Telegram-herald. ([Grand Rapids, Mich.) 18??-1892, 1891-07-01
NOT eloptD. EFT DEAD.
The Esdy sf YSan. vo2>n Se~ad Fert
Years Amer her appearance

The Eady sf Y9aEs voa1n Fo~ea Ferry
Years Amer her Disappearance
Mary Ana Grier disappeared from bar
fathers htEae, tao u1i,es south Of Michigan
City. nearly forty years aso. = few days
ago her body WAS recovered ~ an assn-
doned bog iron ore pr, without ons yestlse
OF change fron Tee appearance II had
known !n l.fe The la. shred u clothing
was long ago destroyed by tie Aetlon ~
the water Ia whirh she had mst Der death.
bot the same chemicals which removed tie
garments preserved the flesh.
Not Only is the contour az the form per-
feet a. Ia hfe. bat the color has reInsinsd
unchanged. The arms and shoulders are
as white as marble, the hands are brown,
but suffused with q rutdy tush, which old
settlers here will remember as one Of tho
girls chief charms, and, were il not for the
unsighsly cavities that once contained tho
eyes, that petrifed frame which has lain
almos. half a century ia the soil would APP
pear the peacefully sleeping figure Of a
healthy, handsome young woman.
The story Of Mary Ann Grier is easily
told Ia the q rst place, it should be know
that this country is full OF kind of iron
called bog ore. In an early day ii was ex-
tensiyely mined by the farmers aud hauled
by them To Michigan City and South
Bend, where it commanded a ready sale.
Ia many instances IL was the one product
OF the soil which brought in money.
The iron is liz small particles, much like
the ore from larger mines, and is excellent
| in quality, though not rich enough in
| quantity TO repay the trouble OF mining IL
| since the day OF railroads and the develop
ment of Pennsylvania mines. None OF the
ore has been taken from these swamps
! since 1850, although the swamp lands all
| over northern Indiana are full of il.
| Mary Grier was the eldest daughter OF
| Nicholas Grier, and was belle in those
| old days of 1915 TO 1850. She was famous
| all over the country, which was then new
and sparseiy settled, and was sought in
| marriage by many an excellent young
man. She was known as a worker, as a
| good cook and as a famous housekeeper
| and besides had had the unusual adyan
| tage of q fair English education.
| With the pcrvcrsity of her sex she hao
| chosen q harebrained fellow named Whit
sci, and had told her parents she meant to
| marry him. Whitsel owned an OK team
and made living hauling ore from thu
| shallow mines to the forge at Michigan
| City. He was warned away from the farm
by Grier and his boys, but persisted in hi.
attentions, and finally received sound
| drubbing from the old man.
The following day bs started north with
load of ore, and early in the evening
Mary left the house. saying that she was
| going to a neighbor to return some trifs
she had borrowed the day before. She wa.
never again seen in life.
| Her parents and the neighbors believed
that Whitscl had decoyed her away, and
they followed him clear to Michigan City
but they could find no trace of the girl
| Fearing to return to the neighborhood
Whitsel sold his oxen and left the country
| He has never since been heard from. II
was known at the time that Mary Ann hat
never reached the home Of the neighbol
for which she had started.
In the light of events now known it i.
probable she meant to meet her lover, snt
started across the lower prairie land Il
meet him near the creek road She mus,
have fallen into one of the pits from which
the ore had been taken, drawing dowr
upon her as she fell an avalanche of tn,
loose but terribly heavy soil. There must
have been water in this pit, as was almos
invariably the case. and this, with the iron
must have produced solution that tended
to preserve the body. - Cor. st. Loui
Globe Democrat.