THE COLUMBIA HERALD — OCTOBER 9, 1903
A gentleman from this city who went to Colombia last week to the Fair saw the petrified man while there, and says it is no fake, but the genuine article beyond a doubt. The body is of a blueish-gray in color, and was evidently composed for burial.
The hands are crossed over the breast; the limbs are perfectly straight and lie close together; the head is thrown back as it would be when placed in a coffin, and the chest is expanded. The moustache is plainly indicated, exactly as in a marble or clay bust; the toe and finger nails are perfect and distinct, and there are other parts of the body visible that it would be impossible to duplicate artificially.
A part of the stomach is gone. This is evidently the effect of partial mortification having set in before the process of petrification began. The man was evidently in life, tall, well-formed and fine looking.
How he likes being made a gazing stock of might be a question.
Have the dead no rights of this sort that they should not be protected from the gaze of the crowds of curiosity mongers? What are the ethics on this subject? Has a man the moral right to exhibit for profit the corpse of another man, whether known or unknown, whether petrified or unpretrified? Then comes in the question of decency. Certainly women should not be asked to look upon such a sight. Yet the “tooter” for this particular sideshow was heard advising everybody, schoolgirls particularly, to see it.
