FOUR YEARS’ VIGIL.

Shannon News, 5 March 1926, Page 4

FOUR YEARS’ VIGIL.

OVER SOLDIER SON’S REMAINS. After a four years’ vigil over the remains of his soldier son, ‘John Speaks, of Iredell County, North Carolina, United States of America, still refuses to bury, (the body, which is lying in state in a little annexe to his farmhouse. Although a poor man he has persistently refused to accept tlie, £2,000 insurance which the Government is ready to pay on the life of the dead soldier. John Speaks will not take compensation for the life of his son, who was killed by a German shell. Thomas Boyd Speaks, the son,,' was fifteen years of age, -says the ‘Central News,’ when he volunteered for sevice overseas, without'the knowledge or' consent 'of his father. The latter was distressed, hnd made efforts to secure thel * release of the boy, but without success. Two years after, he had enlisted in the Iredell Blues.- at Statesville,' Thomas Speaks was killed in action near the Argonne Forest, a little over a month befor e the armisitice was signed. He was buried in France, but in 1921 the boefy was sent to the United States with thousahds of other Americans who had fallen in battle. For seven months i John Speaks slept every night in the same room with the flag-draped coffin, and when this became known to the county physician,: the sheriff, and the welfare superintendent, acting on reports of neighbours, called on the farmer. Tliey found, liowvcr, that the presense of a ’ metal coffin was neither dangerous nor obnoxious (to the puDlic. ’ In deference to public opinion, however, the father agreed to the removal of the body from the family living room, and constructed a small building in the garden to shelter it. There it has rested ever sine. The building is only Bft square, is neatly weather-Boajrded, and has -small windows ajt each end with a small porch ii; the front. Pols of flowers' and shrubbery adorn the entrance and sides. **

The coffin is wrapped in the Stars and Stripes, and rbsts on the box m which it was sent from Europe. The following inscription is on (the coffin plate: “Tliomas / Boyd Speaks, -bugler, Coinpany B, 18th Infantry.” On the walls of the room hang a nat ,und cap < and several other articles or apparel formerly w orn by the boy. A clothes brush , and plank on which fetters were cut by him with a jack knife before he enlisted are a,mong the ojther relics in the room. The parents also carefully preserve a letter from the young- bugler, in which he told them how much he wanted the terrible war to come to an end, and how anxious he was to return and tell them of his adventures. John Speaks, who is fifty-three years of age, and is a serious-minded man, Is surprised that his action has caused any concern. He declared, 1 that any money from the Government for his son’s life would burn his fingers. He does not belong to any church believeing that 'tliey are “All wrong,” bujt he reads his Bitfie. Asked why h e did not bury his tson’s remains, he said he felt certain it would not be long before the Resurrection of -the Dead, and he also mentioned that his son had already been buried once, and he considered that was sufficient.