{"id":147,"date":"2005-02-19T17:19:43","date_gmt":"2005-02-19T22:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=147"},"modified":"2008-09-07T12:55:01","modified_gmt":"2008-09-07T18:55:01","slug":"the-female-stranger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/?p=147","title":{"rendered":"the female stranger"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was September 1816, and the port town of Alexandria, Virginia, was recovering from occupation by British soldiers after the North American War of 1812. A man and his wife disembarked from a ship in port, and went to stay at the City Hotel (later to become Gadsby’s Tavern). The lady was ill, and a doctor was called for. As days passed and her condition continued to deteriorate, her husband summoned the doctor, hotel staff and the owner’s wife, and asked them to swear an oath to never reveal the couples identities. <\/p>\n

The lady died in the room shortly afterwards, and was buried in Alexandria’s St. Paul’s cemetry, with an elaborate funeral costing in excess of $1500. Meanwhile, her husband, with money owing to a variety of businessman around Alexandria for funeral costs as well as medical care and boarding, mysteriously disappeared. However, all of those who swore the oath never revealed the identities of the strangers.<\/p>\n

There have been various suspicions about her true identity, including the idea that she may have been one of the Royal English Family on a tour of the country, or a local girl who had disappeared in 1812. There’s even an alternate version of the story, which puts the woman arriving first, with a few servants with whom she conversed in French. Her husband arrived four days later, and an hour after his arrival, she died in his arms.<\/p>\n

Her gravestone can still be read quite easily, despite it’s age. <\/p>\n

\"the<\/div>\n

The inscription says:

<\/p>\n

To the memory of a FEMALE STRANGER
\nwhose mortal sufferings terminated
\non the 14th day of October 1816
\nAged 23 years and 8 months. <\/p>\n

This stone is placed here by her disconsolate
\nHusband in whose arms she sighed out her
\nlatest breath and who under God<\/em>
\ndid his utmost even to soothe the cold
\ndead ear of death. <\/p>\n

How loved how valued once avails thee not
\nTo who related or by whom begot
\nA heap of dust alone remains of thee
\n‘Tis all thou art and all the proud shall be <\/p>\n

To him gave all the Prophets<\/em> witness that
\nthrough his name whosever believeth in
\nhim shall receive remission of sins.
\n Acts.<\/em> 10th Chap. 43rd verse<\/center><\/p>\n

The lines of the third paragraph comes from Pope’s Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady<\/em>, but in the poem they are preceeded by the lines:

<\/p>\n

So peaceful rests, without a stone, a name,
\nWhat once had beauty, titles, wealth, and fame.<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was September 1816, and the port town of Alexandria, Virginia, was recovering from occupation by British soldiers after the North American War of 1812. A man and his wife disembarked from a ship in port, and went to stay at the City Hotel (later to become Gadsby’s Tavern). The lady was ill, and a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[306,308,305,309,256,307],"class_list":["post-147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-alexandria","tag-cemetry","tag-female-stranger","tag-grave","tag-usa","tag-virginia"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"megan","author_link":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/?author=1"},"featured_img":null,"coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["general<\/a>"],"unlinked":["general<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["alexandria<\/a>","cemetry<\/a>","female stranger<\/a>","grave<\/a>","usa<\/a>","virginia<\/a>"],"unlinked":["alexandria<\/span>","cemetry<\/span>","female stranger<\/span>","grave<\/span>","usa<\/span>","virginia<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"2","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 21 years ago","modified":"Updated 18 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on 19.2.2005","modified":"Updated on 7.9.2008"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on 19.2.2005 5:19 pm","modified":"Updated on 7.9.2008 12:55 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=147"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":997,"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions\/997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}