The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-12-27
TAIL WIDOW MARY TITUS.
Who for 124 Years Eas Lain in an l.
Foot Grave in Pine Island Cemetery.

Who for 1914 Years Eas Lain in an l.
Foot Grave in Pine Island Cemetery
From the Neao York Sun.
NoRwALK, Dec. E.-In Pine Island
cemetery, one Of the Oldest burying grounds
in this section Of the Nutmeg state, there ia
q grave that is in marked contrast with
those that surround it. 1t is Ii feet long.
Upon a small slab of blue stone, which is
broken and moss-grown, is rudely carved a
deaths head and this quaint inscription:
s..s'---.........-.-....
Here Lyes Buried the body Of thu Widow
May Titus,
Who departed this life Feby the 18th, 176O, ::
inye S9th year of her age.
s...........-
This portion of the old burying ground
was overgrown with weeds and underbrush
when the grandfathers OF the present gener-
alton were children, and so it remained
until recently, when spasm of virtue
seized the descendants of some who are
buried there, whereupon men went 90 work
with axes and brush hooks, aud when the
Job was completed the sun shone upon these
old graves for the first time in more than a
hundred years. Many curious old head
stones were brought 20 light. the inscrip-
tions on many Of them antedating the one
in the Widow Titus little monument, but
the other graves were of the usual length,
none longer, perhaps, than seven feet
The discovery of this 11-foot grave caused
a mild sensation, and a search was made
for descendants of the woman who had
been sleeping under the weeds and bushes
thirty-one years when the nineteenth CEN
fury was born. The result of the search
was not satisfactory, although it appears
that the Widow Titus was an ancestor of a
man by the name OF Titus, who lived and
died here many years ago. There is a ira
he 4
was anciently called Old Well, but which
is now the city of South Newark, and that
she was ten feet high In her stocking feet,
and large In proportion. 1t is related that
once upon a time her path was blocked by a
team, the driver of which stubbornly re-
fused to let her pass. whereupon she seized
the offender by the neck and hurled him
bodily into neighboring creek and then
unyoked the cattle and carried them into
the meeting house and tied them to the
pulpit. l...
Several antiquariaus have become so
deeply interested ia the matter that there
is talk of opening the old grave to see if
anything remains of the body. The soil is
sandy and very dry, and il is asserted that,
In spite of the fact that the burial took
place nearly 124 years ago, the skeleton, at
least, will be found intact, and then it will
be known to a certainty whether the
widow was as tall as the grave and the
traditions make her out to have been.
Arabic tradition has It that Eve was
what we in these degenerate days would
call rather tall, and the Arabs Of to-day
exhibit what they claim is her tomb at
Jiddah, the seaport of Mecca. It is 200 feet
long and once each year-on June 3, which
is, according to arabian legends, the ami
versary OF the death of Abel-the story ls
that the doors of the templs which forms q
canopy over this supposed tomb of our first
mother, remain open ali night In spite of
every effort made TO close them. Terrible
cries of anguish are -satd to emit from them,
as though the memoir, Of the
the remains of the woman who got
Adam TO eat the apple. If Eve was 200 feet
high, and a member of the French Acad-
envy of Sciences has 80 asserted, we can
easily and couscientiously credit the Widow
Titus with a modest 10 feet. but we cannot
be certain regarding her hight until the
grave in Pine Island cemetery is opened
and some sacrilegious hand holds a tape
measure over the bones that have been
moldering there SO many long years.
There is only one man in town who has
attempted to throw cold water on the story,
and that is old Joe Cressman, the grave
digger. After showing a visitor TO the
grave the other day, and telling the legend
about the man and the oxen, old Joe leaned
heavily upon Dls SHOVEL huu Shlu III oOuOL-
ing tone of voice:<
"Mebbe the story is true, and then. again,
mebbe 1t amt. In my day hev seen women
what felt big enough to be twenty foot
high, but when you put the pole on to em,
why, they wasn't no bigger than some other
folks. and perhaps not quite 80 big by gosh.
AS to the wilder mere, she may have been
ten feet tall. but it is just possible that the
foot stone has been moved. You cau't tell
until you dig her up and get out your 2-foot
rulen