"Outlaw Mummy" Illuminates Wild West Life
By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News
Jan. 4, 2006?Recent analysis of a mummy nicknamed "Sylvester," who is believed to have been a 19th century cowboy, validates some Wild West lore popularized in movie westerns, but dispels at least one myth, suggests the director of the research project.
Since shotgun pellets blasted Sylvester's right cheek years before his death, and he appears to have survived another bullet to his collarbone, the "wild" in Wild West appears true. His liver, however, was in good condition, so not all cowboys drank as hard as they otherwise lived.
The mummy was owned by a California doctor whose uncle was one of two cowboys who found Sylvester?s body in 1895 as they galloped through Arizona?s Gila Bend Desert.
His body was then preserved with arsenic and likely "hit the road on the sideshow circuit" as an "outlaw mummy" for public display.
"One of the most famous outlaw mummies was Elmer McCurdy (supposedly a former train robber). Sylvester was one of those traveling few," said Jerry Conlogue, leader of the project and co-director of the Bioanthropology Research Institute at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.
Conlogue added, "Since Sylvester was preserved with a high level of arsenic and embalmed shortly after death, he is the best mummy we have studied."
Four years ago, scientists studied Sylvester, but just a few weeks ago, Conlogue and his team took several thousand magnetic resonance imaging and computerized tomography images of the mummy. These images allow the researchers to see virtually every detail of Sylvester's body.
Although findings are still preliminary, Conlogue told Discovery News, "From the initial study, Sylvester's teeth indicated that he was somewhere between 35 and 40 years old when he died. There was no evidence of arthritis or any other degenerative diseases. His skeleton didn't indicate that he was a laborer."
The scientists discovered the shotgun wound to Sylvester's face had completely healed several years before his death. Steel, rather than lead shot pelted him. He also seems to have survived the second shooting. In life, he was "chubby."
"Arsenic and other embalming agents preserve proteins, not fats," explained Conlogue. "Sylvester has areas on the surface of his body that seem to be 'wet.' The MR images suggest that these are fats."
Although the researchers now have to handle Sylvester with gloves to avoid contaminating themselves with arsenic, the use of arsenic solutions for body preservation became popular during the Civil War as a way of preserving fallen troops for burial.
President Abraham Lincoln and his son Willie upon death both were embalmed with arsenic solutions.
The researchers are not yet certain what killed Sylvester, but Conlogue said, "In Sylvester's chest, both lungs appear to be adhering to the anterior or front part of the chest wall. This may be an indication of some infective process going on in his respiratory system prior to death."
Andy James, owner of Seattle's Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, where Sylvester is on display, told Discovery News that he was surprised to hear that respiratory disease might have led to the unidentified man's death.
"My great grandfather started this store in 1899, and I was always led to believe that a gunshot wound killed Sylvester," James said. "According to legend, a bullet fragment entered his abdomen, bounced off a bone into his lungs and caused him to bleed to death."
James added, "It has been really interesting to follow the research. It seems like the more information we receive about Sylvester, the more questions we have."
As Conlogue and his colleagues continue to analyze their data, Sylvester remains on display, along with thousands of other historical artifacts gathered by James and his family.
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What can I say, mummies facinate me, and if you can call mummies beautiful, then this must be the prettiest one of them all in my opinion.
Feb 02, 2006 @ 03:04:45
