The San Francisco call., 1899-05-04
UNEARTHED A
BODY TURNED AS
# To STONE
Strange Discovery of
GraVe-Diggers.
INFERRED EIGHTEEN YEARS
REMAINS OF A MAN APPEAR
JUST AS IN LIFE.
Rare Case of Petrifaction, in Which
the Clothes and Hair Seem
to Have Defed
Time.
INFERRED EIGHTEEN YEARS
REMAINS OF A MAN APPEAR
JUST AS IN LIFE.

On Tuesday grave-diggers at the Lau-
rel Hill Cemetery made a singular dis
covery. While they dug In quest of what
they believed to be a lot of withered
bones, the result of twenty years inter-
ment, they were startled by the uncover
ing of a petrified body almost in as per-
feet state of preservation as on the
date of burial.
John w. Brown, a Prussian. So years
of age, died at Yokohama, Japan, on
April "a, 1881, Shortly after his death
he was brought to San Francisco and his
remains deposited in Laurel Hill Gene
terry. On the same steamer which
brought the remains of Brown to this city
the body of a relative, H. o. Brown, who
died in Japan in 1880, was also trans
ported. Both bodies were given a rest
ing place side by side until Tuesday.
A short time ago relatives of the de-
ceased men concluded TO transfer the
remains Of the men to a plat in an Ala
media cemetery. A local undertaking es-
tablishment was given the contract. and
its men went to the burial grounds Tues
day for the purpose of executing the rel
atives wishes. With them they took two
small boxes. In these they expected to
gather the fragments of d pair of shriV-
eled skeletons.
The grave of H o. Brown was first
opened. His bones were heaped into one
Oh the DONeS. w men the remains OIL JOnD
Brown were reached the ShoVelS of the
diggers struck some hard substance. 1t
was first thought to be bedrock, but in
vesugauon proved that 1t had human
form and was perfectly clothed. Instant
ly picks and shoVelS were dropped and
the men, leaving their find untouched,
rushed to the cemetery office to spread
the information. Many people followed
them back and the cold lump of apparent
stone was lifted TO the surface. The un-
dertakers were then obliged to wait for
another box, as the remaining receptacle
was not calculated to encaSe Ite-SlZe
body. When the coffin arrived Browns
body was hastily taken to the undertake
ing parlors and kept behind closed doors.
Special effort was made to suppress the
story, but it soon had fallen on hundreds
of ears, and frequently during Tuesday
night long line of the curious awaited
admission for the purpose of viewing the
strange case. They were all promptly
turned away. The relatives ordered a
very quiet reinterment, and yesterday
morning the body was wrapped In a her,
metically sealed casket and shipped
across the bay.
Browns body had been unnaturally pre-
served. 1t had reached an advanced
ravages of a score of years of interment
without a shrink or shrivel. Neither
had IL swollen or twisted. From appear
ances the man tipped the scales at about
200 pounds in life and the present weight
of the body would probably approximate
those figures. The coffin had decayed
and fine earth had filtered through the
intact clothing covering the body and
limbs. When this was scraped off, the
flesh was found to lave retained its nat
ural color.
The head and face had been protected
from the earth, and the skin color was
clearly preserved in some spots about the
forehead and temples. The muscles and
lines of the face were as plainly depicted
as on a living body, as were those of the
body and limbs. His hair of a reddish
hue, was found neatly combed and his
mustache and goatee were as well pre-
served as his body. Mummies when taken
from the sarcophagus. are generally be-
yOnd recognition, but Brown was as nat
ural in appearance as on the day of his
death His complexion had been OF
bronzed hue. and about the face where
the earth had not fallen, it had been con-
siderably darkened by the dampness.
The clothing was in such a good state
of preservation that it had to be cut from
the body, and the shoes were in good con-
dition, except that they were shrunk con-
siderably. The cloth OF his burial suit
was of fine texture and retained its
firmness. Where it had not been too bad
ly stained by moistened earth the pattern
could be seen.
The body had become converted into a
white fbrous substance and had not yet
reached the state of crystalliZation. The
fingers were pliable, and the arms and
legs could be moved slightly in their
sockets. The chest gave a little under
pressure, but the skin on the body was
solid as rock.