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How did Pioneers Preserve Corpses?

by | Oct 23, 2017 | Ask the Marshall, Departments

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How did pioneers preserve corpses? George Townsend — Bella Vista, Arkansas. Pioneers preserved bodies in winter ice and snow, when available, or soaked them in arsenic or alcohol. Jack Slade’s widow, for instance, reportedly preserved her husband’s body in a tin casket filled with whiskey. Intending to transport his body to his home state of Illinois, she got as far as Salt Lake City, Utah, before giving up and burying Jack. The development of formaldehyde in 1859 improved the preser


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