A Funeral Without a Corpse.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 2, Issue 244, 17 January 1881, Page 2

A Funeral Without a Corpse.

[London Telegraph .] “ Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, with the part of Hamlet omitted by particular desire,” would scarcely be a more remarkable performance than a burial from which the corpse had been “left out” by mistake. Such inattention to detail on the part of all concerned in the ceretnony of sepulture, as is involved in the latter omission, appears almost incredible. Nevertheless a strange story, published in the leading Italian newspapers, gives an example of this singular anomaly. It is stated, that, a native of Bossito, in Lombardy, lately suffered bereavement by the death of his wife, and his grief for the departed was so poignant that his relatives deemed it expedient to prevent him from being present at the final preparations for the funeral ceremony, and from assisting in person at its celebration. , Returning to his house late in the evening after the burial, entering his bed-room, he found to his horror and consternation the lifeless* form. of his Avife, robed in its death cerement, reclining . on the r bier, and still awaiting interment. The widower rushed into the street, and lost no time in notifying what lie had seen to the police authorities, who at' first inclined to the opinion, that sorrow had . turned his brain. On accompanying him home, however, they soon convinced themselves that his extraordinary statement was in every particular correct. Inquiries were forthwith instituted, and resulted in the amazing discovery that the village undertaker ' had “forgotten all about the* corpse,” and had nailed up an empty coffin, which had been subsequently conveyed and consigned to the grave with; due religious ceremony and sorrowfu observance/