The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1891-06-05
NEW WORLD.
Petrifled Body of a Woman.


Mary Ann Grier disappeared from her ia.
theirs home. tat Wonatah. Ind, nearly 40
years ago. A few days ago her body was re.
covered In an abandoned bog iron-ore pit.
without one yestige of change from the APP
pearance 1t had known In life. The last
shred of clothing was long ago destroyed. but
the same chemicals which removed the gar
ments preserved the flesh. Not onlv is the
contour OF the form perfect as in health, but
even the color has remained unchanged. The
arms and shoulders are as white AS marble,
the hands are brown. and one Of them still
bears the stains of the berries with which
| she was working the afternoon of her disap-
pearance. The cheeks are slightly brown,
but rutiused with rudy flush which old sel.
tiers well remember as one OF the girls chief
charms. and. were It EOt for the unsighty
cavities that once contained the ewes. the pet.
rihed frame which has lain almost half
century In the soil would appear the peace
housekeeping figure of heal by, handsome
young women. When the body was found 1t
was at first believed to be that of some wom-
an recently murdered, BUT one of the discov-
erers struck the body with knife and proved
that 1t was stone. The father of the dead
girl was the first to recognize her. He had
always believed that she had run away from
home with young man named Whitesel.
with whom she was In love, In the face of the
objections of her parents. Old man Grier,
now almost so years old, was brought to the
place where his long lost daughter lay. The
old man looked upon the face of the girl,
whose beauty was perfectly preserved, ex-
cept that In place of her eyes were unsightly !
holes, then laid both hands upon the body, |
and broke down utterly, weeping In the bit |
Ierness OF that grief which never had slept in |
all these years. my girl" he cried, "my
Mary, / thought you were gone away. |
thought you were bad" And it was more
than an hour before he could be persuaded to
leave her and return to bis home. This whole
country Is full of a kind of iron called bog
ore. In an early day 1t was extensively
mined by the farmers. 1t Is probable that
the girl went to meet her lover. She must
nave fallen into one of the pits from which
the ore had been taken. drawing down upon
her As she fell an avalanche of the loose put
heavy soil. There must have been water In
the pit, as was almost Invariably the case.
and this, with the iron, must have produced
solution that tended to preserve and petrify
the body.
Photograph and Camera.
From the laboratory of Thomas Edison
there Il coming an invention which out Edi-
sons EDISON. 1t IL the marriage of the phon-
ograph with the camera-the union In one in
strument Of sound aud sight. With il the
opera can be carried into the parlor and the
artists cannot only be heard but seen. The
new wonder will be called tne'' kinetogrspb,-
a strsnge-sounding title to the ear to day, but
destined perhaps to become a familiar a
locomotive or telephone, both strange words
In their infancy. Mr.. Edison has been at
work on this newest conception of bis genius
for three years. Now be knows that Its base
principle Is right. all that now remains to he
done IL TO perfect the details. The new in
vention Is combination machine. 10 which
The photograph and Photographic camera
work together. 1t will reproduce not only
sound. hut 3 picture also Of all that passes
before II. Not a mere instantaneous i'm
preston of o. jecfs, but a continuous repre-
,entaiion 1f them for a considerable space Of I
lime.