Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-08-09

pressions, nor his body any of the gro
tesque contortions, SO often noted
among the heaps of slain which strew
the stricken field of battle. George
i. Kilmer, in Popular Science MONTH
~, has a somewhat exhaustive article
on this gruesome study. His observa-
tions go to show that while all battle
fields do not present spectacles of life
been thoroughly excited and warmed
to action, sudden death is in many
cases succeeded by "rigor mortis' in
which the body retains the exact atti-
tude and position in which it was
found when death met it.
The battle of Antietam in the late
war furnished many examples of this
peculiar phenomenon. One Confed
crate corpse was found, semi-erect, one
foot on the ground, one knee against a
bank of earth and one arm stretched
forward on a low breastwork. Anoth-
er leaned against tree with his right
arm raised above his head, his hand
still holding the cap with which he
had been cheering on his comrades.
Many were found with cartridges be-
tween their thumbs and fingers and
with the paper which they had bitten
off the end of the cartridge between
their teeth; everything, even to the
expression on their faces as it was
when the bullet pierced the heart an
all the machinery of life, all the mus
cles and nerves, came to standstill.
At Belmont, November, 1861, Union
soldier kneeling by tree in the act of
firing, was shot obliquely through the
head, front to back The body when
found rested on the right knee and
leg, left leg bent with foot on the
ground, the left hand firmly clutched
the musket. which rested with the butt
ON the ground. Those who found him
would not till they had touched HIM
believe that death rested on statue
SO life-like.
Another Union soldier, shot near
the heart, mounted mule and rode
some distance beside his companion.
Soon the glazed eyeballs gave I'M
equivocal signs of death, but the body
rode on upright. When the mule was
needed it required considerable force
to loosen the death grip of the soldiers
knees on the animals shoulders.
At Williamsburg, Va, May 5, 1862,
a soldier was found dead with one leg
half over fence, body as though
crawling forward, one hand clinched
and raised to the level of the forehead
with palmar surface outward as if to
ward off evil. Another was found
with his musket still raised to his
shoulder and resting on the branch oil
a fallen tree from which he was taking
his aim. He was shot in the center OF
the forehead. To those who found
him he looked so life-like that they
called to him, expecting him to turn
around. At Goldsboro a Confederate
officer was shot while attempting to
mount his horse, and when the Union
men came up they found a corpse with
one foot in the stirrup, left hand
grasping the bride and name of the
horse. Every muscle was rigid il
death. and it was difficult to detacl
his fingers from the bride. The body
was laid down and the same positions
were retained by it's members. Al
Inkerman, in the Crimean War, it is
said that long files of dead looked as i
they only needed the word of command
to recommence the battle, men witt
guns and swords in firm clasp, cart
ridges in the mouth and arms extend
ed as if eager for the fray. Lightning
strokes have produced the like
phenomena. Men and animals hav,
been found dead in upright postures
horse even standing on all tours will
his eyes wide open and nostrils dilatet
by the terror which the storm evoked
Where death is slower these pheno
mena do not occur, but where the sud
denness of death gives no chance eth
er for physical or mental action TIN
body usually retains the last position
and the countenance the last express
sion adopted in life.
War Uses OF Old Warehouses;