The news and herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1876-1881, 1876-12-21
A CHASTITY CEREMONY.
The Formal Cremation Of the Bodv oi
Baron De Palm- "A Horrible but
Interesting Account.
correspondence Philadelphia Times.

there were two solitary watchers on
Gailows Hill last night One was
MIR. James S, Wolf, the other was q
reporter Long before dark the
shrunken body Of Baron Do Palm
was wrapped in it's pale winding
sheet and laid out, stark and cold,
In the long iron cradle. The
cat@ta1que had been drawn to the
centre of the reception room q
biight lire had been started in the
httle stove at the side of THO room.
ana the back window had been rails
cd for reasons best known to any
body who went into the room with
out holding his nose, In the furn-
ace room Mr.. Wolf sat on the bot
tom OF an inverted bucket, smoking
MS pipe, occasionally opening the
furnace door and throwing red
glare over the little room and it's
occupants. It was spectral place.
The door between the two 10 ms
stood open, and the Baron lay in
plain sight, comfortable in his cool
quarters even outside the building.
Things were q little ghostly
Gallows Hill is quito a cheerful
neighhorhood, and with real
baronial mummy within ten feet on
one side and the old gallows posts
aeaning almost against the building
on the othor, and Cremater Wolf
TO hold a little kerosene lump for
the reporter to write by, md q
Chair from under the catafalque for
table, the cheeriness is doubly
oheered.
Trh REPORTER GETTING HOTTER AND
Er HOTTER.
The retort that was red hot in the
afternoon was getting halfway be-
tween red and white by midnight.
Every hour the bright furnace door
was opened and a fresh supply of
coke was put in. The furnace was
hot, terribly hot, two or three feet
off the ground, but near the top it
was almost as cool as the snow with
out The intense heat had burned
away tho plaster in crevices between
some of the bricks and the bright
light shone through. The fireman
as capital Ventriloquist md he
used his voice occasionally with
startling effect making the Baron
say, now and then. 'please stir up
the fire little. or, 'lt's getting cold
here" or "won't You give me glass
of wator?" greatly to the fright of
a country lad who stepped an rs he
was passing by,
TOILET OF THE BONES.
At 7 o'clock lis morning, when
the red light in t'le east began TO
throw FAINT shadows of the gallows
posts against the little building,
the undertaken climbed from the
silent village to tho summit of Ga
lows Hill to see that all was right
The furnace was then white with
heat. The furnace room was suifo-
eating and tho retort was red hot
and white hot in spots. At q quar-
ter before s o'clock Col. Olcott ar-
rived, carrying mis- Hindoo creme-
t Oil vase in one hund and a half
gallon bottle OF alum water in the
other. He took O brief look at the
body and then, taking q package
from his pocket, raised the winding
sheet and sprinkled frankincense,
myrrh, cassia nnd other spices over
the Baron's breast. After the sheet
WAS replaced the alum was poured
over it, wetting it from head to
foot This was TO prevent it from
making @ blaze when first pat into
: the retort. Then the evergrecns
and flowers were strewn over the
body and it was ready for the cere-
mony. BY this time it was, after
8 o'clock, and the reception room was
nearly full the physicians and the
newspaper iaen making a party of
about fifty, who were waiting i'm
patiently for the ceremony to begin
eOutside about hundred of the
townspeople had gathered
WHICH END F1RsT2
AT half. past eight o'clock the
fireman said that the Furnaces was
ready, and Col. Olcott told him to
unfaeten the door of the retort.
The furnaoe room was cleared, the
door was taken down, fresh lining
was put on tbs other door that was
to take it's place. and the prepare
tions were complete. Col. Olcott
and Mr.. Newton, the two executors,
took their places at the head of the
body one on ,each side, and Dr..
LeMoyne and DIR. Arsd,le at the
foot, "It goes in feet Arst," said
Col, Olcott.b "Oh, nol" replied MIR.
LeMoyna 4'it goes ia head first"
"But the body always goes into the
sepulchre feet frst;n".a said Col.
Dlcott.j MItsmakes no difference
DR.. LeIoyne replied "the feet
will be done i'm 4 half the, time ifM Q
put it head first. The solid part of
The body.is oil atlthe top and the
retort is Hottest at the back "All
right" said, Col Olcott, and the four
bearers, with uncovered heads,
picked up the body iron cradle land
all, and started for ithe, furnace
room. Not q word was ,aaid,y The