The union Democrat., 1871-09-23

Ninety years after his death, in III, step
were taken to erect a suitable monument. bu
the storms o. the revolution came On, and tn,
work was forgotten. But recently the ques
ton has been sgitated anew, and William;
may yet at least have some outward signs Il
mark his greatness and perpetuate his name
During period of 1873 years, not even
rough stone has been set up to mark the
grave of the founder of Rhode Island. The
precise locality of bis grave had been almost
forgotten, and could only be ascertained by thu
most careful investigation. Suffice it to say
however, that the spot was found and ex
humation made while ago, although there
was little to exhume. On scraping off the
turf from the ground, the dim outline of sew
en- graves, contained within less than one
square rod. revealed the burial of Roger Viii
liams. Three of those seven graves were
those of children, the remaining four were
adults. The easterly grave was identified al
that of Mr.. Williams.
In digging down into the ''charnel house, ,
it was found that everything had passed int
oblivion. The shapes of the collins could on
ly be traced by a black line of carbonaceou'
matter, the thickness of the sides of the cof
fins, with their ends distinctly defined. The
iuotSu VI tuC nIbSCS duu uullS, Win
few fragments of wood and single round knot
was all that could be gathered from his grave
In the grave of his wife not anything save q
single lock of braided hair, that had survived
the lapse of $50 years. was found. Near the
grave stood venerable apple tree, but when
and by whom planted is not known.
This tree had sent two of its main roots in.
to the graves of Mr.. aud Mr.. Williams, the
- Al. l. Al
earth till it reached the precise spot occupied
by the skull of Roger Williams. There max.
ing turn. as if going round the skull, itfollow'
ed the direction of the backbone to the hips
there it divided into two branches, sending
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 close resemblance to q
human form. This singular root is preserv.
ed with great care, and not only as an illus
tration of great principle in vegetation, but
for its historic association. There were the
graves emptied of every particle of human
dust! Not trace of anything was left?
II is known to chemistry that all flesh and
the gelatinous 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 case even the phos-
phate of lime of the bones of both graves was
gone There stood the guilty apple tree, F"
as we said at the time, caught in the very act
of "robbing the grave" To explain the phe-
nomenon is not the design of this article.
Such an explanation could be given, and
many other singular cases could be adduced
But this fact must be admitted the organic
matter of Roger Williams had been transmit
ed into the apple tree; it had passed into the
woody fibre and was capable of propelling a
steam engine; it had bloomed in the apple
blossoms, and had become pleasant to the
eye; and more, it bad gone into the fruit from
year to year, so that the qestion might be
asked, who ate Roger Williams ?-Christian
Era