Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-11-23
NEWS PARAGRAPHS.


WHAT WAS Found IN A NAsfEIEss GRAVE At
ST.. ALBANs.- A recent despatch TO the Boston
journal says The body of Vermont sold
Ter, who died in the Union service and has
occupied an unknown grave for twenty years,
has just been accidentally discovered In the
st. Adams cemetery. The sexton came upon
the body some six inches below the surface
OF the ground, and, on opening the box, a
human skeleton was found in a good state of
preservation At the head of the skeleton
was rubber blanket and pair of heavy
boots at the foot was a silk handkerchief
tied in knots, in which was a watch and chain,
and another silk handkerchief incosing an
empty pocket-book. Fragments of a wooden
blanket, pieces of wooden clothing, fancy
silk necktie, a comb and a we'll preserved am
brotype of a young lady dressed in the style
Of twenty years ago, were among the personal
effects Of the deceased found in the box.
The name of E. l. Ordway was found printed
on the inside of the rubber blanket The
facts connected with the finding Of the body,
the shallow grave, its peculiar location in the
roadway, the absence of the outside coffin,
the burial of the personal effects all served
to mystify the public. The authorities have
been investigating the mystery, but with no
satisfactory result. An examination of the
Adiutant and Inspector Generals report for
1864, however, partially solved the mystery.
This showed the following record Fifteenth
Regiment, Company H, Edward l. Ordwsy,
"a years of age, enlisted Sept. IS, 1862 cred
tied to the town of Troy, Vt; died April IS,
1868. The probabilities are that through some
misdrection or mistake of the train men
the body was taken of at st. Al.
bans station, and as no one identified or
claimed the remains they were inferred by
the authorities in the cemetery here to await
the call Of the friends Of the dead soldier. w.
D. Wilson, ESD, of this place says that be
recognized the ambrotype found in the coffiu
as that of servant girl by the name of Col
Inns who worked for him during the war.
He recollects that the girl kept company with
man by the name of Ordway, and that be
enlisted in the service and subsequently died.
He also recalls the fact that the father of
young Ordway sent on to Washington for the
remains of his dead son, but that he never
received the body nor heard of the where.
abouts of the dead soldier The Ordway fam
lily moved from Troy to Mortified after the
war, and If still residing there the remains
will doubtless be forwarded to that place for
reinterment A later paragraph from the
Messenger says that the father of E. l. Ord
way ayappeared Tuesday to claim the body of his
sonsfter 20 years of waiting. Mr.. Ordway says
that his son enlisted in September, 1862, hsv-
ing been married only few weeks previous
to that time. In the following April he was
taken sick with black measles and died at
Washington. There are three men now liv-
ing at South Troy who saw the body of the
dead soldier made ready for removal and his
effects put into the box. The father was no.
titled that the body had been forwarded to
South Troy and the express on it paid. For
three weeks he waited, expecting every day
that the body would arrive but it never came
to his knowledge, and finally funeral services
were held. The Messenger says it was incl
dentaliy learned some time afterward that
box of some kind had stood on the St. Albans
depot platform for some eight or nine days
and was then ordered to be buried, but Mr..
Ordwsy never had any idea that the body of
his son was buried here until be saw notice
of its disinterment.