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MARY CAIN DIED AT B. T. HOSPITAL THURS. NIGHT

Miss Mary Catherine Cain of Bonne Terre, passed away last Thursday night at the hospital in that city, at the age of 88 years, following an illness of several weeks of pneumonia. Funeral services were conducted Sunday afternoon at one thirty o'clock by her pastor, Rev. William Stewart. Interment was in the cemetery at Caledonia.

Miss Cain has made her home at Bonne Terre since the earliest existence of the town, living all alone. She had no living relatives. She was the last remaining charter member of the Bonne Terre Methodist church, being faithful in her attendance as long as her health permitted. She had planned all the arrangements for her funeral, to the minutest detail, and they were faithfully carried out by her pastor and friends.

Each town has its eccentric characters, and Mary Cain was certainly that in Bonne Terre. Good hearted, sympathetic, she had within her brain a queer twist of aloofness which led her to live alone. Her home gave her little concern insofar as the bother of keeping it spic and span was concerned, or at least this was true during the latter years of her life. She was content with very little, and exhibited almost uncanny smartness, or cunning, in managing her personal affairs. As an instance, it is stated that she carried insurance policies on the lives of various persons, without their knowledge, and that she collected on a number of such policies. These policies were of the industrial variety, none of them large enough to call for a physical examination of the insured. One such policy, fully paid up, was found in her personal effects after death.

Perhaps the most noticeable trait which she exhibited publicly was her habit of attending all funerals in Bonne Terre. It is safe to say that she did not miss a single one for a long period of years, until immediately prior to her death, when her own illness became so acute that she was physically unable to get out. As a result, it is small wonder that her own funeral was one of the largest ever held in Bonne Terre, for the citizens of our neighboring city, through long years of personal contact, had long since penetrated the outer shell of their eccentric neighbor and learned to know her inner heart as it really was. Through the idiosyncrasies which surrounded her life they saw clearly the basic goodness which guided her, and most of them could look back over the years that are gone and recall a period of bereavement in their own family circle, the memory bringing to mind the figure of Mary Cain as a member of the band of friends who had gathered to help them through their crisis.

Published by THE LEAD BELT NEWS, Flat River, St. Francois Co. MO, Fri. March 6, 1931.

COUNTY SCENES

By L. L. Richardson

Bonne Terre once had a sewing machine agent, she sold organs and magazines on the side. A familiar character of almost all old-time St. Francois County residents, she was Mary Cain.

Now, Mary Cain was an eccentric personality and lived alone in a large ramshackle house on Jackson street not far from the center of Bonne Terre's business district. She was a faithful Methodist and held a particular pew she always sat in when attending services. While alive, there was hardly a funeral in town that Mary did not attend.

Mary Cain was born and reared near Caledonia of Washington County. In her family were school teachers, one of whom was Grace Henry, a niece, who was well known in Flat River's teaching circles.

Miss Cain was a sort of a legendary lady until I wrote her up in two of my area columns. The mention of Mary started a flow of letters from readers everywhere as so many remembered her. What pops up most often is Mary Cain's coffin. Some say that she slept in it but we know this is not true because friends of hers protest such silly rumors. But she did have a casket and and a few believed she had precious jewels hidden in it, that angle is discredited too as Mary was not a wealthy woman. As new styles of coffins came on the market she is reported to trade the old one in for latest model. Any way you look at it, Miss Cain must have had a coffin on her premises and that alone caused chills to run up some spines.

Mary Cain was an articulate person, she dressed in her old-time finery, high buttoned shoes, leg o'mutton bodice, flowing white lace skirt; carrying a parasol to the sun. What guests she entertained she served tea and cookies. Spoke the best of English, but there were times when the sewing machine agent became riled and could cuss a blue streak good as anybody.

That she did not go to bed in a coffin is verified by those who brought her soup when she was ailing. They tell that her house was immaculate but stacked to the ceiling with boxes and crates, packed with the effects she had gathered around her thoughout the years. She rested on a bed of several mattresses which lifted her up pretty high from the floor.

There was much speculation to whom Mary Cain would leave her property. To her best friends she would not divulge the secret. In her later years she became kind of blind, it was not unusual for Mary to wear her dresses backwards and often she put on three or four hats.

When Mary Cain passed away she left her house and grounds to a widower who had five small girls. Proceeds of the furniture and stacks of clothing sold by the Methodist church went to the county orphanage.

Yes, Mary Cain was queer and odd. Somehow, I feel, what this country needs today is more Mary Cain's.

Information for this feature was taken from letters of: Mrs. Adella Moore, Farmington; Miss Esther Ketcherside, St. Louis; Mrs. Alberta Sapienza, Detroit; Miss Emily dePeyster Conover, St. Louis; Mrs. Pleasant Keith, Flat River; Miss Florence Dotson, Bonne Terre. Others of you who knew Mary Cain I would enjoy hearing from you.

Published by THE LEAD BELT NEWS, Flat River, St. Francois Co. MO, Fri. Nov. 11, 1949.

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