Smithsonian identifies old corpse
Smithsonian researchers have identified a corpse uncovered in 2005 by a Washington construction crew as that of a teenage orphan who lived in the 1800s.
It took experts at the National Museum of Natural History two years to determine the well-preserved body encased in an iron coffin was William T. White, an orphan from Accomack County in Virginia who died of pneumonia in 1852 at the age of 15, The Washington Post said Thursday.
He was buried in a cemetery that probably belonged to Columbian College in what is now Columbia Heights, the newspaper said. The cemetery was moved about 10 years later, but White’s body was somehow left behind.
Smithsonian researchers investigated the case as a public service and research opportunity, the newspaper said. The research team was able to confirm White’s identity using DNA evidence from a relative they were able to locate in Pennsylvania. // Copyright 2007 by United Press International
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