The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-03-06
BONES IN THE BANK
REMAINS OF THE TWO GREENEs
IN SAFETY DEPOSIT VAULT.
RECEIVED BY SOUTHERN BANK.
ACCOUNT OPENED WITH TRUSTEES
GARDINER AND HARDEN.

Remains of Gen. Greene and George
Washington Greene Were Trans
ferred Yesterday Afternoon mt tn e
Police Station From soap Boxes to
Specially Constructed ReceptRcIes,
which Were HermesicaIIy Sealed
and Securely Fastened with
ScrewS-CarefuI Examination Mnde
of the ReIics-COhin Plate and but
tons Taken by Col. Gardiner to
Director of metropolitan Museum
of Arts for Expert JBd Gment.
An undertaker's wogan was driven up
10 the door of the Southern Bank yester-
day afternoon. shortly before clock and
two men lifted out two boxes made of
wood stained dark brown, carried them
into the bank building and deposited them
in the safety vault One of the boxes
was some four foot long, twelve inches
deep and sixteen inches wide The other
was about three feet long, with its other
Dimensions the same as those OF the
larger box.
The boxes contained the remains OF Gen.
Nathaniel Greene and of his son, George
Washington Greene The remains OF the
Revolutionary hero were in the larger box
and those of the son We're in the smaller
one. They had been transferred to the
more fitting receptaclee from the soap
boxes in which they had been placed upon
their removal from the Jones vault in
The old Colonial cemetery.
At the police station the transfer from
10
to receive them was made. Col. Asa
Bird Gardiner of New York, who person
ally conducted the entire search for the
remains. had the boxes constructed, Sc
curing the services of Undertaken W. T.
Dixon, in whose places the boxes were
made.
There was no regard to the ordinary
shape of a coffin in the construction of
the boxes. There was no need, as the
remains of the Greenes, father and son.
bore not the slightest resemblance to the
human form. Wasted by the more than
a century of their interment in the vault,
thore were but number of disjointed
and partially disintegrated bones. With
these in the soap boxes were mass of
mould, fragments of the caskets in which
the remains had been paced, and a few
remnants of burial garments.
Everything that was in the two soap
boxes was transferred to the new ones.
The bones were arranged together. the
mould was bestowed in one mass, and
the portions of the collins were also kept
separate. Then the new boxes, which
We're lined with zinc, We're Theoretically
scaled and securely fastened with screws.
The transfer was made in the room at
the police station in which prisoners are
kept while the Recorders Court is in
session. The work was superintendent by
Col. Gardiner, Mr.. A. d. Harden, Mr..
Otis Ashmore and MIR. William Robinson.
From the sergeants office where the soap
boxes had been under guard since the
afternoon before. when they We're de-
posted there for safe keeping. the re-
mains were taken to the prisoners room.
The two employees OF the Park and Tree
Commission who had been most active
in the manual labor of the search for the
bodies, were at hand to make the trans
fer.
Reverently the work was done, Col
Gardiner setting the example by remov-
ing his high hat. when the chisel was
used to open the soap boxes, and the
others in the room, including Senior
Sergeant Reilly and others of the police
force, following it. Care was taken to
transfer every fragment from the tenn
Ioidl bpAtS 10 tHOSH III winch the IG-
mains will some time in the future, be
again inferred.
First the dust of young Greene was
transferred, and then the remains of Gen.
Greene We're removed from the one and
placed in the other box. Each bone was
laid aside as 1t was reached by the man
making the transfer. and the members of
the committee inspected them closely.
Though a grewsome piece of work, it
was not without interest.
One matter in which Mr.. Ashmore man
ifested deepest interest was a careful ex-
animation of two portions of the jaws
of Gen. Greene. These showed teeth in
tact, not "a single one having been lost
Only tine two portions of the jaws, how
ever, We're found. Mr.. Ashmore used
his magnifying glass in the examination
of the teeth. and found that some OF them
had been filled with gold. This he as
sumed to be, to a certain extent, proof
that the body was Gen. Greene's, as only
those of quality and means were able in
the days in which he lived. to- afford SUCH
work upon their teeth. when dentistry OF
that character involved far greater OK
pense than now. The teeth. too Mr..
Ashmore observed, were apparently those
OF a man of about Gen. Greenes age,
forty-four years, and were in an excellent
state of preservation.
Some effort was made to restore the
fragments of the skull to something of
their original form, but this failed. When
che skull was lifted from the vault the
day before 1t was in excellent state OF
preservation, but. exposed to the air. it
speedily crumbled. and only in fragments
was it placed in the box. When seen IN
the cemetery however, Col. Gardner had
remarked upon its massive size.
Mr.. Ashmore measured two or three
OF the bones that were best preserved
among them The thigh bone. This was
found to be eighteen inches long. which
i'm a man of proportionate development
would mean hight greater than six feet
Gen. Greene was man of aarge stature
and the measurement showed yet an
other proof of the identity of the remains
Among the mouldered relics We're what
had been silk gloves. These showed bet
ter preservation than any other cloth that
could be identified in the mass Of dust
and mould. II had been said that ring
had been found I'm one of the gloves but
that was an error.
Upon the boxes being sealed and their
lids screwed down securely, metal plates.
engraved with the names of those whose
remains they contain. were fastened upon
them. One Of the plates was inscribed
Mai. Gen. Nathaniel Greene. Born Aug.
T. 1742; died June 10. 1856" Upon the other
was the inscription: George w. Greene.
son of Mai. Gen. Greene"