The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1897-01-19
ALVINGWOMAN' STOMB
Eccentric Mrs. Johnson Guards
Against Body Snatchers.
AN IMPREGNABLE RESTING PLACE.
The Latest Freak of IL Most Remarkable
Woman - Her Passion For Diamonds.
Her.

expects Her Gems to BE Buried With
Her.
Tho most elaborate grave in the Nut
meg State, perhaps in Now England. has
| just been completed in Ynntic cemetery.
| in Norwich, for Mrs Mary Il. johnson.
recently of Norwich, but now of Chicago.
| Mrs. johnson is rich. She Is haunted
| by tho fear that after her death hor tomb
may be invaded and despoied by body
snatchers. Honce sho decided to prepare
and fortify her tomb that any attempt OF
tho kind would be foiled.
Some years ago she purchased tho most
spacious and precious lot in Yantic ccmo.
terry, and with tho aid of n corps of skilled
workmen constructed II grave that was IL
masterpiece, seemingly impregnable, of
scpulchral handiwork. It's floor and lid
were seamless slabs of stone and its mass
i've side walls of cementcd bricks. 1t
seemed as if it were capa bic of resisting a
prolonged assault from tho most deter
mined vault robbers.
Not long ago, however, tormcnted by Il
recurrence of her morbid dreams of ghouls
Mrs. johnson vigorously applied herself To
tho task of reconstructing the grave Fear
ing lest her husband, u rich ranch owner
ana manufactures, or her sons, with whom
her relations are neither cordial nor conf
Dental, might Interfere with her purposc
she carried on the work stealthily and
they knew nothing about it until after it
| had been completed.
Ono morning little army of cxnert mr.
tisnns, with pickaxes, spades, shovcls
trowels, chiscls bars, hoes and n large
derrick, moved into Yantic cemetery and
, encampcd on and about Mrs Mary r.
Johnson's burial lot
They toilcd uninterrup;edlyf for several
weeks, and the curious ncighbors about
the rustic cemetery peered daily from up
stairs chamber windows through half
closed shutters above the graveyard wall
mt the busy worlmcn and wondered ''what
on earth Mrs Mary johnson was up to
now. " They were acquainted with Mrs
johnson through tho medium of ncighbor-
hood gossip and local newspaper reports of
her varied. picturesque and always enter
tanning appearances in the county courts.
Finally ono dry the littlo army of toilcrs
knocked Off work, gathered their tools un-
shipped their derrick S crane, and with all
their working paraphcrnalia loaded in
drays marched away. Their labor of re-
construction was completed vet so defty
and circurnspectly had they wrought that
ircn. Il superficial inspection of the lot
-
that tho old grave had ever been disturbed.
wonderful grave it now is. Its sides
of the finest pressed and ccmented bricks
and thick and massive rs the foundation
walls of castle or fort rest on a single
titanic slab of polished granite that Weighs
considerably more than il ton, while n
similar stone, beautifully finished and
weighing 1900 pounds, forms tho lid.
The ground about and above the grave
has been laid out md turfed evenly and
with precision, so that thero is no external
token revealing its existence or location
Mrs. johnson has expressed herself as
entirely satisfied with the vault believing
implicitly now that when hcr body shall
be laid between it's two mighty monoliths
1T Will forever be secure from invasion by
the dreaded grave robbcr When the time
has come, however, for the commitment
of her body To the cemetery tomb, n der
rick must be used to remove and replace
the pOudcrOus lid.
BESIDES tho curiously contrivcd grave,
Mrs. Johnson has had an equally remark
able mortuary memorial erected on her lot
magnificent polished granite monument,
costing $4,000 which was designed by
herself, it being in part in imitation of Il
masterpiece Of the kind which she saw in
an art gallery of Europe
Tho monument is shaft. bearing or
natoly carved cilgies of the allogorical fig
urcs Faith, Hope and Charity. Itwas pro
ducod by the granite cutters OF Westerly,
II. |.
Mrs. johnson, during her residence in
Norwich, varied with occasional soiourns
III New York city, by her personal eccen-
tricitics, peculiaritics of dress and FREQ
and democratic social ways provided local
gossipS with abundant material for street
and ShOD and tCn table 1nnotinre
One of her most pronounced character
lstics WAS AN eXtravagant fopdness for dia-
'nonds, and on account of that fondncss she
was known in all southern New EnglaI..
as Mrs. Diamond Johnson.
She was aiamc with great. magnificens
gems at all times, rarely appearing in pub
Lie with less than SEQ, 900 to $40, coo worth
Of the jewels on her person. Her fingers
were covered with diamond rings and shc
dccked herself with diamond earrings dia-
inond brooches, bracelets, wrstlcts, coru-
nets brcastpins, studs, sleeve buttons, and
had diamonds in her fans, gloves purse
ana othor accessories Of her toilet includ-
ing sundry pieces Of underwear
In leaving the Park Congregational
church at tho end of tho morning service
ono sunday Mrs. johnson once lot slip Il
wonderful garter, and "a genticman who
promptly and CALAMITY retrieved it OBJ
served that its clasp was set with mann
moth flaming solitaire.
In hcr palatial homo on Broadway she
affixed jewels to various pieces OF furni-
turc and printed her name, MARY John
son., in diamonds on tho dial plato of her
grandfather's clock. She is quite as ro-
splendont it is said in Chicago, whore
sho now lives, ns she was in Norwich
Mrs. Johnson is the daughter of the late
millionaire futile King of Chicago.
Not long ago she lost ono Of her finest