The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1894-07-14
A wife IINBURIED
Though Dead for .Twenty-three
Years.
An Uneanny Story From Nicholas
County.
Special Correspondence.

On the top of Smithers Greek
mountain, about four miles from Bel
va, in Fayette county, is sight
which is well worth going to see.
About % years ago, Mrs. Isabella
Smith, wife of Alex. Smith. one OF
the oldest residents of this section
died after a lingering illness BE
fore she died she expressed the wish
to her husband that she be placed
after her death in a coffin and put
out in the front yard short dis
lance from the house. She had q
horror of being buried under ground
and implored her husband to grant
her wish and not bury her as ordi-
nary corpses are disposed of Hel
husband promised that her wishes
should be complied with.
A short time after this unusual
request was made, death claimed her
as victim and she was shrouded
and placed in Il common poplar cof-
fin made by some of the neighbor.
ing carpenters. The coffin was
placed in box and the following
day the remains were placed on a
fat rock in full sight of the house
where in life she made her home
There the corpse remained, the talk
of the neighborhood, the wonder oil
all who saw the unsightly sight of a
burial and yet not burial.
Here the box containing the corpse
was suffered to remain for a period
of year or more. In the meantime
the relict of the deceased concluded
that it was not well for man to be
alone In the world, even though the
earthly remains of his late lamented
were so near to him and yet above
ground. So after a brief time had
elapsed, he again took unto himself
a wife--a comely woman of the
neighborhood.
While wife number two was will
ing to share his home, she objected
to wife number one being SO near at
hand, and Immediately after mar.
riage, prevailed upon her husband
to remove the remains of his first
wife to a more fitting place. This
he agreed to do. The remains were
in due time taken to a cliff of rocks
probably mile from their former
resting place. Here under this cliff,
on the top of a high mountain, can
be seen this CHASTITY sight which has
been viewed by hundreds of curious
people
There is now at this late date no
nails, or screws, to hold down the
lid of the box, or of the coffin, and
the people who go there have no
hesitation in removing them and
gazing upon the remains.
1t is hardly natural to suppos e
that after twenty-three years that
the remains would form any resem
blance to a human being, but such
is undoubtedly the case. Not only
are the bones yet in their proper
places, but the skin, which Is like
parchment and about the color of
MANILA wrapping paper, remains
tightly drawn over the face and
head, and the long black hair adj
heres to the skin, even the eyebrows
being as natural as in life. The
hands are crossed on the breast and
are held together by the parchment
like skin.
Altogether it is a CHASTITY sight,
the shroud being yellow with age,
the corpse which yet retains resem-
blance to human being, the long
black hair yet clinging to the skull
and the wild and desolate place in
which it is found, causes an invol-
untary shudder to escape from one
on beholding it for the first time.
CARLOS.