Argument being obviously of no avail, Buchanan told the little mob that it was an Irish custom to drink spirits before visiting a grave and that this custom he always observed. In a few minutes the crowd was too much occupied with the Irish custom to annoy Buchanan and the consul proceeded with his task.
The lid of the coffin was found to be broken and the roots of the peach-tree had entwined themselves completely around the skull. The bones were taken to a house near by, whence warned of rumors that the body would be flung into the river, Buchanan was obliged to carry off the coffin like a thief in the night, driving twenty-four miles to New York.
Corpse of Paul Jones Identified.
The recovery of the body of John Paul Jones is still fresh in the public mind. Unearthed after a protracted search in an abandoned Paris cemetery, the features and body were so well preserved that there could be no doubt of the identity. Once this was established, the transfer of the body from French to American soil was made the occasion of a solemn ceremony, in the course of which five hundred. American bluejackets marched through the streets of Paris.
The remains of Jones, André, and Napoleon were exhumed in order that they might be buried again with greater honor. In Westminster Abbey mere accident or curiosity has several times disturbed the rest of the famous dead.
The body of Ben Jonson has been especially unfortunate. Having obtained a grant of “eighteen inches of square ground” in the Abbey, the poet was said to have been buried there in an upright position with the famous epitaph, “O Rare Ben Jonson,” over his head. In 1849 a new grave was being dug close by when loose sand poured in and the clerk saw:
“The two leg-bones of Jonson fixed bolt upright in the sand as though the body had been buried in the upright position, and the skull came rolling down among the sand, from a position above the leg-bones, to the bottom of the newly made grave. There was still hair upon it and it was of a red color.”
Pope’s Skull in Museum.
Another poet has suffered in much the same manner. The skull of Alexander Pope is now in a private museum. On some occasion the coffin was opened and a phrenologist gave two hundred and fifty dollars to the sexton to be allowed to take the skull home overnight. In the morning another skull was substituted and the poet’s deposited in the phrenologist’s museum.
Against the curiosity of science there is no safeguard. Recently Kaiser Wilhelm had the grave of Charlemagne at Aix-la-Chapelle opened again, this time for the purpose of photographing the fabrics in which the hero was wrapped. Against this violation of the sepulcher Jules Claretie, in an article written for the Paris Figaro and translated for the Boston Transcript, has protested vigorously. Claretie says: