The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1875-02-26
The Head of oliver Cromwell.

tsSenex'' writes to the London Times
as follows Several imperfect statements
having lately appeared on the above sub
iect, let me explain what became of the
remains of Cromwell. Partly from printed
records, and partly from what I heard
from Mr.. Wilkinson, to whom some of
the press have alluded, Oliver Cromwell
died at Whitehall Palace, on the Sd of
September, 1853, after protracted i'll
ness. He had been long suffering from
ague, and his case is cited in medical
books as one of q man who died of ague
while our warehouses were groaning with
Peruvian bark, which we did not know
how TO use. During this illness he be-
came SO depressed and debiitated that
he would allow no barber to come near
him and his beard, instead of being cut
in certain fashion, grew all over his
face After his death the body lay in
state at Somerset House, having been
carefully embalmed, and was afterward
buried with more than regal honors in
Henry VII. 8 Chapel in Westminster Alb
bey, where it lay until, after the Restora-
tion, it was taken out of his grave, as
were also the bodies of Ieton (Cromwell's
son-in-law) and Bradshaw j; the latter, as
President of the High Court of Justice,
having pronounced sentence of death on
Charles I. The three bodies were taken
in carts to the Red Lion, i'll Holborn, and
on the Both of January, the anniversary
of King Charles death, they were re
moved on sledges to Tyburn, where they
were hanged until sunset, and then taken
down and beheaded, their bodies buried
in a deep pit under the gailows, and their
heads stuck upon the top of WestIain-
ster Hall, where at that time sentinels
walked.
Ireton's head was in the middle, and
CromwelPs and Bradshaw's on either
side Cromwe1's head, being enbalmed,
remained exposed to the atmosphere for
twenty-five years, and then one stormy
night it was blown down, and picked up
by the sentry, who, hiding it under his
cloak, took it home and secreted it In the
chimney corner, and, as inquiries were
being constantly made about it by the
government, it was only on his death-bed
that he revealed where he had hidden it.
His family sold the head to one of the
Cambridgeshire Russel1s, and, in the same
box in which it still is, it descended to @
certain Samuel Russell, who, being n
needy and careless man, exhibited it in a
place near Clare Market. There it was
seen by James Cox, who then owned a
famous museum. He tried in vain to
buy the head of Russell, for, poor as he
was, nothing would at first tempt him to
part with the relic, but after a time Cox
assisted him with money, and eventually,
to clear himself from debt, he made the
head over to Cox When Cox at last
parted with his museum he sold the head
of Cromwell for e23O to three men, who
bought it, about the time of the French
Revolution, to exhibit in Mead court, Bond
street, at half crown head. Curiously
enough, it happened that each of these
three gentlemen died a sudden death, and
the head came into the possession of the
three nieces of the last man who died.
These young ladies, nervous at keeping
it in the house, asked Mr.. Wilkinson,
their medical man, to take care of it for
them, and they subsequently sold it to
him. For the next fifteen or twenty
years Mr. Wilkinson was in the habit of
showing it to all the distinguished men
of that day, and the head, much treasured,
| vet remains in his family n