mrs Thomson willingly
scquiesced in the decision, and the. corpse
was surrendered for burial 10 the relatives of
Miss Fahnesteck. The eoihcidenes 81 rings
was very remarkable, and had both the lost
ladies occupied the same relations in life,
the Identification, perhaps, never could hsYe |
been made, unless, indeed, the bSay of Mrs |
Thomson be yet dragged from the river in |
such preservation as to render the features |
recognizable. II Pittsbgrg Gazette, I7th. .s