The Corvallis times. (Corvallis, Or.) 1888-1909, 1906-11-06
SOIL OF MOUNT CALVARY
CEMETERY CHANGES BOD
les INTO STONE. 4
Corpse Of Portland Woman buried
Sixteen Years Ago Easily Re-
4 cogniz'd When Exhumed-
Statutes Carved by
4 so$ Nature.


! Portland, Nov. Portland Or
i,egonian: Bodies buried in Mount
| calvary cemetery turn to stone
, within few years. This Is the
startling discovery recently made
by gravediggers employed in re-
moving the dead from one part Of
the cemetery to another. In the
J case of a grave opened last wetk,
I the body of q weil-known Portland
woman VIZ died and was buried
in the cemetery 16 years ago was
found to have become completely
petrifed. Though the coffin and
the grave-clothes had crumbled to
dust, the body, in appearance, was
unchanged, and the features were
plainly recognizable. -.
stAI n one other instance a bod y1bur-
led in different partof the hall lowed
ground was found to have under
! gone.a similar alteration and al
thoagh at first the structural change
was ascribed to the action of water
seeping into the soil from leaking
,standpipe, it is now admitted that
the soil itself possesses the peculiar
fproperty of petrifying bodies buried
in it. Itispossible,if not probable,
that the bodies of a large majority
Of the hundreds of dead who now
sleep beneath the sod OF Mount Cal.
vary have been carved into statues
Of enduring stone by the sculptor
hand of nature. -
/ Although it was not geuerally
known, the fact that the soil of
Mount Calvary cemetery possesses
the strange property mentioned was
| first suspected about three years
ago, when the body Of Irene Mary
Owens, a girl Of IA years: who was
buried ,in the Gem etery in 1895, YVES
exhumed for reinterment in another
let, and was found to have been
strangely preserved from natural
decay. To the astonishment of An
| gus N Nc Gregor, the sexton, and
his assistants. when the grave was
opened the coffin was found intact.
When the workmen attempted to
raise the casket to the surface It was
found to be mnch heavier than it
should have been, but this was at
tribu.ed to. the presence of water in
the coffin. The caeket beirg opened
however, itswas found that The body
was p. trihed. ~
It seemed that a crust about an
inch thick had become petrifed over
tie entire body, forming a stony
shell, and the corpse was in as per-
/ feet condition setherwise as it was
1.-The day it was bnried. s. The, features
were we'll preserved, decay had not
msrred their contour aud relatives
who saw the body declared it easily
recognizable. In moving the body
/ the right arm was broken, owing to
Its brittle nature, and the flesh was
to be seen plainly. It was not in q
naturalstate, but presented woody,
! fibrous appearance and perfectly
dry. The entire body was in the
8 me condition, 80 far as it could
/ be Judged without breaking the
she'll Of stone, ,--3.--i .. go. s.'-e
h One singular fl ature was the total
ahs- nee Of clothing and there. was
uu trace of the dust of the fabric in
1.-THE coffin.
4 At the time this body was ex
! humed 1t was found that the grave
had continually been kept full ol
4 water by the seepage from astar d.
pipe. To this was attributed The
petrifaction. Later development:
have disproyen this theory, and now
those who hayesseen the bodies ex,
humed and who have cut forward
different theories for the wonder fo.
state of their preservation are at {
loss to account for the petrifaction
unless it be due 10 chemical proper
ties Of the earth.s
5 On Thursday of last week th'
grave Of Mre. Louise Allehof, il
the Same cemetery was opened fo
the purpose ofaremoving 1the bod,
: toa differentsrart Of the grounds
The work was done under the. di
rection of a son. Mrs. Allehoff die,
and was buried 16 years ago, and i
was expected that the body ha,
/ crumbled to dust. When thetgrav
was opened, however, it was foun,
/ to be comparatively dry. Tn
rough outside box S we'll as til
coffin had fallen to pieces from de
'cay, and there lay the body Of
.,t..,z-trt ssr,5s.