The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1874-05-09

\ late been receiving the attention of the scien
}, tifc and literary world, and already society
+ for this purpose has been organized with d
considerable capital. The two principal ar
- gumentS advanced in favor of the method are
4, cheapncss and doing away very material
cause Of disease, which it is alleged results
= from tainting the atmosphere and the waters
with the gases disseminated by decaying bod
! les. The following, from the Philadelphia
E Press is an actual illustration of the process
! An actual case Of cremation occurred in
this city on Friday last. The body of George
Opdyke, son of Dr. Francis Opdyke, was
burned in the cellar Of his late residence,
| 1919 North Fourth street, George died Wed.
nesday morning. Orders were Immediately
sent as follows: To II boiler maker for a
boiler-like contrivancc, six feet and a half
, long by two feet six inches in diameter, clos.
ed and rivcted at both ends, and opening in
the middle on hinges; il was to be made OF
the best boiler iron; to a bricklayer to con.
stuct furnace IN the cellar, closing up with
it the large opening beneath the chimney,
and making q floor of brick; half way in the
furnace and half way in the chimney on the
brick floor were erected two little brick tow.
ers, some six feet apart upon which the boiler
or coffin, flat upon one side, was to rest; for
two loads of yellow, resinous pine.
The orders were filed, and the work done
by Thursday night, and on Friday morning
at o'clock, the ceremonies commenced.
The body, perfectly naked, was riveted and
screwed together, put upon the little towers
which rose about foot above the floor, the
tin throat piece taken from the chimney
wood piled under, alto At, and all around the
coffin, and set on fire The cellar windows
were opened for better draught. 1t will, of
course, be understood that, to prevent the
boiler bursting holes were pierced for the
escape of the gases all along the upper sides
1t was kept at a white heat until 4 o'clock p
~, when they ceased firing up. A cord and
a half of wood was used
1t was at srst thought that the coffin could
be opened about midnight but it was after
ward determined to allow it to remain as it
was until daylight. 1t was then drawn forth
When opered not Il vestIgc of the body re-
Misunderstanding but abouta quart of whitish
gray ashes These ashes were collected and
are now in an urn on the mantle in the doc
tors study. There is not particle of bone
among them, and the doctor declares that
when the ancients burnt their dead on wood
piles and collected the ashes they took with
them many pieces of bone, for, he says, nearly
all the old burial urns opened contained
small bits of bone.
During the burning, which the doctor him.
self superintendent, and which was attended
by several prominent physicians and other
gentlemen, there was little if any unpleasant
Odor in the cellar. 1t was about A. NJ that
the ashes were deposited in the urn. When
we called upon the doctor he showed us
about teaspoonful of these ashes. They
are to the touch much like pulverlzed sugar,
nd nprfnptlx- nlnr1occ 1bn 10 cbapn1
like common flower vase, corked and seal
ed with red sealing wax, and is about eigh-
teen inches high. Inscribed upon it is the
date of the birth and death of George OPP.
dyke.
The above case recalls that Of the cremation
of the body Of Henry Laurens, of South Car
mooted by the papers. The account, which
we find in the New York Obseroer, says:
He was an eminent merchant as Charles.
ton, was one of the patriots cf the Revolution,
was President of the Continental Congress,
and became distinguished as statesman. In
1910 during the Revolutionary war, he was
appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to Hol-
land, - negotiate commercial treaty; but
the vessel in which he sailed was captured
W Il British friga!e. His papers, which he
lultN ONtlDOalu, NCiC lSSONClSu ny thC tuC-
my. He was incarcerated in the Tower of
London, and at the close of the war was ap-
pointed u Commissioner, with Franklin and
Jay, to negotiate the treaty of peace.
lie died December g, 1892. BY his will he
directed that his body should be burned and
made a provision alternating from his son his
estate, valued at more than quarter of a
million unless the request were needed A
letter, written from Charleston at the time,
says that the reason Mr.. Laurens gave for
this singular desire was that his body was too
good to be eaten By the worms A iootnote,
however, in Chadwick'S Report on lntramu-
raj lntCrment" states that Henry Laurens,
having an infant child die Of smallpox when
the body was laid out, caused the window to
be opcned to admit fresh current Of air.
The air, blowing over the body, restored the
child t. life, and in this manner it barely es.
capped hrlng buried alive. So horrorsticken was
Mr. Lalrens at this event that he left orders
in his i'll, as before stated, for his body toI
be burned The funeral pile was erected on
a beautiful spot on his plantation. The body,
wrapped in twelve yards OF tow-cloth,' was
borne upon the shoulders of four favorite
slaves and laid upon the pyrc, when incense
and perfumes we're thrown upon it. After
the funeral services were held beside it, the
flames were kindlcd, and when the pile was
burned, the ashes were collected and placed
in "a silver vase,