Digg Story
Stumble It!University of Colorado researchers are trying to solve a 125-year-old mystery, and they plan to dig up a grave in Lawrence.
A petition has been filed for the exhumation of a Lawrence grave that may or may not contain John Hillman.
Not many people in Lawrence know that 100 years ago, a grave in Oak Hill Cemetery incited two supreme court cases. Even Terry Engel, Oak Hill Cemetery groundskeeper, didn't know about it until Colorado University professors brought it to the community's attention.
"I didn't realize there was any controversy at all about this person, because the first I read about it was in the newspaper," said Engel
John Hillman is registered to plot 555, but is he really buried there? Or did he defraud his life insurance company, fake his own death, and have Frederick Adolph Walters buried in his place? This is what Marianne Wesson, professor of law at the University of Colorado, wants to know.
After teaching the Hillman case in her evidence class, Professor Wesson said the Supreme court transcripts didn't seem right to her, and the Hillman case affects how evidence is handled in cases even today.
The process has been slow due to unclear laws on exhumation, but City Manager Mike Wildgen believes this to be a worthwhile cause.
"We're going to enter a supporting filing that we have no objections to it. We feel it would be in the public's interest to proceed with this," Wildgen said.
