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shyscyberchamber.com
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UNSOLVED CRIMES |
Date
Added |
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Who Did She Bury? |
JAN 2004 |
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In the little coal mining town of McVey, Washington
State, Nels Stenstrom and his wife Anna were among the most
industrious merchants. Working side by side, they spent twelve
hours of almost every day of the week in the McVey Mercantile Store -
'Where Everybody Finds Everything'.
Then a mysterious tragedy entered their lives. On 5th June 1895,
Nels Strenstrom vanished without a trace. There were those who
said the big man had a roving eye and might possibly have left with a
woman. But no one wanted to carry that rumour to the steely-eyed
Anna, who was devoted to her husband.
But Anna kept running the store as if Nels were at her side, and it
expanded and grew more prosperous.
In the summer of 1902, Stenstrom was declared legally dead. And
that same day Anna made the strange announcement that was to reach
newspapers throughout the US: Although he might only be legally dead,
she said, he would have a proper grave.
With or without a body, she wanted a casket, a burial plot and fitting
church services for her husband.
It was an idea so unusual that crowds of reporters and curious
spectators poured into the little town. There was standing room
only in the church when the funeral began at 2.30pm on 1st July 1902.
Nels had been a war veteran, and the vacant coffin was prominently
displayed under the US flag. After a few words from the
minister, old friends appeared at the lectern to eulogize the
departed.
Anna was the last to speak. But she had scarcely started when
there was sudden confusion in the crowd. A grizzled derelict in
shreds of clothing staggered into an aisle whimpering and clutching
his breast. Some said he looked imploringly into Anna's face
before he collapsed, unconscious to the floor.
She was the first to reach him and grope for a pulse. The tears
were running down her cheeks when she raised her eyes. All she
could say was 'It's Nels.'
The town's one doctor signed the death certificate, marvelling that
this alcoholic wreck could be the once powerful Nels. Hundreds
watched as the remains of the vagrant were borne to the Stenstrom
burial plot.
But the story had an incredible sequel.
While the nearby towns of Roslyn and Cle Elum prospered, the veins of
coal ran thin in McVey. It became a shabby ghost town.
After Anna died and was buried with her husband, a contractor bought
the store for its old lumber.
When he was bulldozing the building down, shallow graves were found
beneath the floorboards. Two skeletons lay side by side.
Between them was the axe that had split their skulls.
One was the skeleton of a woman destined to remain as nameless as the
vagrant buried with Anna. The man's body was equally
unidentifiable... Could it have been the body of the real Nels
Stenstrom? |
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