Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-10-20
DIR. LIE MOYNE'S BODY.
A STRONG DOUBT WHETHER IT WAS
CREMATE0 AT ALL.
In Difference to His Daughters Opposition
the Wishes Of the Apostle Of Gre
nation in this Country Per-
haps Not Carried Out.
Correspondence New York sun,


richly ornamented coffin TO the crema-
tory to-day. What was done with the
body after it was once inside the little
brick building is not known. There are
even some doubts about the cremation
Of it; theoe are strong suspicious in
Washington that there were no inten-
tons of cremating it. Mr.. Tidball, a
prominent man here, said to-day that he
had what he believed to be the best OF
reasons for thinking that the body OF DIR.
LeMoyne will be taken privately from
the crematory and buried,
When DIR. LeMoyne died on Tuesday,
orders were given to fire up the Gre
matory furnace, but not to Wolf, the man
who did the heating when Baron de
Palms and Mrs Pittman's bodies were
cremated. Until recently DIR. LeMoyne
had believed that Wolf would act as
Crematory sexton when he died, but for
some reason the Doctor and Wolf have
parted, so John Dye. melancholy man
and sexton and undertaken by pro-
ieSsiOn, was employed for the duty. lie
built fire Tuesday night and found
that the furnace was IN good order,
although no fire had been built
i'm it since that one whose heat
incinerated Mrs. Pitman's body was eX-
tinguished. Dye got the furnace to
read heat, and kept it in that condition
all day Wednesday. When Wolf built
the fires he was not satitied with red
heat. lie forced the fires so that the
heat in the retort in which the bodies
are designed to be placed could almost
be seen. To put the eye to the little in
spectng hole was like fixing the gaze on
a prolonged flash of lightning. 1t was
a heat that played with themuscles and
nerves of the body as the galvanic bat
terv does Ii made the arm of Baron
De Palm 10 rise and fall until the arm,
with the rest of the body, melted to gas
and ashes; and il took the body and
substance from the shroud, and left the
outlines OF the shroud and body as
though both still existed.
No such heat as this did John Dye
procure. 1t was very hot furnace all
day Wednesday, but not the heat that
DR.. LeMoyne regarded as sufficient for
successful cremation. This made some
comment in the village, and gave
strength TO the whispered suggestion
that DIR. LeMoyne's wish was not to be
carried out, and that there was to be
only the appearance of cremation and
none OF the reality OF 1t.
There were funeral services that were
very brief at DIR. LeMOyne's late resi-
dence this morning. The relatives and
one or two near friends were the only
persons present. The house in which
DIR. LeMoyne has lived many years is by
highway more than mile from the Gre
matOry. This fiery tomb is on the crest
of hill that stands nearly in front OF
the farm house of one OF DIR. LeMOyne's
sons. After the services at the house
the body, in a rosewood coffin, was
taken to the hearSe and driven slowly TO
the crcmatorv, followed in carriages by
very few of DR.. LeMoyne's relatives. At
the steps OF the crematOry the Rev. DIR.
Hays said as the pail bearers bore the
coffin into the reception room: 1--WE
have now brought the dead to the place
of his choice, and then suggested that
all withdraw. \ few village people were
standing in the yard. The relatives,
with two exceptions, went away at once,
and the strangers were forced TO retire
outside the fence. a request TO be per-
mitted to be present and note the Oper-
alton for the san was peremptorily re-
fused. No physicians were present, so
far as could he learned, as was the case
when Mrs Pitman's body was cremated,
and there appeared 10 have been moth
ing done in the way OF making public
the details OF the cremation, although
DIR. LeMoyne had frequently said that
all that was needed for the public freely
TO acknowledge that cremation was pre-
ferable 10 inhmatiOn was familiarity
with il.
The relatives went away, the reporters
were excluded, and the village people
made 10 stand outside on the highway.
Then the doors to the reception and to
the retOrt room were closed, the win
dows darkened, and John Dive, with
two other men, was left alone with the
body. What happened thereafter is a
matter of surmiSe. At lOt there arose
from the chimney some black smoke,
but this could not have come from the
paocess OF incarceration, for the Crema
tory is so constructed that the smoke
and gasses that might come from the
body are consumed by heat. Many OF
the Ieople thought they detected an
odor as of burning flesh, while others
likened it to burning corn; but the Sun
correspondent detected no such odor,
and DR.. LeMOyne always said that he
had provided for the destruction of the
noxious gasSeS. 1t was understood that
John DYE and the others, after the rela-
tives withdrew, were to take the body
from the coffin. wrap it in a shroud,
place il i'm an iron cradle, and then
thrust it into the retOrt and close the
doors: but neither John Dye nor the
others would even say that the body
had been Cremated.
Il have got no information at all to
give" Dive said, when he came forth
about 10 o'clock, and left the doors
open.
From the street the coffin in the re-
cention room could be seen, as well as
the doors of the furnace and retort, but
there were no signs OF fire, and, after
the first cloud OF smoke, there had been
no signs of fire all. DR.. LeMOyne's son
sat on the stooP OF his house, across the
way from the crematoyy, for some time
in the afternoon. He said that he had
not witnessed the operation, but sup
posed that it was all over in two hours.
lie thought they would seal up the
furnace and not open it until Saturday
night. Beyond this he declined to say
ANYTHING; nor would any OF the other
relatives speak at all about the matter.
Meanwhile John Dye and the two
/ coatleSs men kept the strictest guard
over the entrance TO the crematory, and
they were dumb as sphinXes. When
the sun went down they were still at
/ their posts and seemed To be preparing
/ 10 STAY there all night. Now all this set
the people Of Washington to talking-it
was so differently managed from the ere
nations of Baron De Palm and Mrs. Pit
man. when DR.. LeMoyne himself SUI
perintended the cremation. There the
greatest publicity was given. DR.. lie
| Novne. al the first cremation, urged the
people to step inside and peep through
| the inspection place; and, the second
/ ,;,,,a orranramentS were made for de-