Strange
case about
corpse still
unsolved
By W. T.
Block
Reprinted
from Beaumont
Enterprise,
Saturday
February 6,
1999.
Less
than a month
after the
first Lucas
gusher
excitement,
the strange
case of
Beaumont’s
missing marble
corpse went
largely
unnoticed.
In
Feb. 1901, G.
W. Davis, a
railroad car
repairman,
died of an
illness
diagnosed as
Bright’s
disease.
Magnolia
Cemetery
permitted
Davis to be
buried
temporarily in
a remote spot,
pending the
family’s
purchase and
payment for a
family plot.
A
few weeks
later, J. R.
Carroll, a
family friend,
and some grave
diggers
removed the
dirt from the
temporary
site, but soon
discovered
that the
coffin would
not budge from
the bottom of
the grave.
Mystified,
Carroll
removed a
wooden plate,
which exposed
the corpse’s
head and torso
through a
glass cover.
To
his great
astonishment,
Carroll
discovered
that Davis’
body had
petrified and
had become as
white, solid,
and heavy as
marble. Faced
with the
extreme weight
of the coffin,
Carroll had to
engaged
additional
help and some
hoisting
equipment to
complete the
reburial.
Carroll
cautioned
several
workers to
remain silent
lest the
family learn
about the
unusual
occurrence,
but his great
fear was that
body snatchers
might rob the
grave.
Within
a few days,
Davis’ widow
received a
telephone
offer through
an out-of-town
attorney to
purchase her
husband’s
petrified
body. Despite
her initial
refusal, the
intermediary’s
offer reached
$4,000 before
Mrs. Davis
informed him
that her
husband’s body
was not for
sale at any
price.
In
July, 1901,
family members
decided to
remove the
body once more
and rebury it
at a secret
location.
Carroll
noticed
immediately
that earth in
the grave was
quite loose,
and when the
diggers
reached the
coffin,
Carroll’s
worst fears
were
confirmed.
Both Beaumont
Journal and
Galveston News
(July 6, 7)
observed that:
"...We
finally opened
the grave to
find that the
corpse was
gone... The
coffin was
taken out and
bits of
clothing
removed from
it... And
there is no
question but
that the grave
robbers laid
their plans
well and far
too deep for
us to
fathom..."
When
Beaumont
detectives
questioned the
intermediary,
the attorney
disclaimed any
factual
knowledge of
the would-be
purchaser’s
identity. And
no similar
incident has
ever occurred
in the
150-year
history of
Magnolia
Cemetery.
The
truthfulness
of those who
witnessed the
bizarre event
seemed beyond
question.
Carroll was a
religious and
veracious
citizen, a
respected
member of the
E. A. McNeely
Insurance
firm, and the
widow’s son,
C. J. Davis,
was a trusted
machinist,
employed by
Beaumont Iron
Works.
Did
Davis’
petrified body
become a
ghoulish
sideshow in
some traveling
circus or
carnival?
Family members
visited
several
carnivals
without
finding the
body. And a
careful check
of newspaper
pages for
years
afterward
revealed no
solution or
indictment for
grave robbery.
And
as the oil
geysers on
Spindletop
Hill continued
to spout, the
case of
Beaumont’s
missing marble
corpse was
quickly
forgotten.
W.
T. Block of
Nederland is a
historian and
author. His
website is
http://block.dynip.com/wtblockjr/ This database is very large (350 articles)
and is
intended as an
area history
source for
students.
|
