Robert Kennicott spent a life assembling and analyse specimen of the instinctive world , probing and pushing to see what they could bring out about life ’s mysteries . Now , as his body lay along the Yukon River ’s bank , he was about to become one of them .
It was May 13 , 1866 , and Kennicott had beenmissingfor hours while the rest of his scientific expedition squad ate breakfast . His absence seizure grew more alarming as time passed . When his colleagues became anxious enough , theyformeda search party and soon observe him numb near the weewee . He was just 30 days older .
In life , Kennicott ’s work provided clarity for the chaos of nature . It was cardinal in laying the foundation for the esteemed Smithsonian Institution . His death get puzzling questions , few of which could be answered in his life-time , and it would take dedicated scientist and researchers to provide clearness on the events that led up to his demise in Alaska .
It would also take patience . That occlusion would n’t number for another 150 long time .
The Megatherium Club
Robert Kennicott was born in New Orleans on November 13 , 1835 . While still an infant , his parents , John and Mary , moved to an region just outside of Chicago [ PDF ] . The succulent acreage on the property was curated by John , aphysicianand horticulturalist , and came to be known as the Grove . It was a place where a person ’s captivation with the earth could be make , and so it was for the young Kennicott , who began to bend towardnatureandsciencethe way a tree diagram surrenders to the nothingness .
He was a penetrative bookman of Dr. Jared Kirtland , a naturalist and Quaker of the family whom hetraveledto see in Cleveland and who helped encourage him to pursue a life in science . As a adolescent , Kennicott collected specimens to send to the nascent Smithsonian , an education and research combine posthumouslyfoundedby James Smithson in 1846 . ( In his will , he bequeath all of his money to get the foundation up and play . ) It soon became a hub for scientists of all types to collect and divvy up noesis , the chill of key or confirming species run through them like an electrical current .
Kennicott know that boot . In 1857 , eager to get his hand on a water moccasin , he offered a $ 5 reward for anyone who could bring him the snake and put it in his paw . Someone did . A short sentence later on , a second individual come to arrogate the reward and grew angry upon learning he was too later . He became aggressive . Kennicott snapped up the Hydra , still live and still potentlyvenomous , and began waving it at his would - be attacker , who fled .
That spirited nature eventually pick up the aid of the Smithsonian ’s secretary , Joseph Henry , and assistant repository Spencer Baird . They extended Kennicott an invitation to get and dig for the Smithsonian , living onsite — first in a bungalow owned by zoologist William Stimpson and later in the Smithsonian ’s headquarters , a Gothic , reddish sandstone buildingdubbedthe Castle in Washington , D.C.
There , Kennicott waswelcomedinto the folding . Stimpson had helped mastermind a radical of unseasoned scientists from a variety of correction that was congregate in a kind of fraternity , mind to senior investigator by twenty-four hour period and let off steam at night . There was the requisite drinking , along with hall sack races , war dances , and Moon serenades to professor ’ daughters . When they were feeling particularly rowdy , they take on eggs from the hen kept on the site and made eggnog . The hens were subsequently taken away in the hopes it would quench their hedonistic conduct .
While scarce on the level of bounce break , their prank were perceived as boorish enough for neighbour to dub the Smithsonian troupe “ wild savage . ” They called themselves the Megatherium Club , after the gargantuan extinct laziness , in a nod to their local reputation .
“ It is five o’clock , when the Megatherium ingest its prey , that the most interesting character of the animal are see , ” Kennicott wrote of the mathematical group ’s spirit . “ Then it roars with delight and shit up for the hard work of the day by much fun and conduction . ”
In a letter home , Kennicottprovidedan exhaustive rundown of the grouping , which was comprised of paleontologists , naturalists , zoologist , and other specialists , most of whom were renowned in their own right — or soon would be . Edward Drinker Cope , for example , made up one half of the infamous “ Bone Wars ” conflict , in which he and fellow fossilist Othniel Charles Marsh vie for dinosaur fossils;Theodore Gillcomposed over 500 science paper , many about fish;Ferdinand Vandeveer Haydenhelped generalize Yellowstone National Park . Those Kennicott admire — which was most of them — he knight “ perfect brick , ” put on forgood mass .
Kennicott was also well - like , both by his compeer and the senior module . Baird in particular ascertain Kennicott extremely capable . In 1859 , he extend an offering for Kennicott to top a three - year expedition that began in what is now Canada and Alaska .
“ Mr. Robert Kennicott left Chicago on the 19th for an overland journey to the Polar Sea , ” one newspapernoticeread . “ He will not pass before 1861 . His physical object is to make contributions to the vernacular ancestry of natural skill , and give his attending to the fauna and flora of the rural area , collecting specimen of each as he get along , and take away such notes as will enable him on his getting even to prepare a work on those branches of natural scientific discipline , which will doubtless in due time , to be published by the Smithsonian Institution . ”
He come back with a staggering number of specimens : 282 hiss , 230 mammals , 151 types of fish . Smithsonian ’s coffers were block with Kennicott ’s labor ; eventually , virtually all of its departments would have at least one Kennicott specimen .
Baird expect Kennicott to head another military expedition in 1865 , this one funded by Western Union Telegraph . The company was await to represent out a young wire wire path and needed geographical data . During the journeying , which would take him back to Alaska , Kennicott could fulfil obligations for Western Union while also baffle his own research done . He promptly take .
But there were foretoken that Kennicott had ill at ease feelings . In a June 1865 letter to Baird , he madereferenceto his likely death and how he hoped his crusade would n’t be mischaracterized by fellow .
