Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-24
FIND 1OOSKELETONS
At WILLIAMSBURG
Mystery Shrouds identitWoi
Dead, Found Row on Row
by Exoavators.

z-@S---S~-A
accidentally by Colonial and French
troops returning from their victory Of
Yorktown.
In front Of the palace" frontina
on Duke Of Gloucester street, wos q
large extent Of lawn known as the
palace green" Opposite the palace,
behind the old Bruton churchyard.
where some Of the most prominent old
Virginia families are buried. were spa.
cious, terraced gardens. The palace
estate was completed by the deer park,
after the fashion Of eighteenth century
English mansions. The excavators,
following the "Frenchman,s naar.a
started digging about on q line between
the gardens and the deer park. And
they found that they were uflcoverina
q graveyard Of which there was moi
the slightest record. Unbelievable a
u seemed; 2 hundred persons had been
lost completely In this small, sleepy old
college town where for two centuries
everybody has known everybody else
by their first names.
With no local elites, the excavaton
sought the expert opinion of DR.. Alef
Hrdlicka, head of the Department AZ
Physical Anthropology of the Smith.
sonian Institution, who has an alrfoM
tincafif1y ability to reconstruct the pas
from the evidence of skeletons. DIR
Hrdheka visited Williamsburg last weei
ana I0und that the skeletons were those
or white men, except for two white
women; that they died in bed, ana
that they probably died In a hospitaI
OF some sort. First they had beer
buried very close together and the
military regularity Of the graves IN
dtcatsd that they must have been mad
ct about the same time. The who'll
picture fits that Of q military fo9
pital burial. The further Indicated
Is that the hospital was near by, sincl
y has not been. the custom In war;
Secondly, the arms folded across thu
chests shows that the men died ID
bed, since this act must have beer
performed By doctors or nurses befort
rtGot morris set IN. This never 4
found IN the case Of men killed "A
battle, where the bodies cannot be cor
lected until some time after death.
Palace Used 90 Hospital.
Beyond this, representatives OF th
Williamsburg holding Corporation I'M
sist. everything Il pure conjecture an{
they refuse to speculate until tl1ei
have exhausted every possible line d
inquiry. But &c q known that thu
governors palace was used as q hos
pital for Colonial troops during ttil
YORKTOWN campaign. There IL no rec
ORD that any troops, either Union q
Confederate, were nospitahzed In Will
course, Il is possible that there wal
4 +AgsyxArsye, hnsysf4A1 fr,ers A,,wtstU An
hectic days Of the Peninsula campaign
which was Immediately forgotten ate
It was abandoned. Every effort vii
be made to find some reference &
such d hospital in War Department
flies or Confederate archives.
But the known fact Of the Revolw
tiorafy hospital furnishes fertile ground
! for the conjecture that these unknown
| soldiers" were colonists who fought q
Yorktown and there may be q farl
fetched possibility of eventually identis
| flying some OF the men who died In "ti1l
palace" But VINO were the two wonenl
| Perhaps there were more women, fof
Or. Hrdlicka did not make an exf1a1s'
tive Study Of every skeleton. In alrncs
every direction the mystery Of thl
hundred dead men" deepene when clue
ere followed.
Curiosity Seekers UnwsIcoms.
Williamsburg folk apparently had N
idea that they were walking owe
graves. The mysterious cemetery wal
almost 1atiie center Of the town. TIL
land had been used IS cornfield ana
some record crops obtained from Il
The Williamsburg Holding Cofpofatio1
Is extending its inquiries as quietly ail}
as thoroughly as possible; their objed
being an absolutely correct reproduce
ton Of the colonial town. 1t does No
welcome curiosity seekers.
Behind the high board fence on
encounters 4 scene strongly suggestive
Of Blake or Dore painting Of the Dai
Of Judgment. Each skeleton has beef
taken from its grave and laid reterentl,
on the mound of earth beside it. .
looks Is II the archangel's trumpet hai
sounded ana the poor, forgotten bones
risen ct last from their narrow l1otises
The eye sockets Of the hundred whit
skulls stare ct the intruder.
There are no plans for the eventua
dispositicn of the unknown dead. Tho!
do not flt into the picture Of the pal
zee gardens. Int they are no !, lon se
Cordasice with what they were whei
tliis Il asceftaified, and the rebuilderi
OF WILLIAMSBURG are confident that thu
mystery eventually viii be solved. The,
have fallen into kindly hands Dc las
after al these years Of oblivion. Ne
more will their everlasting sleep be dis.
turbed by the ploughmaii.
But perhaps they alone know thu
story OF how they came out Of thu
wars 70 rest here IN this old, old cole
ieae town. And In almost mockine
silence they lie there In military fora
nation, row on row.