The Leatherman Views
Historians want to dig up his grave due to it's dangerous proximity to a bust road; it is felt that due to the amount of traffice on this byway that it is quite possible fumes from the exhaust of the vehicles could affect the health of Leatherman and could lead to causing him ill health or eventually cause him death.
The Leatherman (ca. 1839–1889) was a vagabond, famous for his handmade leather suit of clothes, who traveled a circuit between the Connecticut and the Hudson River from about 1856 to 1889. Although of unknown origin, he was thought to be Canadian, or possibly French, because of his fluency in French, his broken English and the French Language prayer book found on his person after his death. Although sometimes identified as Jules Bourglay, his identity remains unknown.
The Leatherman survived blizzards and other foul weather by heating his rock shelters with fire. The Connecticut Humane Society had him arrested and hospitalized in 1888, because of a spot on his lip which they thought was a result of the blizzard of 1888. He finally died from cancer of the mouth due to tobacco use, having escaped before he could be treated.[3][7] His body was found on March 24, 1889 in his Saw Mill Woods cave near Ossining, New York.[4]
As the Leatherman's grave in Sparta Cemetery is within 16 feet of Route 9, there are plans to exhume his body.[10][11] Although the exact date of his exhumation is not being made public, it is scheduled to take place in the Spring of 2011. A team of nine anthropologists and archaeologists will be involved in the exhumation, and there are plans to conduct DNA testing on the Leatherman's remains. The body will be re-interred at Sparta Cemetery in a location safer for visiting tourists. Controversy has arisen as a result of these plans, with some locals demanding that the body be left undisturbed. [10]
The Leatherman Images
