Conspirators' bodies

[jonathan]

I believe it's Swanson's Bloody Crimes that goes into quite a bit of detail about the journey of the funeral train, including the attempts to keep the body as, uh, fresh as possible during the later stages of that trip. I don't remember any mention of "re-embalming", only constant touch ups. It seems like he might have also mentioned that the people in charge of that didn't exactly mind there being plenty of fresh, fragrant flowers on board.

By the way, anybody who hasn't read that book should go ahead and get on it. Reading about the chase for the fleeing Confederate government is fascinating, but the story of the funeral train alone is worth the price of admission. Reading about the throngs of people who showed up to view the body is incredible, but what sticks in my mind the most is the families standing out by the train tracks in the middle of nowhere and in the middle of the night just to watch the train pass by. It's haunting, gives me the goose bumps just thinking about it.