“ Should any matter fall out to me … it might be that some evil disposed person should by misrepresentations make it appear that I have not done my obligation by the Company . Col . Bulkleyis the executive officer of a large — very big — corporation . { A}nd he makes a good one . Should I die I fear he might not find it for the ship’s company ’s interest group to take any extra pains to make my true record book clean . This { is } because some of his subaltern are envious of me . ”
It was strange talk for a 29 - year - old , though perhaps not for Kennicott , who had been in pitiful health since he was a child . More latterly , he had fainted twice , a star sign he was not totally well .
Still , Kennicott went ahead on the trek . It was an arduous few months , with poor weather limiting his ability to carry on his important research . At times , temperature reached -60 ° degree Fahrenheit . squad members celebrate he was growing glum at his lack of progress . He wassaidto have once grope around for an familiar ’s gun , turn over it back only when confronted .
On May 13 , 1866 , Kennicott ’s soundbox was found near the Yukon River . As his colleague William Dall later indite : “ On the beach was place the Major ’s pocket - compass , and communication channel indicating the carriage of the various lot in flock , drawn in the soft alluvium , showing that he had been busy in add to his material for the map of the area around Nulato when death took him . His corpse pose as he had fallen ; not an emotion , not a battle after he strike . His death had been quick and painless ; as his spirit had been stately and generous . He lie upon his back , his arm across his breast ; his lid — a black feel large-minded - lip — just touched his forehead with one edge , so that scarcely a breathing spell was needed to displace it . His eyes were half shut , and his face tranquil and peaceful . ”
He was dry , making swim an impossibleness . There were no obvious injury . But his confrere did take note one rum thing — the strychnine he was bonk to bear in his pocket was missing . A piece of foam had formed around his mouthpiece .
memory access to poison and his grim disposition would eventually take his associates to one conclusion .
A Buried Truth
Because he perished in such remote soil , it was n’t until 1867 that Kennicott ’s body was returned to his sept estate at the Grove in Illinois — and in the interim , a theory about his lot had formed . Kennicott had written a letter to his squad tender instructions should he ever die and left it the daybreak he stray off . Some of the expedition members figure he had ingested the strychnine , which was commonly used to preserve animal skin and repel insect , and then toss the ampule or bottleful into the river .
There was really small else anyone could do , though his kinfolk made a decision that would prove important later on : They opted to immerse Kennicott in a cast iron casket , an airtight chamber with excellent preservation properties .
evenly well preserved was Kennicott ’s reputation . In addition to his Smithsonian contribution , his inquiry into Alaskaprovedhelpful when the U.S. settle its purchase of the district in 1867 . The Ithiel Town of Kennicott is named after him , as is a river and glacier ; so are two fish , Etheostoma kennicottiandCoregonus kennicotti . The Grove became a memorial to his life sentence and oeuvre , as well as a National Historic Landmark .
Then , in the belated nineties , Grove conservator Steve Swanson approached Smithsonian forensic anthropologists Douglas Owsley and Kari Bruwelheide with a singular marriage proposal . Swanson explained he had never really take on suicide as acauseof dying for Kennicott , who had not expressed any ideations about ego - harm in letter and who was known to be in short health for much of his life . Kennicott ’s body was due to be exhumed from a burial site so it could be bury permanently on the earth of the Grove . Would Owsley and Bruwelheide like to examine it ?
They consort , enlistingresearcher Sandra Spatz Schlachtmeyer to look deeper into Kennicott ’s lifespan . Logistical hurdle meant they did n’t in reality get their hands on the body until 2001 . open up the cast iron casket , they discovered a well - preserved frame bronze by smoothing iron with a shock of black hair and inhumation clothes .
Of paramount importance was valuate what kind of toxic chemical Kennicott may have consumed or been exposed to . In accession to the await strychnine , there was mercury , arsenic , and lead . But their comportment did n’t necessarily hint at purposeful ego - intoxication . For one , the strychnine was at levels too low to pour down . At the clip of Kennicott ’s death , both that and mercury were used medicinally . Kennicott was taking them in low doses to ease common sickness like concern or tenseness ; iron could have been absorbed from the coffin .
The circumstance of how Kennicott ’s torso was discovered was also authoritative . Strychnine poisoning can cause muscle cramp , yet Kennicott was find on top of undisturbed shit . Had he gone into spasms , the ground around him should have been in muddiness . or else , his hand was over his chest .
Owsley and Bruwelheide theorized that Kennicott tolerate cardiac stoppage as a issue oflong QT syndrome , a upset that causes fast , irregular tenderness beats and was belike inherited . It explained his fainting spells ; it could also have been exacerbated by strychnine consumption . That , along with the focus of an unproductive trip , likely head to Kennicott ’s decease . Though bosom disease had beenfloatedas a possible grounds of expiry before , this was the first fourth dimension there was real research to back it up .
The case — and casket — fill up , Kennicott was due back at the Grove . But Owsley asked Swanson if Kennicott ’s clay could be donate to the Smithsonian ’s National Museum of Natural History . It was , after all , the direction of his work . Swanson and the Kennicott family hold it was in all probability what Kennicott would have wanted .
His bone now lie in a meth case in the museum ’s “ object of Wonder ” permanent exhibit . It is a fitting place for a valet whose spirit was inform by science , and who probably would have been delighted to bed his contribution persisted well past his premature end .
Read More Historical Mysteries :
