The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1869-01-02
A MysTEl7IREIY SOLVED.
Identification of a Corpse by Science.
From the Louisville conrisF.youraaI.l

From the Louisville COuTier-JOurnaII
Among the victims of the recent heart
rending and terrible calamity the beauti-
/ ful Ohio, were Mrs. Commodore Thomson,
! a young married lady of New Orleans, ON
! her way back to the Crescent City, and
! companion named Mrs Griffin, who had
resided III the same place. The day follow
! ing the awful night of the accident the
/ bodies of both these ladies were found as it
was thought, and taken charge Of by grief
| stricken friends for interment They were
| placed IN the Episcopal Church at Madison,
! Ind, not far from the scene of the wreck,
and the ladies of the parish very kindly rem
dered the remains every proper attention,
and prepared them for the grave Their
funerals took place in Christ Church, Rev.
James Runcel, d. ID. officiating. The graves
were prepared and the interesting funeral
services had progressed nigh to an end,
when message was received from Gommo-
dore Thomson, directing that the bodies of
his wife and Mrs Griffin be forwarded to
Philadelphia for interment there. At the
same moment Mr.. Wolff, cousin of Miss
Fahnestock who was also lost in the disas-
ter, appeared in the church and laid claim
to the supposed body of Mrs. Thomson as
that of his unfortunate relative. The friends
of Mrs Thomson insisted that the charred
corpse belonged to her, and in order to prove
that they were not mistaken produced evi-
dence to show that their deceased friend
owned and wore plain gold ring on her
finger with the name " Grace engraved in
side, and it was by this ornament that they
had succeeded IN Identifying the body. Mr.
Wolf was surprised at this announcement, rs.
as it was Just such a ring of that identi-
cal shape and bearing the very same simple
legend Grace, that he depended on making
good his claim to the corpse as that of Miss
Fahnestock. He had positive knowledge of
her owning and wearing such ring In life,
and was doubly assured of the fact by tele-
grams from Pittsburg, asserting that while
here, Just few days before her terrible
death, the young lady. had on her finger
such ring, Here was dilemma. The
friends of Mrs. Thomson were equally posi-
tive with those OF Miss Fahnestock that the
ring found on the corpse had been worn by -
her and beyond doubt fixed Identification.
After a calm discussion the friends deter
mined to forward the body to Philadelphia 1
and there endeavor to solve the mystery The
two lost ladies were of about the same size
and build, and as the clothing had ali been
burned away and the features horribly mutt
lated, the confusion arising from the re-
markable coincidence of both having rings
on their fingers of exactly the same kind
and bearing the same legend, was quite
natural, and, of, course, sorely distressed
the respective friends. The corpse arrived
in Philadelphia and the question of identi-
fcation still remained unsettled As last -
resort several gentlemen of the medical
profession were called to bring science to
solve the perplexing problem A post NOR
TEN examination revealed the fact that the
dlshgUred body was not that of a married
lady, and the friends of Mrs Thomson
willingly acquiesced in the decision, and the
corpse was surrendered for burial to the
relatives of Miss Fahnestock. The coinci-
dence Of the rings was very remarkable,
and had both the lost ladies occupied the
same relations IL life the Identification per-
hays, never could have been made, unless,
indeed the body of Mrs Thomson be yet
dragged from the river in such preservation
as to render the features recognizable. I