Bradford Shinkle

Feared Burial Alive;

Casket Is Guarded

Coffin Containing Body of

Bradford Shinkle Was

Opened Each Hour for

Two Weeks.

The late Bradford Shinkle had a dread of being buried alive. The Covington capitalist died on May 7, and the funeral was held on May 10, but it was not until two weeks after Shinkle's death that the body was finally interred. For 11 days a guard watched beside the casket in the vault at Highland Cemetery, on Lexington pike. There was one during the day, and at night John Sanger, Assistant Sexton, would take up the grim vigil.

With each hour one of the guards would peer into the casket to see if there were any signs of life. He would wait until the clocks would boom the hour in the valley below and then make another examination. This continued for 11 days, after which the casket was sealed and Sanger and his companion were relieved of duty.

Mr. Shinkle held to the theory that embalming did not insure against the fate he dreaded, and had requested his family to take these measures against the danger of being buried alive.

Clifford Shinkle, son of the late capitalist, denied his father's casket was guarded or opened.