The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-10-21
SECRETS OF ANCIENTs.
Sketch of the Mummy Maker of West
Virginia.

Norgantown, w. Va, Oct.21-In Sc
cIuded spot near Philippi, w. Va, there
lives an old man who has dabbled in
the mysteries of the ancient Egyptians,
juggIed with death and consorted with
corpses, and has defed the laws of ma
ture as far as the putrefactiOn of the
human body is concerned. Skilled in
the art of preventing decomposition,an
surrounded by ghastly speciments of his
art, to him belongs the credit of wrest-
ing from the past the process or keep
ing intact the body, the process which
has preserved to the world in the shape
of mummies the bodies of Rameses and
the Ptolomys, with accompanying ms
tory and light into the life of centuries
that came and went before the mission
of the Messiah had begun.
This individual is thoroughly common
place and practical; he does not claim
to be a sOrcerer. He is known to every
one in the county and to great many
people over the state. He is about 40
years old, of a benevolent aspect, and is
Verv unassuming But when it comes
to the matter of his fluid he is self
assertive and makes many claims OF It's
efficiency. All of these he makes good
by active tests. To no one is ne re-
ticent except in the manner the dis
covery was made by him and the in
gradients which compose the fluid.
With the fluid he preserves forever
human bodies as well as those of ami
mails, birds and fish. These gruesone
articles he has scattered all over the
house and a. few on the lawn exposed
to the open air which seems to have no
effect on them. They are as hfeIlke as
they were when alive. When first SUD
jected to the treatment they can be
placed in any position They nnaIly pc
come rigid, but that IS the only chahSe
that takes place.
A visitor who was at the house of the
old man recently says:
"Old man Hamrick is about 20 years
n1a
attracted my attention, and I examined
them to some extent But the most IN
teresting part of the place, to those VINO
are not nervous, Is his den, a SInaIl,
stuffy room on the second floor Of the
house I am not easily startled. but
when he LED me into his preparing
room, or den, and I saw faces that once
had the light of life in them staring
nxedly into mine, I shrank back
1.-The old man smiled at my alarm,
and then began telling me of his work
and how it had been the study of his
life The details of the discovery and
the ingredients used by him were not
even limited at. After while he began
to show me his specimens.
g Notice the two bodies in that plain
box over there he said
4 looked and saw two women, life
like in appearance, with hesh-tinted
skin and wide open eyes. There was
nothing suggestive of death. They
looked as though just awakening from a
slumber.
g I bought them for $40 from an in
sane asylum in this state about four
teen years ago. he said; and they are
my choicest specimens
"Only a cloth covered the bodies,
which were as hard and cold as mar
bic. Every vein was plainly visible.
He next showed me the head of a
colored man, with a. full beard, which
he had obtained from a Cincinnati hos
pital only a short time before. 1t was
perfectly preserved; the flesh was as
pliable as in life.
He showed me ten-day-oId baby,
fowl, fish, cats, squirrels. pigs, fruits,
etc, all in excellent condition.
I'm front of the house are a number of
mummff1ed snakes coiled in a striking
attitude
Hamrick often visits the cities where
he buys the ingredients which he needs
in his fluid. His quaint appearance al
ways excites attention He was deco
rated some years ago by q French med