Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1890-08-08
TO be continued.
RESTORING \ LOST ART.
A West Virginia Mans Wonderful Discov-
cry of Embalming.

IAbhauSS-
A letter from PhiIippi, w. Va, says:
Three miles over the mountains is the
house of G. w. Hmnrica 1t is FIVE
room log house, the exterior weather.
boarded but not painted The front win
dows face a narrow valley that is bounded
by hills so high they shut out the sun after
4 o'clock. There is nothing about the
house and it unpretentious yard to attract
more than a passing glance tor any one
who may chance to travel the unfrequented
country road that winds its way lonesome
Iy into the hills beyond, yet it is full of
curIosities that have puzzled the notions
and set some of the brightest minds IN the
country thinking.
The plain old house IS full of mummies,
both of brutes and human beings. Here
are mummies that outrival any Egypt
ever knew. The Egyptian embalmers re
moved brains and blood and viscera and
wrapped the clay shell that was left in
bandaging, saturated in oils and OinU.
ment. In this house lie the bodies of two
adults, natural almost as Iii life, every par
ticIe of the skin exposed to the air, blood,
brains and visCera remaining. In the
veins and arteries the blue and black blood
stands out IT'S clear and natural as when
the passions and emotions of beings.
The finger and toe nails show the pink
flesh of life. and on the cheek of one who
died of consumption, the scarlet mark of
that disease remained clear and distinct
For two years exposed to the air, without
decay or Odor, these bodies haze lain in
this man 5 house Just above his bedroom.
His process Is a discovery of his own, but
h., tho+ lDy, &
fifteen after IA single lesson, can do the
work as etfectualy as the inventor him
self The rooms of Mr.. Hamrick are
miniature museums. In the door that
leads to his bedroom huge white cat
sits guard, its tongue, undecayed, Tolls
out as if It were about to lap milk. For
four years that cat has been the sole guard
of that lonesome door. On a mantel,
and in the attitude of listening, is young
deer
Rabbits. pigs, squirrels, chickens and
even a calf are to be seen, all as natural as
in life and all preserved by this wonderful
secret Mr. Hamrick claims that in an
hour he can prepare Il body without MAX
ING an incisiOn of any sort or removing
any part of it, SO that it may be taken
around the world without ice or arsenicaI
fluids. These two bodies which lie in
modest state in this house have turned
parchment color with the hurrying of
time. and the eyes have become much
sunken. There is no odor, no putting up
of flesh. The ghastly look is wanting, and
one almost feels that it is not the solicited
clay of some loved one, but wonderful
likeness carved by a divine soul ptor from
some rare wood. Think of sleeping with
these dead and petrifed bodies!
But this is not all that the old wonder
worker of the mountains does. He can
stop decay at any point, and cures ulcers
of long standing by an external applica-
ton of this discovery. BY tine same pro-
cess he keeps fresh, without ice, salt or
brine. all his meet, butter and eggs, and
does the same for his neighbors. Fruit
of all sorts, vegetables, etc. are kept Just
as easily without decay. and watermelonS,
strawberries and peaches and cream are
now assured for the Christmas dinner
Mr.. Hamrick has made little or no effort
to put his process. which such learned
men as Drs Cllley Freeman, White. Dor
emuS and HordeSley pronounce one of the
greatest discoveries of the age. far ahead of
what the Egyptians knew. Indeed, Ham
rick seems to regard it rather as a curious
experiment than otherwise.