After being on display in a Pennsylvania funeral home for 128 years, an alcoholic pickpocket known affectionately as “Stoneman Willie” was accidentally mummified by a mortician experimenting with a new embalming procedure.
On November 19, 1895, the unidentified man died of kidney disease in a Reading jail. Undertaker Theodore Auman attempted to preserve the body of the deceased through arterial embalming, and his experiment proved too successful.
For more than a century, local celebrity “Stoneman Willie” has been buried at the Auman Funeral Home.
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- Who was “Stoneman Willie”?
- When will “Stoneman Willie” be buried?
- What is the condition of the mummy?
- Why did Willie hide his identity even on his deathbed?
- When will his true identity be revealed?
Who was “Stoneman Willie”?
Credit: Reuters
“Stoneman Willie” was a local jailhouse drunk who died of kidney failure on November 19, 1895, and was involuntarily mummified by a mortician experimenting with new embalming procedures.
The man’s true identity is unknown, as he provided a false name when he was imprisoned for pickpocketing more than a century ago.
When will “Stoneman Willie” be buried?
After 128 years on display, the 19th-century thief’s embalmed body will be buried in Reading, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
On October 7, his body will receive final rites before being carried in procession to neighboring Forest Hills Memorial Park for burial.
Credit: Reuters
What is the condition of the mummy?
“Stoneman Willie,” one of America’s oldest mummies, lies in a coffin dressed in a tuxedo, bow tie and red belt across his sunken chest. His hair, teeth and nails are still intact and his skin looks like dark, aged leather.
Why did Willie hide his identity even on his deathbed?
Because the man provided a false name, James Penn, after being caught hiding under a bed in a boarding house with stolen items, the identity of the famous mummy remained unknown for many years and local officials were unable to find his relatives.
Willie apparently refused to identify himself even on his deathbed so as not to embarrass his relatives. No one came to claim his body after his death.
The Reading funeral home had requested permission from the state to preserve the mummified body of “Stoneman Willie” instead of burying it to observe the experimental embalming process.
However, Auman Funeral Home claims to have identified “Stoneman Willie” using historical records and will reveal his identity when he is buried later this week.
Credit: Reuters
Until now, little was known about the deceased other than his Irish ancestry, his ties to New York state and the fact that he had a mustache and died of alcoholism at the age of 37.
The reading will commemorate the man who has been part of the city’s culture for decades before his funeral. Reading’s 275th anniversary was celebrated Sunday with a parade that included a motorcycle hearse carrying “Stoneman Willie’s” coffin.
Willie will be on display at Auman Funeral Home this week, allowing locals to express their condolences.
When will his true identity be revealed?
Credit: Reuters
Willie will make his final journey through Reading on Saturday, dressed in a tuxedo “appropriate to what a gentleman in 1895 would have dressed for burial,” according to the funeral home.
He will later be buried in a nearby cemetery, where his real name will finally be engraved on his tombstone.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn