[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
. 49The idea that Nat Turner s head could have ended up at some north-ern university may, at first, seem rather bizarre.And yet other clues, in-dependently generated, point in the same direction.On 27 August 1902,The Democrat, a newspaper in the town of Wooster, Ohio, contained anarticle about an extraordinary relic saved from a fire at the College ofWooster: the skull of Nat Turner.The story had been generated by a visitfrom Joshua James Herring, a traveler from North Carolina who had closeties to Southampton County.Herring had heard about the head from alocal resident and wanted to know more.The newspaper told about Her-ring s visit and included a plausible story about how Turner s skull hadsomehow found its way to the college.The head reportedly had arrivedin town for some unknown reason during 1866 a date consistent withthe time period suggested by Frances Lawrence Webb.It first had beenplaced on display in the office of Dr.Leander Firestone.My recent checkof census and local biographical records confirms that Dr.Firestone was,in fact, practicing medicine in Wooster in 1866 and had a special interest Name, Face, Body 21in anatomy.Moreover, the skull had come with an affidavit of authenticity,signed by residents of Southampton County with family names commonto the area.Dr.Firestone had used the skull in discussions with medicalstudents at the college.By the time the college burned down in 1901, thehead had been placed in its museum collection, and it became one of thefew objects tossed clear of the conflagration.50One other independent piece of evidence suggests that the head ofNat Turner was at the College of Wooster well into the twentieth century.This evidence is contained in the papers of William Styron.Styron re-ceived many letters from readers in response to his 1967 novel on NatTurner.One was from a dentist who remembered an early visit to Wooster.As a boy (probably some time during the 1920s), he had visited the bi-ology building at the college.There, he found all kinds of glass casesfilled with all kinds of marine life preserved in pallid eternity by formal-dehyde ; he found fossils of all kinds and Indian relics and, mosthorrific of all, he found a human head with a paper pasted across theforehead stating: This is the skull of Nate [sic] Turner.A Negro slavewho lead an unsuccessful revolt against the white owners in 1831. Thiscorrespondent told Styron that, as a result of that initial visit, he hadbecome fascinated with the object and returned repeatedly to view it, lastobserving the head in 1948 just a year before James McGee may haveencountered a different body part of Nat Turner in SouthamptonCounty.51So Nat Turner s head may very well be somewhere in Wooster, Ohio,today.Maybe and maybe not.As always in the Nat Turner story, there areother possibilities and clues pointing in other directions.During thecourse of the slave rebellion, militia units cut off many heads. Henry was decapitated.One cavalry company reportedly cut off the heads of 15rebels.One or more heads may have been displayed at a location in thecounty known as Blackhead Signpost. There are reports that several ofthese heads were not buried and that whites carried them around as tro-phies.It seems clear that in 1831, more than one African-American headwas in circulation within Southampton County.52 So when a head emergesfrom the shadows at a later time, the authenticity is always uncertain.Theheads of Southampton County are not catalogued according to modernarchival standards.Any heads that circulated within the county, within thestate, or within the national circuit of phrenologists could have beenfalsely labeled at any time.The head of Nate Turner displayed in Woo-ster certainly belonged to some human treated in the most inhumane waypossible, but it may or may not have belonged to the historical Nat Turner.Even if there was only one Southampton County head, it has neverbeen described the same way twice.Drewry said it resembl[ed] the headof a sheep, and [was] at least three-quarters of an inch thick. The news-paper editor in Wooster in 1902 characterized it as a large skull, of finecontour, of well developed brain, of a man 34 years old. And William 22 the search for nat turnerStyron s correspondent tells us that it was quite large and complete withjaw bone and large white teeth.The bone itself was gray and pitted likeweathered concrete. Were all these men describing the same object, ortwo, or three?Moreover, I have contacted many people who attended the College ofWooster in the 1940s.Other than the one report in the letter to Styron,no one else has seen the Nate Turner head.Several respondentsthought it was inconceivable that such a head could have been placed ondisplay at the college as late as 1948.Others noted that they had dailyentered the building in which the head was supposed to have been ondisplay and they never saw it.One had been active in the early civil rightsmovement and believed that such an object, if it really did exist, wouldhave caused an uproar on campus.Also, within the papers of William Styron there quietly rests anotherletter, from another gentleman a man from Elkhart, Indiana. I have inmy possession a skull, he volunteers, which I believe to be that of NatTurner.The skull was given to me by my father who inherited it fromhis.My grandfather was a doctor who practiced in Richmond, Virginia,around the turn of the century.The skull was given to him by a femalepatient whose name is not known.She claimed to have gotten it from herfather who was a physician in attendance when Nat Turner was executed. And, as always, this skull came with yet another description: It was inpoor shape and minus the lower jaw and all the teeth.There is a largefracture all across the crown and the top has been separated from theremainder. 53 Nat Turner s head certainly gets around.And then there is John W.Cromwell s description in his 1920 Journalof Negro History article.He tells us that Turner s body was given to thesurgeons for dissection, that he was skinned to supply such souvenirs aspurses, his flesh made into grease, and his bones divided to be handeddown as trophies [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl matkasanepid.xlx.pl
. 49The idea that Nat Turner s head could have ended up at some north-ern university may, at first, seem rather bizarre.And yet other clues, in-dependently generated, point in the same direction.On 27 August 1902,The Democrat, a newspaper in the town of Wooster, Ohio, contained anarticle about an extraordinary relic saved from a fire at the College ofWooster: the skull of Nat Turner.The story had been generated by a visitfrom Joshua James Herring, a traveler from North Carolina who had closeties to Southampton County.Herring had heard about the head from alocal resident and wanted to know more.The newspaper told about Her-ring s visit and included a plausible story about how Turner s skull hadsomehow found its way to the college.The head reportedly had arrivedin town for some unknown reason during 1866 a date consistent withthe time period suggested by Frances Lawrence Webb.It first had beenplaced on display in the office of Dr.Leander Firestone.My recent checkof census and local biographical records confirms that Dr.Firestone was,in fact, practicing medicine in Wooster in 1866 and had a special interest Name, Face, Body 21in anatomy.Moreover, the skull had come with an affidavit of authenticity,signed by residents of Southampton County with family names commonto the area.Dr.Firestone had used the skull in discussions with medicalstudents at the college.By the time the college burned down in 1901, thehead had been placed in its museum collection, and it became one of thefew objects tossed clear of the conflagration.50One other independent piece of evidence suggests that the head ofNat Turner was at the College of Wooster well into the twentieth century.This evidence is contained in the papers of William Styron.Styron re-ceived many letters from readers in response to his 1967 novel on NatTurner.One was from a dentist who remembered an early visit to Wooster.As a boy (probably some time during the 1920s), he had visited the bi-ology building at the college.There, he found all kinds of glass casesfilled with all kinds of marine life preserved in pallid eternity by formal-dehyde ; he found fossils of all kinds and Indian relics and, mosthorrific of all, he found a human head with a paper pasted across theforehead stating: This is the skull of Nate [sic] Turner.A Negro slavewho lead an unsuccessful revolt against the white owners in 1831. Thiscorrespondent told Styron that, as a result of that initial visit, he hadbecome fascinated with the object and returned repeatedly to view it, lastobserving the head in 1948 just a year before James McGee may haveencountered a different body part of Nat Turner in SouthamptonCounty.51So Nat Turner s head may very well be somewhere in Wooster, Ohio,today.Maybe and maybe not.As always in the Nat Turner story, there areother possibilities and clues pointing in other directions.During thecourse of the slave rebellion, militia units cut off many heads. Henry was decapitated.One cavalry company reportedly cut off the heads of 15rebels.One or more heads may have been displayed at a location in thecounty known as Blackhead Signpost. There are reports that several ofthese heads were not buried and that whites carried them around as tro-phies.It seems clear that in 1831, more than one African-American headwas in circulation within Southampton County.52 So when a head emergesfrom the shadows at a later time, the authenticity is always uncertain.Theheads of Southampton County are not catalogued according to modernarchival standards.Any heads that circulated within the county, within thestate, or within the national circuit of phrenologists could have beenfalsely labeled at any time.The head of Nate Turner displayed in Woo-ster certainly belonged to some human treated in the most inhumane waypossible, but it may or may not have belonged to the historical Nat Turner.Even if there was only one Southampton County head, it has neverbeen described the same way twice.Drewry said it resembl[ed] the headof a sheep, and [was] at least three-quarters of an inch thick. The news-paper editor in Wooster in 1902 characterized it as a large skull, of finecontour, of well developed brain, of a man 34 years old. And William 22 the search for nat turnerStyron s correspondent tells us that it was quite large and complete withjaw bone and large white teeth.The bone itself was gray and pitted likeweathered concrete. Were all these men describing the same object, ortwo, or three?Moreover, I have contacted many people who attended the College ofWooster in the 1940s.Other than the one report in the letter to Styron,no one else has seen the Nate Turner head.Several respondentsthought it was inconceivable that such a head could have been placed ondisplay at the college as late as 1948.Others noted that they had dailyentered the building in which the head was supposed to have been ondisplay and they never saw it.One had been active in the early civil rightsmovement and believed that such an object, if it really did exist, wouldhave caused an uproar on campus.Also, within the papers of William Styron there quietly rests anotherletter, from another gentleman a man from Elkhart, Indiana. I have inmy possession a skull, he volunteers, which I believe to be that of NatTurner.The skull was given to me by my father who inherited it fromhis.My grandfather was a doctor who practiced in Richmond, Virginia,around the turn of the century.The skull was given to him by a femalepatient whose name is not known.She claimed to have gotten it from herfather who was a physician in attendance when Nat Turner was executed. And, as always, this skull came with yet another description: It was inpoor shape and minus the lower jaw and all the teeth.There is a largefracture all across the crown and the top has been separated from theremainder. 53 Nat Turner s head certainly gets around.And then there is John W.Cromwell s description in his 1920 Journalof Negro History article.He tells us that Turner s body was given to thesurgeons for dissection, that he was skinned to supply such souvenirs aspurses, his flesh made into grease, and his bones divided to be handeddown as trophies [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]