How could the politest experts of the politest people on earth say nay?
The case was pitiful.
The search for Paul Jones’s body had reached a crisis. Only four leaden coffins had been found in the old graveyard, and one of these had to be Paul Jones, because he had been buried in such a coffin, and the other three bore name-plates which showed they could not be his.
The fourth bore no name-plate; therefore it must be Jones’s coffin.
The necessity of the situation required it.
Consequently, polite French experts measure, compare, incubate, decide and bring in the verdict desired.
Looking at the matter as a lawyer, I should say that there is not sufficient legal evidence offered, as yet, to establish the identity of the dead body.
The cemetery in which Commodore Paul Jones was buried was closed by law in 1793.
A canal was afterward cut through it.