St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1880-02-28
Queer Burials.

- CnamDerS' S BOOK OF Days. - we IND
some curious facts concerning burials in
unconsecrated ground. AS the book is
not in the hands of every one, we can
not do better than present our readers
with a brief summary of some of the
principal cases recorded.
The first is that of & modest looking
altar tomb,n built of bricks, and about
two feet and half high, standing on
the dreariest spot of a lonely footpath
that leads across the fields from small
Hertfordshire village, called Flaunden,
to another village-name not given. A
large stone slab sets forth that this tomb
is sacred to the memory of one MI.
William Liberty, who was buried here
A. d. TIT, by his own desire, and to
whose remains were added those of his
widow, Mrs. Alice Liberty, deceased,
thirty-tWo years later namely, 1909.
"About a mile from Great Missenden, a
large Buckinghamshire village, stands a
queer looking building-a sort Of dwarf
pyramid-which is locally called Capt.
Backhouse's Tomb It is built of ilints,
strengthened with bricks; it is about
eleven feet square at the base; the walls
up to about four OF five feet are perpen-
dicular, then they taper pyraGlidically
but instead of terminating in a point,
a flat slab-stone, about three feet
square, forms the summit It is coy
cred with ivy, and has two small Gothic
windows to the north and south 1t
was the tomb of certain Mr.. Back
house, who built it during his lifetime.
"IM have nothing to do said he,
with the church or church yard! Bury
me there, in my own wood on the hill,
and my sword with me, and II defy all
the evil spirits in existence to injure
mel He died at the age of so, on the
Dist of June, 1900, and was buried, or
rather deposited, in the queer sepulcher
he himself had erected. His sword was
placed in the coffin with him, and the
coffin reared upright within a niche OF
recess in the western wall, which was
then built up in front, SO that he was in
! fact immured.' Seven years later his
/ son, Lieut. Gen. Backhouse, took the
body from the mausoleum. and had it
buried in the church-yard at Great Mis-
sender, along with other decent Christian
folk.
Sir James Tillie, who died at his
place, Pentlly Castle, Cornwall, was
buried by his own wish under a tower
or summer house, where he had passed
many joyous hours with his friends.
GA Baronet of some military fame, who
died in midland county, 1922 ordered
that his body should be covered with a
sere-cloth, and buried without q
coffin in particular place in the
park, his grave to be sown with fine
acorns, from which the most promis-
ing plant was to be selected so
"that after my death my body may not
be entirely useless, but may serve to
rear good English oak.'' He left a
small legacy to his gardener to "see
that the plant is well watered, and kept
free from weeds.'' His friends buried
him in the churchyard instead of the
park; but the acorns were sown as he
desired. and on his grave now stands q
fine oak tree. Baskerville, the famous
printer, is said to have been buried by his
own desire under a windmill near his
garden. He died in 1775. Samuel
Johnson, not the photographer, but
dancing master in Cheshire, who died in
1913, was buried in a plantation forming
part of the pleasure grounds of the Old
Hall, at Gawsworth, near Macclesield.
His gravestone is yet to be seen. ga
farmer named Trigg, of Stevenage,
Herts, directed his body to be inclosed
in lead and deposited in the tie beam"
of his barn, where it may still be seen.
And another member of this odd sect of
what we may call -churchyard inter
ment "rests on a table in the summer
house belonging to family residence in
Northamptonshire.' Thomas Hollis,
a gentleman Of considerable property
benevolent and eccentric, a warm
Liberal and as religious as liberal,
fell dead in the field where
he was directing his workmen to dig his
grave, which then was to be plowed
over so that no trace of his last resting
place should be found. He was buried
as desired. Mr.. Booth, of Brush House,
in Yorkshire, was buried in his shrub
berry; DR.. Kenny, a physician at New
port Pagnel, Bucks, was buried in his
garden on raised plot of ground, sur
rounded by small fence; and Thomas
Withers, an opulent German, who died
in 1913, was by his own direction buried
a." beneath the shade of his own trees,
and in his own ground A fine old
fellow, one Faithful, "a shepherd in the Par
ish of Aston Clinton, is buried in lonely
spot On the Chilterns. He had been
accustomed to lead his flock to this high
hilltop from youth to old age, and when
he died he asked to be buried where he
had sat and meditated for so many years.
They did as he desired, and laid him
beneath the turf, on which they then
cut this epitaph:
Faithful lived and Faithful died.
Faithful lies buried on the hill side;
The hill so wide the fields surround,
In the day of judgement he'll be found.
A farmer and his female servant, lost
on the moors near Hope, in Derbyshire,
were buried in the peat where they were
found. Twenty-Five years after, their
graves were opened, and their bodies
found in perfect preservation and forty
five years after they were still as fresh |
as before. Howell Sele was buried in the
trunk of a tree by Madoc, the friend
and companion of Owen Glendower,
Howel's cousin and murderer The oak
was ever after called "Howel's oak
and is still pointed out to strangers-but
where? Our " Book of Days. general
" SO exact, speaks only in this broad
and airy manner, but it would be inter-
nsfinr ia know tho ayao+ c,,nt ;f Nv