St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-05-10
GHOULHSH TALE.
The Strange Experiences of an Old
Georgia Grave Digger.

The Strange Experiences of an Old
Georgia Grave Digger.
Athens (Ga) Banner Waterman.
Some time since we had a long conversa-
ton with an old man whose business for
years it has been to attend to the graves in
Il city cemetery, and as he was in talkative
mood we drew him out quite freely, In
reply to our inquiry if he had taken up
many bodies, he said:
Yes; hundreds of them in my day, and
often it is a difficult and diSagreeable task
1t is singular, too, the difference in dead
bodies. Some of them will lie in the ground
for years, and when you take them up the
corpse is well preserved and all the features
perfectly natural, while in other graves you
only find a little handful of dust in the decay
ing coffin, or particles of bones. | remember
once removed a body that had been dead seven
years, and was buried in a metallic caSket.
At the request of relative | unscrewed
the cover over the glass, that was quite
large. exposing the face and bust. In
glancing into the casket L was momentarily
paralyzed with establishment. The face
was as natural as if the body had been
buried yesterday, while in one hand was
held white rose, and the flower was as
fresh as if still on the bush. The corpse
was reburied without being further dis
turbed.
Il opened another grave, twelve or fif-
teen years old, on top of which a good
sized China tree had taken root and grew.
When the bottom was reached no sign of
the coffin was visible, but the roots of the
China tree had encrcled the corpse and
formed an exact representation of a skele-
ton. l also found around one root plain
gold m a tIpuar of no LODI
when buried. L raked up what dust 1
could find, placed it in a new coffin and
turned it over to the family as all that re-
manned or their loved one.
but l once handled caSket that l
would have given SO for the privilege of
opening. When l had removed the dirt
and tried, with my assistant, to raise it
from the grave, L found had Just as well
attempt to lift so much lead, and finally l
had to hire ten men to get it out and into
the hearse. What was the matter?
Why, the body Was petriied, of
course, but the friends of the
dead man positively refused to have the cas-
ket opened, and it was re-interred in new
cemetery just as taken from the grave. If
l ever turn ghoul that will be one grave I'll
open, for during all my experience I have
never seen human body that had turned
W otOlC. IACf Sdy IL Is CduSeu ny
some properties in the earth, but it was
not so in this case, for l have removed
bodies not ten steps distant from that
grave and there was nothing left of them
docs hair grow after death? In some
cases it does and in others it don't. 1 re-
member once moving the body Of a gentle
man that had helped to nurse, after it had
been inferred more than three years. When
buried, the corpse was shaved clean, but
when [ opened the casket, there was set
of coal black WhiSkers reaching to the
waist, and they had grown since burial,
too. The body was unusually well pre-
served. [ have often opened collins that
were filled with but little else than hair
grown since burial. But not many families
will let a coffin be opened, but prefer hav-
ing the body or dust quietly removed with
as little excitement as possible.
''What does it cost to take up and renter
body? From $40 to $50, and it is dearly
earned money, too. If it is a fresh corpse
you run a great risk of being poisoned by
the drippings from the body getting into a
sore OH your hands, or by inhaling the foul
gases that arise from the grave. Often a
mans stomach is badly turned, and his ap-
petite destroyed for long time. Remov-
ing dead bodies is one thing you can't get
accustomed to.
Put the most economical work I ever
did in this line was at the order of family
well-to-do. They wanted to change the
bodies of some deceased relatives from an
old cemetery to the new. but refused to
pay my price. They finally compromised
by leaving the remains of their friends in
the ground undisturbed, but employed me
to move the handsome monuments over
| their graves and set them up in their new
lot. The work was quietly done, and no
one knows but what the dead sleep be-
meath the marble shafts that record their
many virtues. 1t was about as good an
idea as any, however, for l am not much of
an advocate for disturbing the ashes of the
dead.
| Ibid [ ever see ghost? am surprised
at a sensible man asking such a silly QueS-
ton. l have worked in grayeyards, often
alone, at all hours of the day and night,
and often transferred bodies from one spot
to another at the dead hours of the night,
and l never saw anything that could not
account for. l never had grain of super
stitious fear about me, and when in the
dim moonlight saw an object that looked
unnatural / always walked straight up to
it to invariably find something very
ordinary. Why, L had as soon
sleep in graveyard as anywhere
else, if was made comfort
able. Do think water in cemeteries fit to
drink? [ do not. and if the vein of a
spring or well comes from beneath graves
had as soon take that much poison into my
system. Why, 1 have seen ON springs that
come from beneath graves greasy scum in
the morning that undoubtedly oozed from
dead bodies. l don't want any of your
graveyard water in mine. Is not my life a
cherries one? Yes it is for am natur-
ally sympathetic, and L see so much grief
l have witnessed at some burials scenes so
touching that they did not leave my mind
! for months. But a man in my business will
get hardened to certain degree, but every
now and then something occurs to touch his
| heart afreSh.