A forgotten mystery in St. Nicholas Cemetery

When I stopped at St Nicholas Russian Cemetery in the town of Aurelius, New York while scouting for places to shoot, I never dreamed I'd find monuments with inlaid photos and so many of them. I had never seen photos on stones before and I had to do a double-take before I became giddy with excitement at this discovery.

Bendali Dacy, Matilda Dacy and Basil Attal.

A story has slowly developed from my photos. As I looked at the faces, the dates, I knew I wanted to know about them. Why did they die the same year? Why were they all buried together? How were they related? Then someone on my Facebook site said "Hmm... 1925... Short hair... long beads... How DID Matilda die, anyway?" and regarding Bendali - "They died the same year? Siblings, or spouses? I don't mean to keep thinking up racy endings for dead people, but here we have two handsome young people with the same surname who died the same year. My over-active writer's mind is all a-tingle." Mine too! I had a mystery to solve - a long forgotten one that sat quietly in this old cemetery with just these stones as clues, teasing...waiting... for someone to find it. That someone was me.

Timeline of a Tragedy

• On November 4th, 1925 Matilda Dacy, 20 years old becomes ill.
  
  
• November 5th - one day later, Basil Attal, aged 57, who lives on a floor below Miss Dacy, also becomes ill.
   
• Matilda dies on Monday, November 9 - 4 days after becoming ill.
  
  
• On Tuesday, November 10, two more become critically ill - Bendali (Benjamin) Dacy, 25, the brother of Matilda Dacy, and Bertha, 9, daughter of Basil Attal. They enter the hospital with the same symptoms as the others which resemble typhoid - pains in the stomach and high fevers. Late arising symptoms leave the doctor attending to them unable to diagnose their illness.
  
  
• On Wednesday, November 11, 1925, Basil dies. An autopsy is ordered.
  
  
• November 12. The autopsy is inconclusive, but they know it is not Typhoid. An exhumation of Matilda is considered.
  
  
• On Sunday, November 15th, Bendali Dacy dies. Bertha Attal recovers slowly.
  

After a thorough investigation, it is found that the illness was caused from eating undercooked pork. All lived in the same building and had eaten the same sausage. Trichinosis.

Bendali and Matilda, brother and sister, children of Constantin Dacy (whose stone also had a photo) and Basil Attal,  dead from undercooked meat. All buried together as a family. I picture them - close-knit eastern European families from the building getting together as they had done a dozen times before - having a friendly, communal dinner...it turns out...their last.

*****************************************************************

Matilda Dacy

Bendali Dacy

Basil Attal

**Special thanks to Old Fulton NY Postcards where I found all the newspapers. Without them there would be no story here.

Finding Adelmor

A little family cemetery that I have passed thousands of times, it being one of those places you know so well you don't think about too much, finally got my notice after all. This plot sits next to a pretty green cornfield, on a typical central New York hill, and today, against a blue, blue sky. It is beautiful here.

I hate to say I took it for granted, but I stopped on a whim, without my good camera. I left my car running, expecting to be done quickly. Then, one stone that faced away, against the edge of the tree-line caught my eye. I peered around it and was surprised to see a very interesting marker. It had hands on it similar to the typical skyward pointing ones that were often used. But... there were three hands and they were not pointing. I read the inscription and knew something was different, but I didn't quite piece it together...yet.

The Ears of the Deaf Shall Be
Unstopped. Isaiah 35, Chap. 51

Selected by his Teacher

ADELMOR

Son of Wm. & L. Doty

Died at Washington Heights

N.Y. City October 15, 1864

In the 19th Year of His Age

We loved him.

Later, when posting it on my Facebook site. Jen, a distant cousin who works in deaf education, saw the photo and quickly posted "Hey, that's fingerspelling. It says God!" Revelation! This was a deaf person buried here. It made perfect sense and was the answer to the riddle I was trying to solve while studying it. The three hands were SIGNING!

And it gets better.. "Hey, there used to be a School for the deaf in washington Heights!" and "The New York Institution For The Instruction Of The Deaf And Dumb"

Within minutes Jen had answered all the riddles. Adelmor was a deaf student at the school where he died. His mother, Lucretia, it turns out was also a "deaf mute." Very unique to find this respect in a small rural area, from a time when they were called "deaf and dumb."

So, another day, another surprise. I find the best things when I am not looking.

Here are some links I found about them:

http://www.deafbiographies.com/showsnippet.php?id=6723
http://www.deafbiographies.com/pictures/doty_adelmor.php

http://books.google.com/books?id=PLoVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA74&lpg=PA74&dq=Adelmar+doty&source=bl&ots=ZvXxsSeBqK&sig=NKcHs-c5FNaR1NoRmz4dfzyclQc&hl=en&ei=XbYxTq-9N5PqgQeNkqmcDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Adelmar%20doty&f=false