Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-02-22


The incincration of the remains of Mrs.
Ben Pitmon of Cincinnati in DIR. lie Moyne's
cremation furnace at Washington, Pa. on
Friday. Feb. H. is the sixth case Of the kind
on record in this country. The cremation Of
the body Of Baron dc Palm, which took place
at DIR. lie Moyne's laboratory in December,
1876, is generally referred to as the first Of
such experiments in America but this is
mistake. The first body TO be disposed of by
burning was that of n man in South Carolina,
10 years ago, and his ashes were kept in II
funeral urn till some local disorder of the civil
war scattered them Again in July, 1876, an
other citizen of the same State, Henry Berry
of Marion county died and left will direct
ing William Hulon to burn his body on n fun
sral pyre and nppropriating TO him, in case
he strictly discharged this duty, q valuable
tract of land and a pair of mules. The will
also disinherited Berry's heirs in case they in
terfered with the fulflmcnt of his Wishes
He himself selected the funeral ground and
marked certain trees which should form the
pyre Immense logs were cut and laid four
square, and upon them was heaped kindling
wood Upon this base was placed the corpse,
inclosed in n velvet covered coffin, and a pile
of light wood fourteen feet high was laid over
the whole. Early on the morning of Tues
uhg' Julg 10, hIt NNo hl'picu W tii' iH''n
rs the wood burned away more was heaped
on, and in six hours Bcrrys bones alone were
raked out of the Goals. A Baptist minister
oiiiciatcd on this occasion. and some POO of
Berry's neghbors and servants stood around
and watched the burning. The affair caused
grent sensation in the noighborhood. and
the sons of the dead man were much con-
demned in not disinheritng themselves by
putting a stop to such IA 'profane' proceed
ing. But DR. lie Moyne, who is of French
descent and of some scientific celebrity, first
introduced the furnace, his only object at the
time being to commit to it his own body after
death
The Baron de Palm. whose case excited
great interest at the time. WAS first embalmed
ndburied in May. 1876, being exhumed seven
months after to undergo conformation. The
process occupied two hours and cost $500
and the Barons ashes, inclosed in liindoo
urn, now adom the rooms of the Theosophi-
cal Society in New York The next case oc-
Cured nearly year after. when DIR. Charles
| Winslow of Salt Lake City was burned in ac-
cordance with his last request. The furnace
was built for the occasion and taken down
| when its uses were over. so that this was by
| far the most expensive of American crema-
| tions, costing some $1,000. DIR. Winslow s
| body was wrapped in a shroud and showed
| into the furnace on shcct-iron plate. In two
! hours and thirty-fiye minutes the operation
was complete, and nothing was left Of his
mortal remains but three pounds eight and a
half ounces of white, odorless ashes. These
were sealed in glass vessel and shipped to
| Massachusetts together with the heart, which
| had been embalmed. The fifth case and,
with the exception of Mrs. Pitman, the last,
occurred in New York in November last,
when the dead infant child Of Julius Kercher.
| an ultramarne manufacturer, was consumed
| in one of the furnaces of the factory With
the help of two of his men the father heated
the furnace to white heat, inclosed the body
of the child in an iron flask, and cast it into
the flames In fifteen minutes the flask con-
tanned nothing but two and one-half ounces
Of white ashes, which were incloscd in a small
silver urn No notice would have been taken
| of this affair had not the undertaken who
didn't get the funeral reported the case to the
| Board of Health. kerCher was arrested but
afterward discharged, aud he has written in
his viii that his body shall be burned after
death. and tells his wife that if she dies be
fore him. he will, with his own hands, con.
vert her body to ashes.