For 42 years, the wife of Abraham Frye rested in a cemetery near St. Matthews, Kentucky. Then the cemetery became a gathering place for cockfights.
A “cock pit” was an enclosed area where spectators watched roosters fight, often while wagering on the outcome. Somehow, the grounds where Mrs. Frye had been buried were transformed into such a battleground.
For Frye, who lived near Jeffersonville, Indiana, the situation was intolerable. He arranged to have his wife’s remains removed and reburied at New Chapel Cemetery in Union Township.
Mrs. Frye had been buried in a metallic casket, an increasingly available alternative to wooden coffins during the nineteenth century. When the grave was opened after more than four decades, the casket was reportedly found in almost perfect condition.
Its occupant, however, had not been similarly preserved.
Mrs. Frye’s body had “crumbled to dust.”
Cemetery Was A Cock Pit
NEW ALBANY, Indiana. — When the cemetery in which his wife’s body reposed, near St. Mathews, Kentucky, had become the battleground for cock-fighting, Abraham Frye, who lives near Jeffersonville, had it removed to New Chapel Cemetery in Union Township and reburied.
Mrs. Frye died 42 years ago and was buried in a metallic casket.
The casket was found to be in almost perfect condition.
The body, however, had crumbled to dust.
Source: The St. Louis Republic. St. Louis, Mo. March 17, 1901.
