THE
WHAT COMES AROUND
GOES AROUND FILES

WHAT IS ONE TO MAKE OF THE CURIOUS COFFIN OF CHARLES COUGHLAN? COUGHLAN WAS BORN IN THE CANADIAN PROVINCE OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, ON THE NORTHEASTERN SEABOARD. BUT THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY FOUND HIM IN GALVESTON, JEWEL OF THE TEXAS GULF COST, PERFORMING IN A TRAVELING ACTORS' TROUPE FOR HIS DAILY BREAD. THE YEAR WAS 1899; COUGHLAN COLLAPSED AND DIED, PERHAPS FROM ONE OF THE TROPICAL FEVERS RAMPANT IN THE ERA BEFORE AUTOPSIES.

COUGHLAN WAS LAID TO WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HIS PERPETUAL REST IN A LEAD LINED COFFIN AND BURIED IN THE COMMUNITY CEMETERY. GALVESTON ITSELF, THEN TEXAS'S MOST POPULOUS AND PROSPEROUS CITY, WAS BUILT ON WHAT AMOUNTED TO A BIG SANDBAR, A PRECARIOUS POSITION THAT LEFT IT VULNERABLE TO HURRICANE AND HIGH SEA ALIKE.

ONE YEAR LATER, ON SEPTEMBER 8, 1900, HUNDRED-MILE-AN HOUR WINDS PUSHED A TWENTY FOOT WALL OF WATER INTO THE TOWN, SUBMERGING ALL BUT THE HIGHEST STRUCTURES. THE TOWN WAS TOTALLY DESTROYED. THE CEMETERIES WERE CHURNED OPEN BY THE BATTERING WAVES, COFFINS LEFT THEIR GRAVES AND FLOATED AWAY WITH THE TIDE. FOR EIGHT YEARS, COUGHLAN'S LEAD-ENCASED CORPSE BOBBED IN THE WARM WATERS OF THE GULF STREAM. EVENTUALLY, IT MADE ITS WAY AROUND THE TIP OF THE FLORIDA KEYS AND INTO THE ATLANTIC, WHERE THE PREVAILING CURRENTS CARRIED IT NORTH ALONG THE CAROLINAS AND THE NEW ENGLAND COAST.

IN OCTOBER 1908, A SMALL FISHING VESSEL OFF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND SPOTTED THE BATTERED BOX AWASH IN THE TIDE. ATTACHING A GRAPPLING HOOK, THE CREW HAULED IT ABOARD. A COPPER NAMEPLATE REVEALED THE WEATHERWORN COFFIN'S CONTENTS.

THE COFFIN WASHED ASHORE LESS THAN A MILE FROM THE SMALL CHURCH WERE COUGHLAN HAD ORIGINALLY BEEN CHRISTENED. HIS REMAINS WERE REMOVED AND BURIED AGAIN, RIGHT WHERE HIS JOURNEY HAD STARTED SO MANY YEARS AND MILES BEFORE.