" TOO MUCH HARASSMENT" —EUGENE BURIED AFTER 35 YEARS Special to The Daily News.
SABINA, Cct. 25 — Eugene was laid to rest to-day.
After 35 years, the Negro man was buried in Sabina cemetery at services conducted by Dr. F. M. Wentz.
IDENTIFICATION of the man was never learned after he was found June 6, 1929, by highway workers on U.S. Route 22. He was leaning against a fence post.
His age at the time was estimated at 55-6o and the coroner said he died of natural causes. He was taken to the Littleton funeral home and embalmed.
SOMEONE gave him the name of Eugene.
Efforts to identify the man were fruitless. Weeks stretched into months and the funeral home kept the body ready for burial.
The body remained in perfect form and it was placed in a small building in bade of the 'littera! home.
IN THE 35 years, over a million persons stopped at Sabina to see Eugene.
He was given a new suit each spring.
Eugene became the object of pranksters. He was stolen several times, but the body was always .found and returned.
THREE YEARS ago, a group of Ohio State university students swiped Eugene and placed him on the front steps of the OSU student union on High Street.
Three of the four students were kicked out of the university. The fourth was suspended for a semester.
Barth Littleton, owner of the funeral home, said he decided to bury Eugene " because the harassment has become too great".
" IT'S TIME he had a dignified burial", he said. Eugene was placed into the ground in a modest wooden casket.
Universal finger printing might prevent occurrences such as the one described in the above newspaper clipping. Too many people still are laid to their final rest in un marked graves because they could not be identified. — The above is published with permission of the " Finger Print and Identification" Magazine, Published by The Institute of Applied Science — Chicago, Illinois. PARAP HOTEL
