Norfolk Landmark, July 14, 1875
THE TERRIBLE CALAMITY. Arrival of the Body of Mrs. Lizzie A. Hudgins. An Account of the Finding of the Body.
Transportation -- Water - Personal injuryTransportation -- Water - Wrecks
Monday morning information reached this city that the body of a lady had been found at Hallett's beach, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and immediately buried. From a description of the dress and jewelry, the relatives of Mrs. Lizzie A. Hudgins (a victim of the late disaster) were satisfied that it was her body.
Yesterday morning they chartered the steamer Tredegar, Captain J. S. Eldrige, to bring the remains to this city. The Tredegar left at 7:30 A. M. with the following gentlemen on board: W. J. Hudgins, John A. Vellines, Captain C. W. Chase, Jesse N. Knight, John B King and Samuel Gordon. The reached their destination at 11 A. M. and learned the following particulars in reference to the finding of the body.
About 7:39 P. M. on Saturday, July 10th, a negro called at the house of Mr. James D. Hallet and reported that the body of a drowned man was lying on his shore. They went down to the beach after sunset and found it to be the body of a lady. They dug a grave above high water mark and buried it.
The Tredegar's party then procured spades and exhumed the body. They found upon it a pair of gold sleeve buttons, a gold breastpin containing a photograph of the late Captain Philip Biddle, a brother of the deceased, and a gold finger ring with a flat, enameled top. The different articles of jewelry were recognized by Mr. Hudgins, Capt. Chase, Capt. Eldridge and others as being those Mrs. Hudgins was accustomed to wear. Three of the fingers on the left hand and the right wrist were found to be broken. A black straw bonnet was picked up near the body. The remains were placed in a zinc-lined case which had been taken on by Mr. Vellines, after which Mr. Gordon sealed it hermetically. The Tredegar left on the return trip at 2:30 and reached Norfolk at 6:30 P. M. Dr. Harris, the City Coroner, was immediately notified, who caused a jury to be summoned and an inquest was held over the body, the verdict being the same as in previous cases.
The remains were then taken to Elmwood Cemetery and temporarily placed in a vault. The funeral, it is probable, will take place to-day.
Not far from where the body was found the top of the Lumberman's pilothouse had been picked up. Hallet's beach is on the bay side of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, about one mile and half from "Fisherman's [Island]," and to the northward and westward of Cape Charles. It is fully twenty five miles from the place where the collision occurred. For nearly a week the body of this unfortunate lady had floated upon the waters to find a resting place upon a distant shore, where strangers' hands kindly laid it to rest.