Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-06-21

OLD Mr.. Christ, Mrs. Clirist A1d tES
Misses ChEtss Recognize Somebody
Else's Body as thai OF Young Mr.
Z 80 From the New York Herald. -
PITTsBURG, PENN, June 7s--West Over
ton, near here, is in state Of great excite.
ment. a few days ago two men entered q
store at West Overton and purchased apint
Of whisky, the younger Of the two, who
was well dressed, paying for the same. On
the same evening be was found In state
of insensibility, apparently dead drunk,
under the oyershot of a stable. He was
Invested Of bis coat, and heavily breathing
like drunken man; he looked exactly like
a person in the stupor of intoxicatiOn, and
he was accordingly left as such to sober up
at leisure during the night. In the morn
ing, however, he was found in the same
condition and shortly after the man died.
On examining the body no mark of VIC
lence were discovered nor any thing to ex-
cite suspicion Of foil play, but bis coat was
missing, his pockets were turned inside out
and not thing was left about his person.
ItWas recollected that the young man had
paid for the liquor purchased, and a suspi-
eiOn was at once raised that he had been
drugged by his companion, then robbed.
The symptoms led to an inference of
poisoning by opium in some form, or by
some drug such as laudanum or sulphate
Of moFphia. -r E.. .rr. d. ...l 1
The excitement concerning it has been
intense. One man In the crowd gathered
around identified the dead man as Hiram
Christ, and Immediately several saw the
features of Mr.. Christ in the stranger, while
others, however, saw no resemblance, and
positively asserted to the contrary. And
here again began one of the most extraor-
binary series of contradictory identified
tions that has ever been recorded. The
father of Hiram Christ was sent for, and as
soon as he saw the corpse he declared that
it was his son. r.H.str1
Upon examining the body closely, how
ever, the father said he was not certain; his
son had a scar on the chin and toe split,
and the dead body had neither. Mrs.
Christ was sent for, and she, too, identi-
fed the corpse as the body of her SOD.
About this time the father recollected that
his son had purchased a pair of boots, and
that when he came from the store he COM
planned OF one being too tight, and that on
examining the boots one was found to be
number seven and the other number eight.
In an instant the boots of the dead man
| one was found to be number seven and the
other number eight. The sisters were now
sent for, wEo said it was their brother, and
while the perplexing dispute was going on
| the body was puLrefying, and it was deem
ed proper to bury it. .."
The father and mother refused to attend
! the funeral, but the sisters followed mourn
ing to the grave. With the grave, however,
the mysterious affair was not closed; on the
| contrary, it stirred up every body to great
| er work in definite directions. Persons
were sent out in search of Hiram Christ,
following him up to bis employer, who bad
recently transferred him to McKeesport.
| At McKeesport, however, Hiram was not to
| be found. The father and mother now
| fancied that the buried man was their son.
In great grief and contrition they made
| preparation TO dig up the corpse from its
| quiet resting place at Mehautic Church and
remove it to the yard where their ancestors
and friends were at rest.
But to remove all grief and sorrow from
| the hearts of his parents and sisters, but not
not to solve the mystery of the dead man,
Mr.. Hiram Christ, an prOpTid persona, put
! in an appearance. He had been Temporal
| rily absent from McKeesport when sent for,
but learning soon after what had happened
at West OVerton, be fastened home.
In the excitement caused by the contra
| dictOry Identification the companion of the
| dead man was forgotten and allowed to es-
cape from the country. At Iron Bridge and
at Bradford man of his description wanted
to sell coat, but beyond this nothing more
| has been ascertained. -.a.......