When the body was disinterred three years later it was found to be pale and hard and untouched by putrefaction- for all the world like that of a catholic saint.


This brings up all kinds of questions:

- Why was Wild Bill disinterred?
- What IS it about some bodies (I am thinking of the famous Bernadette of Lourdes) that keeps them from decaying?
- Is it a requirement of the Roman Catholic church that bodies be checked out for decay before granting sainthood?

I know very little about Wild Bill. I did know in childhood a girl, Ruthie Berg, whose great-great Aunt, she claimed, had married Frank James, the brother of the notorious Jessie.