What happened is that workers digging up Washington Street in Lorain to lay water mains made a grisly discovery...
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WORKMEN FIND COFFIN AND BONES IN STREET
Half covered over with rotting wood, the remains of some rude coffin of ancient pattern, part of the skull and a few pieces of the bones of a human being were unearthed at the lower end of Washington Street about 9 o’clock this morning.
While at work, laying water mains across the street about 200 yards from the lake and directly in front of Mayor King’s house workmen discovered the fragments of some sort of a box. Upon closer examination it proved to be the side pieces of a coffin. Under the wood were seven pieces of bone, three of them being parts of the skull. A bone of considerable size, evidently from the lower part of the leg, was among the rest. All the bones are very much decayed and, together with the almost unrecognizable shape and substance of the coffin, form no clue as to the physical character of the long dead inhabitant. The remains were buried in about four feet of earth.
This is the second coffin that has been unearthed at the same point within the last year.
There have been several theories advanced to account for the find. Not in the memory of the oldest settler was there ever a cemetery on that spot. This knowledge led to the belief that the skeleton was that of an Indian. However, it was never the custom of the Indians to inter the fallen members of their tribe in coffins. The skull would indicate that the body was that of a man not fully grown, but the other bones are full size.
There is a theory that this section of the city was at one time, perhaps a century ago, the burying ground of some family or community never known or heard of by the present generation. It is believed that a number of other coffins are buried in the immediate vicinity, and there is talk that search will be made for other coffins. The coffin which was struck last winter contained the bones of an adult. Research into the records of the county will be made to find if a burial ground ever existed near this point.
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Perhaps even more disturbing that the above story are the various accounts of mayhem and unsavory happenings found elsewhere on the same front page of the Times-Herald.