A DEAD BODY IN THE SUPREME COURT.--A case has transpired before the Supreme Court, during the past few days, involving the custody of the remains of Colonel Francis M. Wynkoop, of Schuylkill county. Col. Wynkoop died of a gunshot wound in the winter of 1857. His body, very shortly after his decease, was removed to the residence of his brother-in-law, Thomas J. Atwood, at Pottsville, in said county, and from there buried in Mount Laurel Cemetery, in the borough of Pottsville, with military honors. The mother of the deceased was instrumental in said interment, but the widow of the deceased yielded a reluctant assent. Some time after the burial she made arrangements for the removal of the body to Philadelphia, and this coming to the ears of Mrs. Angeline Wynkoop, the mother, she, in writing, requested one of the wardens of Trinity Church, Pottsville, to forbid any trespass or opening of the ground, in any way, to her lot in Mount Laurel Cemetery.
    Allegations were filed by the opposite parties; on the one side that Col. Wynkoop had desired to be buried at Pottsville; on the other that he desired to be buried in Philadelphia.
    On behalf of the widow it was urged that the question of property in the remains is totally irrelevant to the real question. No right of property, therefore, is necessarily claimed or exercised in the mere change of burial place, and, in reply to the allegation of property in the lot, it was contended that the appellant has but an easement in the burial lot, the legal title being vested in the officers of the corporation of Trinity Church, who are the custodians of the cemetery, and make no objection. The right and duty of burial is in the administratrix. To select the spot for his final resting place, therefore, is necessarily in her right to bury, and this right can neither be barred, waived, or abandoned by a temporary interment, with or without the promises of the relatives on the subject.

Source:

Unknown, "A Dead Body In the Supreme Court," The Philadelphia Press, Philadelphia, Pa., Friday, 28 February, 1862, p. 4.