The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-06-23


NJ. N. Bastian, the Clinton dentist
who was present at the autopsy. soys
that he thinks they came out of the
Jaw, but he cannot understand why
they should have been out. His idea
ia that they must have been pulled out
and thrown where they We're found. He
says they were not likely to have fall
en- out unless the jaw was diseased,
and he could find no indications that
such was the case.
1t is up to the parties who found
them to dig deeper and discover deH
lists office, or else project the theory
that the woman was murdered with
the expectation of finding gold in her
teeth. Several days before they We're
found, Medical Examiner Tobey raked
over the same ground, but could find
no teeth though there was crop u
them discovered later several inches
below the surface. 3
Medical men say it is most unusual
for one tooth to drop from the Jaw at
ter decomposition has advanced as far
as it had in this case, but that dozen
shonld have fallen out before the body
was disturbed, is more than a mystery.
1t is a miracle.
The theory was advanced, that the
teeth We're pulled out after the body
was placed where it was found, to
make Identification difficult, but who
would have extracted the teeth. and
for that purpose. and then left them
with the body for some one to find and
restore to the jaw?
Deputy Sheriff Bartlett left Clinton
for the charnel house in Sterling at
9.45. He was followed by teams con-
tanning the newspaper men and others
interested in the case.
A dozen or more carriages were tied
to trees in front of the Sterling grave
yard by 1890 o'clock
Then came a wait oecasloned by the
ali sence of Medical Examiner Tobey.
In the party gathered before the lit
tile red brick tomb was Sheriff Bartlett,
Chief of Police Bates Edward Phelps,
with the keys to the tomb, William
Shedden, T. T. O'Connor, DR.. NJ. V.
Bastian, and Constable w. ]. Barnes
of Oakdale, who drove Shedden to the
scene. Shedden was accompanied by
his little son, a child of the same Eliza
beth Shedden whom the authorities
believed for some days TO be the dead
woman.
DR.. Tobey arrived about noon. He
was accompanied by DR.. ]. J. Good
win of Clinton, who assisted him at
the autopsy, which was begun between
II and l. 1t consumed an hour and
half.
The remains were still in the wooden
box in which they were placed Sunday.
The medical examiner decided to hold
the autopsy out of doors. A site be-
meath a maple tree, a few feet to one
sidelof and at the rear of the tomb, was
selected.
1t had been decided to bar all news |
paper men and also mere spectators.
It was therefore small and select
party that bent over the box and its
grewsome contents when the lid was
removed by the simple operation of
pulling out the nails.
In the party were the medical exam
iner, Chief Bates, Sheriff Bartlett, State
Detective Peleg F. Murray, DR.. Good
win, Charles E. Phelps, the undertaken
in charge of the remains, and DR.. T.
Fl. NIerriman of Sterling, who was told
that he might witness the spectacle i'll
he would promise never to tell any of
its secrets.
The same injunction of secrecy was
apparently laid on everybody, for it'll
was difficult to get those present to
talk after the autopsy was concluded.
The examiner began with the skull.
He looked it over. Attention was then
turned to the teeth and the jaws. These
are the teeth before referred to, which
appear to have violated all the laws
that have heretofore governed teeth,
and that in themselves are a mystery
that requires solving.
They are Of no Importance in them
selves except in the fact that they
dropped out Of jaw that had not been
disturbed and found their way two orI
three inches into the ground. and into
5IOuLIl mat IdG .DeGu CdIeLully SCTu-
tinized by the medical examiner I'M
charge of the case, the deputy sheriff
in whose jurisdiction the body was
found, and some 10 other persons who
were on the spot Sunday.
The teeth were dropped into the holes
intthe jaws. and were found to fill all
but two Of them.
DR.. d V. Bastram was called in to
make an inspection of the teeth. His
impression was that they fitted into
the sockets in the jaws loosely, but as
if.'they might have belonged there.
But he was completely mystified by
the circumstances under which they
were found. His experience in the
anatomy of the teeth had taught him
that they usually remain in the jaw
years after the jaw bone has been de-
nnded of its flesh
After the teeth had been stuck into
the sockets, the doctors continued their
examination of the skeleton. Bone by
bone they looked it over. As each
member Of the human frame was in
spected it was dropped back into the
box with perhaps the running COM
ment, That's all right"
When the leg bones were reached,
they We're examined most curiously,
especially the tibia of the left leg.
1t dfC pot seem to show traces of dis