WHAT IS THE CHARACTER OF THE SURROUNDINGS OF THE IMAGE?
The spot is perhaps twenty-five feet below the house. The soil on the surface is a loose one, half sand and half muck (dark.) The spot has undoubtedly been filled in to a considerable extent from washings from the hills around. Mr. Wright, the former owner, says that the spot used to be covered with water, and that he had at one time a bridge constructed over this very point, in order to reach the higher land beyond. Even after the water failed to stand there constantly, he was obliged to use the bridge, as the soft muck was four or five feet deep, and was impassable for cattle and teams. The Onondaga Creek was within twenty rods of the spot, and at some seasons of the year overflows it. Some suppose the channel of the Creek was once there. The place had been a regular swamp for years. Mr. Newell has owned the farm for three years, and has occasionally ploughed around and thrown in dirt, to the depth of at least a foot.
Under the three or more feet of muck is found a strata of gravel from two to six and eight inches in depth. The body rests in and upon this gravel bed. The gravel under the neck of the image was very solidly pressed down. Underneath the gravel is found red clay, into which the gravel is pressed.
The right limb is perfect all around with slight exceptions. The left arm is perfect nearly to the hand, excepting that the shoulder is worn off some by the water underneath. The bottom of the right foot seems to be perfect. Some slight portions of the left foot have been cleaved off.
The family and the neighbors give, it might be remarked, an original hypothesis of their own, regarding the death of the man; viz: that in passing along over this spot he was either drowned or swallowed up in the mire and suffocated to death.