The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-10-11
Bpcied in Her Arm Chair.

The strange wish of Mrs. Siche B.
Norton was complied with few weeks
ago, and she was buried sitting up in
her rocking chair, as she had died.
Mrs. Norton was the wife of a well-to-
do contractor. She was 81 years old.
She had been an invalid for TWO years,
and had spent nearly all of that time
in her armed rocker. She had hor-
ror 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 D. Kimlin,
the town wheelwright, exactly what
kind Of box she wanted the chair
to be placed in before she was
lowered into the grave. These in
structions were carried out, at the
house, where the funeral services were
held, and at the grave.
The Norton homestead .is near the
railroad station, and many friends
from out Of town arrived on the 2
O'Clock, train. Before that hour the
body Of Mrs. Norton was seated in the
old chair and the chair placed in. the
box and stood just inside the main en-
trance to the house, where all who en-
tered saw it. Kimlin had made a box
of chestnut planks two inches thick.
; He had polished them brightly and
shellacked them. It.was> 4 feet 2 in
ches long, 2 feet 6 inches wide and 4
feet 3 inches high. Itwas on casters,
SO that it co1ld be easily rolled. It
was built in swo pieces. The upper
part, or cover, was too feet deep. As
it stood in the hall this cover was off,
and the body Of Mrs. Norton was in
view from the waist up. 1t was dress
ed in black, with bit Of lace around
the neck and over the breast, fastened
with an old-time brooch. Over the
back Of the chair was white blanket
with blue figures that her grandmoth-
4 er had woven and given to her. This
was drawn up over her lap also. Mrs.
Norton's 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.
AL, Of the friends who could get
into the house crowded in. The others
gathered on the lawn. The chairs in
the room where the services were held
faced the box and the rocker and the
body. The Rev. William A. Mackey,
pastor Of the Methodist Church, stood
beside the body when the services be-
gan. Two singers were near him,
facing the box, and they opened. the
services. The services we're long
drawn ont. There was sermon, be-
sides the singing and the reading Of
the Gospel. 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 SER
vice scarcely an eye il the room was
turned from it. When the services
were over, those in theroo went out,
giving those on the lawn an opportu-
nifty to take last look at the body.
Then the cover was put on the box.
Closed up, the box looked more like a
refrigerator than it did like coffin.
Mrs. Norton was big woman, and
the box being Of the heaviest planking
obtainable, it was not possible forthe
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
up to the stoop. Two. planks were
then placed for skids and the box was
rolled out over them and into the wag
on where it was strapped. Then the
start was made for the grave.
The cemetery is on the slope of a
hill in sight Of the house. All day
workmen had been busy there. They
dug grave and walled itin with brick
and cement. For an hour before the
funeral procession started, hundred
or more village children played around
the spot. The mothers of these chill
dren gathered them together near the
stone fence that surrounds the GENE
terry when they saw the line Of wagons
coming up the hill and the workmen
put up derrick built Of three stout
supports, with pulley wheels andropes
hanging from the centre. There were
200 persons around the grave when the
open wagon drove up. It took twelve
men to lift the box from the wagon,
and then little railroad of boards was