West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1908-12-03
interests u MsaNs Cwcn Cnmmh and State GmusO
Ni>T,gtN GWlyr.
i't~sion touny NJ. R.moyr wron
kemalns

Remains.
The Echo, Of Webster Springs, last
week has the following account of the NJ,
moval Of the remains OF Preston county
soldier:
Early last September Edmund Mesacn.
ger, OF kingwood, was sent TO Webster
Springs TO locate the grave of James r.
Summers, a union soldier VIII. was sh 1
and killed here on March ~, 1852. Act
ing on information obtained from some
oi the Older citizens, an old grave i'm the
burying ground near the Kautz residence
was marked as being the one i'm which
the body OF the soldier had been placed.
Monday evening of this week Mr.. Mes
senger, accompanied by Capt. James f.
Murdock, both representatives Of the
kingwood post Of the Grand Army of
the Republic, ,rrived here TO exhun,e the
remains of Summers and remove them TO
Grafton for intenncnt i'm the soldiers'
ccmetery there. Acting ON the informn.
tion formerly obtained they procccdel 1
tuesday morning 10 open the markc,
grave. \ skeleton was found i'm AN OK.
cellcnt state of preservation, though the
coffin and clothing had almost entirely
disappeared; some nickclcd coffin trim
mings. along with buttons, cuff buttons.
parts of n cclmloid collar, two lead pcn.
ellis etc The bones were packed i'm .
box and taken 10 Grafton Wednesday.
Now for the other part of the story
reasons fJr the belief that the RENAL q
could not have been those Of man bur
led forty-six years ago. II was discov
cred that the coffin had been nailed wit.
wire nail, which were first sold here
little less than twenty years ago, thoa
ed previous to that date being the old.
fis' ioncd cut nails. Another very stroar
oit oi evidence l. the fact that the "Wiz-
ard cuff holders found in the grav,
were not patented until 1886, and therr-
tore could not have been in Use twent,
four years before they were manuiac.
tured. Privatcs in the ranks seldom
wore collars and cufIs, anyhow. Next.
tie butt so wr not tese .,s
those used on military uniforms in the
civil war.
But the statement OF Mn. Name
Payne, one Of the oldest ladies in town.
seems to annul all claims that this wa
the body of Summers. She says, so we
are informed, that when Capt s. B.
Philips arrived in the village with n
'mall squad ot Yankee soldiers all the
men folk of the surrounding country
sought hiding In the woods. II was one
II thec citizens secreted on the bluff near
the present sitc of J. NJ. IIooyer's resi-
dence who fired the shot which caused
the death Of Summers. The soldier wa
in the bottom about where the planning
mill now stands, and the ball, which was
fired from rifle, struck him i'm the back.
The wound was fatal one, but the vic
tlm fingered for day or two. In the
meantime Phillips and his company had
departed, leaving the dying man at the
home Of a Mr.. Armstrong in the village,
and when lac died there was nobody Ia
bury him but number Of women, OF
whom Mrs. Payne was one. The grave
was prepared, the soldier wrapped in hi-
blanket only, and 70 laid 20 his eternal
r"t. There was no coffin with nicke!ed
trimmings, and no wire nails, nor any
other kind, were used in preparing the
body for burial
In View Of these facts is it any wonder
the people refuse 10 believe that the rp-
MAIN Of the soldier were cxhumed?
While II is not Il certainty, there are
those who assert that the grave opened
was that Of George ScamOn, of Frozen
mp, Jackson county, who died here
tcci years ago and was buried near
trc soldiers grave. There was nothing
mark the resting place Of either, and
~ the bnrying ground has been entirely
neglected all those years, there are few
who remember just where any particular
person was buried therein.
Summers was % years Of age when
killed, and belonged TO the Third Vir-
ginia Infantry. His home was in Rono
district, Preston county, where brother
is yet living. But after all, II appears
that hls remains still rcpose where they
were deposited by that band Of heroic
and mcrciful women forty-six ycars ago.
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