Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-04
LAST WISH GRANTED.
Emma Abbotl's Remains. Attired in
q $4,000 Worth Costume,
BURNED TO ASHES In PITTSBCRG.
The Dust Placed in an Urn and De-
posted in a New York Vault.
SECRECY OBSERVED BY ALL CONCERNED

The mystery surrounding the disposition
| of the remains of Emma Abbott has been
| dispelled. Her body was burned to ashes
! in Samson's crematory on Sixth avenue, on
February IL. The cremation was kept q
! little songstress' mother.
The body was shipped to this city from
Chicago on February 16, and were accom-
panied by the executors of the estate. The
remains were placed in the retort at 9
o'clock on the morning of the 17th and one
hour and quarter later the ashes were
taken from the retort and placed in a copper
urn, which was sealed and is now in a vault
of a safe deposit company in New York.
The only persons who witnessed the crema-
tion we're Miss Abbott's executors and the
crenatory employees. The former accom-
panied the urn to New York on the 4:15 P.
NJ. train. They were in the city but eight
hours The arrangements for the cremation
were made on the Saturday previous and
all the persons concerned were pledged to
secrecy. ...
Cremated in a Worth Dress.
Miss Abbott's remains were clothed in
which the singer bad rendered famous by
wearing when appearing in her favorite
roles. The dress was a rich, heavy cream
silk, trimmed with lace and ribbons. and
thickly embroidered with gold thread.
The urn will remain in the safe deposit
vault in New York until the completion of
a monument now in course of construction
in Massachusetts. The remains of both
Miss Abbott and her husband. Eugene P.
Wetherell, will rest under this monument.
The solving of the Abbott puzzle has cleared
up the mystery which surrounded the DISPOSE
tion of Ed Coffey. who suicided in Jail three
years ago, while under sentence of death for
murder. His body was also reduced to ashes
in the Samson crematory, A peculiar feature
of this case was that Mr.. Samson, after reduc-
ing the body to dust, placed the remains in an
urn. which he carefully sealed and wrapped up
in paper. Then he carried it down to Police
Magistrate McKenna's office Mr.. McKenna
was friend Of the Coffey family, and when
Mr.. Samson entered the office it was crowded
with persons who were specializing on what had
become of Cofey's body. MIR. Samson handed
the urn to the magistrate, who received il nom
chalantly and placed it in his safe Neither
said word. and no other person in THE ortice
knew that all that remained of Coffey's body
was in the room at that moment.
Pointing to Heaven From the Flames.
Many bodies are reduced to ashes at Samson's
crematory of which the world knows nothing.
The remains are placed in the retort without
flourish of trumpets, as the relatives are seldom
desirous of the notoriety which at present at
taches to this method of disposing of the dead.
The retort has glass covered opening
through which the consumption of the body
can be watched, and in some cases the sight is
terrifying. owing to the action of the heat upon
the muscles. An uncle took the body of
dearly-beloved neice to the crematory. He
stood watching the flames consuming the body,
when he was startled by seeing the right arm,
with the fingers of the hand open reach uo-
ward. Then all but the index finger of ne
hand closed and the corpse lay recumbent in
the flames, apparently pointing to the kingdom
which is never invaded by death. The uncle
received a shock from which he did not recover
for days. Had it not been for the fact that the
girl had been dead for months, and had been
buried for several weeks. the uncle would hav,,
believed that his neice had teen placed in the
retort while in a trance and that she had re-
turned to life when too late
In some cases, when the body is first placed
IN The retort it will raise To q sitting pasture
and in many instances turns over upon its face.