Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1878-03-02
BURNED TO ASHES.
THE CREMATION OF MRS. PIT
MAN.
The Body of the Wife of the Well
known Cincinnati Photographer Re
duced to Dust in the LeMoyne Fur
mace at Washington, Penna.

known Cincinnati Photographer Re
duced to Dust in the LeMoyne Fur
mace at Washington, Penna.
Special Correspondence of The Philadel-
phia Times.
WAsHINGTowN, Pa, Feb. Is.
This has been a tremendous day in
Washington-a body TO be cremated,
the Emma Abbott Troupe here, aud
Granger Convention all at once. Every
corner OF every street is filled with
countrymen, who are determined TO
"take III" all the shows. The body to
be cremated was that of Mrs. Jane Pit
man, wife of Mr. Benjamin .Pitman, of
of Cincinnati, weil-known author OF
standard works on photography, and
brother of Isaac Pltman, the English
inventor of photography. MIS-. Pitman
had long desired to be cremated after
death, and as soon as she died her huS-
band telegraphed. DR.. LeMoyue and the
furnace was fired up. "The cremation
must be strictly private, said Mr..
Pitmau; $50 shall it be, said DR.. Lee
Moyne, But when Mr.. Pltman reached
Pitisburg with his wiies body this
morning, and was Immediately inter
viewed by numerous newspaper cor
respondents, who showed him dozen
columns ct articles on the subject in the
morning papers, he concluded that the
newspaper men had better be admitted
lest they might rob the occasion OF the
solemnity that is said to belong to the
cremation of human body III the cele-
bra,ed furnace that LeMoyne built.
DIR. LeMoyne, however, was obdurate.
He left word in his drug shop with his
son-in-law, who is very small man,
with very red hair, that no newspaper
man was TO be admitted to the crema-
tion house. He refused to see or be
seer by any correspondents, and the
only courtesy shown to any member OF
the press was TO your own correspon-
dent, who was quickly ordered cut OF
DR.. Moyne's office, the aged gentleman
emphasizing the order by fourishing a
huge cane in each hand. the crema
ton was, therefore, strictly private, as
any reader of The Times may easily see.
ARRIVAL OF TIE BODY.
Mrs. Pilman's body reached Wash
ington at half-past eleven o'clock this
morning, accompanied only by Mr.
Pitman and one of his newspaper
friends from Cincinnati. 1t was en-
closed in an oiled chestnut casket,
shaped somewhat like dry goods case,
the same white all the way from head
to foot. Two silver-plated handles or
namented each side. When it arrived
in Washington the casket was covered
with piece of black oil-cloth, on the
center of which was tackled a permit
from the Health Officer of Cincinnati
for The removal of the body from that
city and stating the cause OF death to
be cancer of the stomach. A very
shabby and very muddy hearse, relic
Of the War of 1912, was in waiting at
the Washington depot TO receive the
body. The oil-cloth was pulled of and
the casket was showed into the hearse.
1t was noticed that The undertaken took
particular pains to iasten the back doors
of the hearSe, and the sense OF this was
apparent when the hearse began TO roll
up the long inclined plane that leads to
the house of burut hones. 1t the collin
had not been securely fastened in it
would have slid down the hill. The
corpse of the woman went up the steep
hill unaccompanied save by the driver
Of the bearse, and when it reached the
little brick house several Of the curiosity
hunters, who were sitting or the fence,
helped carry it in and lay it on the table.
Mr.. Pitman, meanwhile, was seated in
DR.. LeMoyne's parlor, talking with the
old gentleman about the beauties OF
cremationF At about one o'clock MIR.
Pitman and LeMovne's two sons and
two daughters started for the top OF tae
hill. They and the newspaper friend
of Mr.. Pitman from Cincinnati were
the only mourners. The furnace was
then at a " hite heat, the de Palm hre-
man, James Wolf having been dismiss
ed. and a fireman from the Washington
Gas Works taken in his stead. There
were no religious ceremonies of any
k nd. Several of Mrs. Pjtmau's lady
friends ia Cincinnati had read poems
and delivered addresses over her while
her body la, in that city, and Mr.. Pit
| man himself had delivered short al.
dress, but at neither time was there q
PRAYER, nor a tear, nor even sigh.
PUTTING THE BODY IN TIE FURNACE.
care You ready?' said the fireman,
at TWO or three minutes before 2 o'clock.
"All ready" replied young LeMoyne.
The bic iron door Of the retort was
taken Of, filing both rooms with an
almost unbearable glare and heat. The
young LeMoynes picked up the body,
which had been placed in the same iron
cradle in which de Palm was cremated,
and, resting the head on the edge Of
the furnace, showed the body in like sn
oyster-knife going into clam. The
BODY was encased in white sheet,
soaked in alum water, bot this did not
entirely cover the head, and as soon as
the head OF the corps was in foot or
two of the furnace door the dry cloths
in which the head was encased caught
fire and in an instant the entire building
was filled with dense black smoke and
with sickening smell. The door was
quickly closed, bat the overpowering
odor of burning hair and flesh lasted