Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-10-08
Sensational Occurrence In Con-
nection With Funeral of
Mrs. Sharpless at Salem
THE BODY WAS SPIRITED AWAY
When Husband and Relatives Went to
Train to Meet the Corpse, 1t Was
Discovered Woman's Relatives Had
Secretly Shipped the Remains to
Rhode island

4
surprised end excited over the myster
ious theft of the remains of Mrs Ev'
| Sharpless whose funeral was hel,
Monday, and who was supposed Il
have been peacefully buried Tuesda.
/ at Springdale, Cedar county II ha
4 just leaked out however. from thos,
| in the secret. that the remains neve
reached SIringdale, but We're spirited
away by relatives of Mrs. Sharples!
and shipped by express to Rhode Is
land. The first that MIR. Sharpless, tn,
| grief stricken husband knew Of tt,
! plot was when the body failed>to ar
rive at Springdale, where he was wait
| ing with hearse and sympa thizins
! friends to care for the body and intel
| it by the side OF other relatives IL
| the cemetery there.
The spirit ng away Of the remains O.
Mrs. Sharpless seemed to have arisel
out of q long standing ennity that ha.
| existed between the eastern relative:
Of Mrs. Sharpless and her husband ant
| their inability to agree upon the place
! of burial; the husband insisting that i
| was not only his wish, but that of hi.
| Wife, that she be buried with his rela
tives, that he too in time might rest be.
side her; while the relatives declared
that she desired to be buried in the pri.
| her people were buried In order t.
carry out their wishes, it is claimed
| the body OF Mrs. Sharpless was kid
mapped.
1t might be said that at the time o,
her marriage Mrs. Sharpless was worth
about $20,00l in her own name. all d
which she has disposed of in her will
which has not been probated yet From
the very frs. her relatives opposed the
marriage. and have newer been recon
ciled to 1t. The feelings of the eastern
relatives We're intensified, it is claimed
by an attempt on the part of the hus-
band to incarcerate his wife in an in
sane asylum some years previous; they
claim in order to secure her fortune
About month ago Mrs. Sharpless
proved to bn dangerously Ill from a
chronic trouble. She was taken tr
Chicago by Ter husband and operated
upon. Mrs. Sharpless passed away UNI
der the opera ton.
The question OF the funeral arrange
nents arising 1t was decided to bring
The remains back here and after fun
eral services take them to Springdale
Cedar county. her husbands old home
for interment On her death bed Mrs
Sharpless is S aid to have expressed hel
desire to be buried with her husband
people. The program was carried out
h1a rom 40 r,c hrI al. c.
but while here Mrs. Stlarpless' siste,
was informed by those who supposed
that they knew, that Mrs. Sharpless
had frequently expressed a desire to
be buried among her people in Rhode
Island and that her death bed wish
was probably an unnatural one.
Taking this view of tile case and no
doubt infiuen eed to soiae extent by
their dislike OF the dead woman's hus-
band 1t was secretly decided to ship
the remains by ruse east The blot
was carried cut to perfection. The
young Boston attorney slmpathetically
volunteered to look aftel, all the fun
eral arranSeme nts. The services were
held Monday afternoon nc Salem, and
II was arranged that the remains be
taken on the south *" line train to
Donnellson, thence be made that even
Ing for the north. All were at the
train, the remains were aboard when
Mrs. Sharpess' sister discovered that
she had forgotten something and was
obliged to go back TO the house, and
the train went off without her Rev
Sharpless and his eastern nephew
went on to Bur ington, ana while there
and unknown To the husband, the body
was expressed thru to Rhode Is
land. When it came time to take the
train for the North the young attor-
ney decided that he had better wait
fer his mother and they would go up
together the next morning. This was
agreeable to M. Sharpless. as the two
were not on very cordial terms, SO he
boarded the train for Springdale sup
posing that his wife was in her coffin
in the. baggage car
In the meantime the young man hur-
ried back to Salem, where he was join
ed by his mother, and going to Mount
Pleasant. took the train for the east
the next day.
In the meantime Rev. Sharpless pro-
ceeded on his sad journey alone When
he arrived at West Chester, Springdale
being off the railroad. he was met by
weeping relatives and the hearse in
charge of the undertaken No corpse
was on the train, and 1t was supposed
that Ii had not been transferred ana
would be up in the morning. together
with Mrs. Sharpless' sister and her son.
So the relatives went back to their
homes and the hearse and the under
taker vanished With orders to return in
the morning.
When the morning train pulled in
with no corpse and no relatives, Rev.
Sharpless felt suspicious. 10 He wired
Burlington and vas answered that no
corpse was there consigned to West
Chester. He at once took the first tran
back to Burlington and soon discovered
that he had beer tricked, and that the
remains of his wife were on their way
to Rhode Island
II is not known what steps Sharpless
Will take to recover the remains. There
is no doubt, however. that lie could Sc
cure them thru legal process.
SHOOTING AT BOONE.