The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1898-01-26
TOMB IN SOLID ROCK.
GEORGE M. PULLMAN's BODY SEALED
IN AN IMPROBABLE GRAVE.

His Family Fearful That Ghouls Might
Steal the Remains, Like the A. t. Stewart
Case-The Casket Embedded In Cement
Banded with steel Rails.
Learning wisdom from the pages of
history, wherein it is related that the
body of Millionaire A. T. Stewart was
stolen from the grave and held for ran
som, together with the frustrated at
tempt of ghouls to secure possession OF
the body of the martyr President, Lin
coin, the family of George NJ. Pullman
decided to protect his remains, and
while the world slept men were engag-
ed in the work of encasing the mahog-
any casket holding the remains Of the
dead millionaire in the heart of a solid
rock, banded by bars of steel, and i'm
pregnable to the attack of yandals with
picks or even dynamite itself
The body of George NJ. Pullman will
lie undisturbed at Chicago as long as
time shall last.
None of the Egyptian monarchs sup
posedly resting under the ponderous
weight of the pyramids, sleeps more
secure from the encroachment of the
living world than does the sleeping car
magnate in his grave at Graceland.
The contractors having the making
Of the grave in charge moved their fur
naces, their cement and asphaltum in
to the seclusion of the bushes at some
distance from the Pullman lot. which
oyerlooks the pretty little lake.
great rectangular pit was dug thirteen
feet long, nine feet wide, and eight feet
dpap dnprinp pf concrete was laid
strengthened and made solid by bands
Of expanded metal. The work was done
with the utmost care, and when COM
pleted there was mass of concrete
eighteen inches thick at the bottom of
the excavation.
The foreman of the work says that
nothing short OF dynamite could shat
ter the base, and 1t would take many
tons of the explosive to do that.
After the services at the grave and
the easket and it's contents, inclosed in
the heavy lead-lined mahogany box,
had been let below the surface, the
workmen descended into the sepulcher
and moved the lowered burden until 1t
was equi-distant to a fraction of an
inch from the four sustaining walls.
Then they wrapped the polished ma
hogany box in tar paper and laid on,
about and under 1t an inch coating of
asphaltum, which hardened quickly
This coating will prevent the ingress of
air. and. except in the case of some ex-
traordinary disturbing event, will pre-
serve the body and the inelosing cask
ct for ages to come.
This work of asphalting the inclosing
wood being completed, the labor of
6IiDp In, uraat SDapaG AT the head and
sides with concrete was begun. The
surface OF the concrete floor was re-
heated and the fresher substance was
laid on to it. The two masses coales-
cling and forming one homogeneous
bulk. This process incased the as
phalted box in a stone-like mass to
level with its upper lid.
The men worked until the inclosing
walls were half an inch above the as
phaltum coating. Then eight heavy
steel IT" rails were brought and laid
transversely across the top of the box,
their ends resting on the concrete walls
at either side and their lower surfaces
clearing the asphaltum covering by
Just one-half an inch, the distance to
which the side walls of concrete had
been built above the asphaltum. This
possible settling and TO prevent the
steel bars with the weight of concrete
above them from crushing in the top
of the enveloping mahogany case.
AS soon as the rails were in place
they were bolted together with two
long iron rods which passed through an
orifice In each rail, and ran parallel to-
the side of the lid of the coffin. More
tar paper was then called into use to
prevent the flow of the concrete into
the half-inch space between the rails
and the asphaltum, and the work of
walling it up began again
Soon the ends of the rails were firm
y imbedded in concrete and the same
material rapidly rose under the quick
work OF the men until the steel bars
with their rod connections were hidden
from view, and the remains of the pal
ace car magnate had interposed be-
tween them and an attack from above
a wall of stone and steel
1t was not until late at night that the
last of the metal work was completed.
1t will take all Sunday to fill in the
remainder of the concrete, the work
being slow on account of the interposi-
ton of the expanded metal sheeting
which Is distributed through the con-
crete to give it consistency.
Earth was then thrown on top of the
stony mass and the sod placed and the
myrtle planted, and the grave Of George
NJ. Pullman was different in no out
ward respect than the thousands of
others under the shade of the trees OF
Graceland.