The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-04-15
BODY KEPT AS A RELIC.
1t Is Enhbalmed and Is CarefuII
Preserved Near PHILADELPHIA.

~ ~ EhoHAmeu anu Is Carefully
Preserved Near Philadelphia.
Philadelphia Press.
One of the oldest bits of personal prop
erty owned by any one near this city is
an embalmed corpse.
This grewsome thing. which was once a.
human being, and is now no more than
a curiosity for inquisidve eyes to gloat
upon, is in the possession of an under
taker Of a suburban town, on the main
line of the Pennsylvania railroad
The man, who worked as a day Iaborer
near Ardmore, died five years ago, and
ever since that time he has been in an
emoaimed state as a part of his owners
household goods.
For several years the body was left
carelessly about the undertaker's attic,
but at the end of that time finding that
the servants wereon not spaBticularIys fond
of coming across theTdead man when they
set to housekeeping and that the warm
atmosphere in the end might prove preju-
dicial to the corpse, the fellow was re-
moved to a tiny, closet-like room adjoin-
ing the shop.
Il have placed the body here" said its
owner, ascending a stepladder to get a
key hidden over the shops door, because
1t is farther away from prying eyes, and
because l do not want the general public
to know that 1 have such a thing at my
establishment Yet set great store by
this paragon of embalming art, and 1
wish to keep it at all costs ="
The man inserted the key into the lock
of door leading out from the shop. The
door swung open and a closet-like long
and narrow apartment was disclosed In
its center long object with a white sheet
over 1T was visible. The undertaken drew
the sheet from the. body, which was ex-
tended on plank set on two cross=pfece
uprights. ~ s!s'ioisAVoAq zo-9Das
Here is the unknown workman" he
said, who died five years ago the goth
of this March. and whose remains since
then have been IN my possession"
The body Of a moderately tall man ap-
peared in the twilight Illumination cast
|. from single small window The nose
was pinched, the eyes sunken, and the
skin was sallow color, but otherwise,
with naturally dropping dark mustache.
with an ample head of hair and with
finger nails and feet as lifelilSe as those of
one dead only an hour before, the corpse
nude, save for bandage across the
mfddle-seemed that of a man only re-
Gently passed away from his career among
! the living.
You see, he looks natural enough, I"
said the undertaken, land so he will re-
main indefinitely. A hundred years from
now, l dare say, the features will be as
from then on throughout countless ages
should the body be preserved so long a
time-it will remain in an equally perfect
state.
"All We know Of his history is that he
was brought to us an unknown, man In
March of 1895. He was to be sent to an
anatomical museum, but We kept the body
instead, so that we could test the virtues
OF embalment
mo one knew where the man came
from. and even his fellow workmen did
not know his name. Then he died one
early spring day, and the body was put
into the hands of the public authorities.
They delivered it to us.
I'm embalming we made incisions into
the femoral arteries near the thighs Into
them We pumped the embalming fluid,
and making cuts at the extremities of
the feet. we thus saw that the liquid had
| penetrated every lower portion of the
! body.
AS the corpse had been that of a man
addicted to drink, the blood, after death,
was considerably torpid, more so than in
healthy body. Because of this the en-