READING, Pa. — A leather-skinned mummified man lying in an open coffin in Reading, Pennsylvania, known only as “Stoneman Willie” to the public got two things Saturday he went without
A mummified man known as Stoneman Willie in Reading, Pennsylvania, was given a proper burial and his real name, James Murphy, after 128 years. Murphy, an Irish alcoholic, died in 1895 while in jail. His remains had been accidentally mummified by a mortician experimenting with embalming techniques.
READING, Pennsylvania (Reuters) -A leather-skinned mummified man lying in an open coffin in Reading, Pennsylvania, known only as "Stoneman Willie” to the public got two things Saturday he went without for 128 years - a burial and his real name. Dressed in a period tuxedo, his generations-long public afterlife as the stuff of city lore and ghost stories ended when he was introduced to the world as James Murphy of New York at a funeral in Reading. A group of funeral home employees and well-wishers
By Julio-Cesar Chavez and Rich McKay READING, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - A leather-skinned mummified man - a longtime curiosity lying in an open coffin .