The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1899-08-11
BURIED IN HER ARMCHAIR.
The Strange Wish of Mrs. Norton
Faithfully Carried Ont.

The strange wish of Mrs. Siche B.
Norton was complied with at Pawling,
n. Y, on July 81, and she was buried
sitting up in her rocking-chair as she had
died. Mrs. Norton was the wife of Il
Weli-to-do contractor. She was " years
old. She had been an invalid for two
years. and had spent nearly all Of that
time in her armed rocker. She had a
horror of the ordinary burial. Six months
ago she expressed the wish that when
she died she should be buried in her
chair, and she told Richard ID. KimIin,
the town wheelwright, exactly what kind
or a box she wanted the chair placed in
before she was lowered into the grave.
The Norton homestead IS near the rail
road station. and many friends from out
Of town arrived on the o'clock train.
Before that hour the body Of Mrs Nor
ton was seated in the old chair and the
chair was placed in the box and stood
just inside the main entrance to the
house, where all who entered saw it.
klmlin had made box Of chestnut
p plank inches thick. He had polished
them brightly and shellacked them. 1t
was 4 feet 2 inches long, 2 feet & inches
wide and feet 3 inches high. 1t was Oh
castors, so that it could be easily rolled.
1t was built in two pieces. The upper
part, or cover, was feet deep. AS it
stood in the hall this cover was off, and
the body of Mrs. Norton, sitting in her
chair, was i'll view from the waist up.
1t was dressed in black, with a bit of lace
around the neck and over the breast,
Fastened with an old-time brooch Over
the the back Of the chair was white blan-
ket with blue figures that her grand
mother had woven and given to her. This
was drawn up over her lap also Mrs.
Nortons eyes were closed. Her face
was composed, and as she sat bolt up-
right at the door it was easier to think
that she was asleep than that she was
dead and about to be buried
All of the friends who could get into
the house crowded in. The Others gath
ered on the lawn. The chairs in the
room where the services were held faced
the box and the rocker and the BODY.
Rev. William "A. Mackey, pastor of the
faWllng Methodist church, stood beside
the body when the services began. When
the pastor referred to the dead woman
every eye in the room was turned on the
sitting figure. Indeed, during the whole
OF the service scarcely an eye in the
room was turned from it, When the
services were over, those in the room
went out, giving those on the lawn an
opportunity to. take a last look at the
body. Then the cover was put on the
box. Closed up, the box looked more like
refrigerator than it did like coffin.
Mrs. Norton was big woman, and the
box being of the heaviest planking OBJ
talnable, 1T was not possible for the six
Pallbearers to lift it. 1t had been Mrs.
Norton's wish that she be taken to the
cemetery In an open wagon, and one of
Mr.. Norton's work wagons, in charge of
Stub Bennett, was backed M to the
stoop. Two planks were then placed for
sklds and the box was rolled out over
them and into the wagon, where it was
strapped. Then the start was made for
the grave.
The cemetery is on the slope of hill
IN sight of the house. All day workmen
had been busy there. They dug a grave
and walled it in with brick and cement.
For an hour before the funeral process
children played around the spot The
mothers of these children gathered them
together near the stone fence that sur
rounds the cemetery when they saw the
line of wagons coming up the hill and the
Workmen put up a derrick built of three
stout supports, with pulley wheels and
ropes hanging from the center. There
We're 2OO persons around the grave when
the open wagon drove up. It took twelve
men to nft the box from the wagon, and
then little railroad of boards was built
and it was rolled to the grave. Then a
sling was made by the undertaken and
his assistants, and while the box WAS
steadied with guy ropes it was let down
by means of the block and tackle, It
was delicate work. 1t required the issu
ing of many orders, which were shouted.
and which helped to take away the idea
that a funeral was going on Mr.. Nor
ton himself assisted at the rope. At last
the box was in the grave, and then the
fO0S
pect and the services at the grave were
read. After that big paving stone was
placed over the box in bed of cement
and the services were over.