Kenosha tribune & telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1856-1859, 1856-12-25

my word good, shouldH eyen cost my
life; in fact, | knew could not do 9th
erwise now, without the risk of being
driven in disgrace from the college.
81 should here observe, that in those
days there were few professional resur-
rectionists; and as it was absolutely neces-
sary to have subjects for dissection, the
unpleasant business of procuring them,
devolved upon the students, who in con-
sequence, watched every funeral eager
| ly, and calculated on the chances ofcheat-
| ing the sexton of his charge and the
grave of its victim.
''There had been a funeral, that day, |
of poor orphan girl, who had been fol- |
lowed to the grave by very few
friends, and this was considered favor |
able chance for the party whose turn it
was to procure the next subject, as the
poor and friendless are never watched
with the same keen vigilance as those of
the rich and influential. Still, it was no
trifing risk to attempt to exhume the
bodies of the poorest and humblest-for
not unfrequently persons were found on
the watch even over these, and only the
year before, one student, while at his
midnight work, had been MORALLY
wounded by rifle ball; and another, a
month or two subsequently,, had been
rendered a cripple for life by the same
means.
"All this was explained to me by a
party of six or eight, who accompanied
me to my room-which was in build
ing belonging to the college, and rented
by apartments to such of the students
as preferred bachelors hall to regular
boarding; and they took care to add sew
eral terrifying stories of ghosts and hob
lgoblins, by way of calming my excited
NERVES, as | have before observed, old
women stand around weak, feverish
patient, and croak out their experience
in seeming awful suferings and fatal
Examinations of just such maladies as the
one with which their helpless victim
was then afflicted.
lis it expected that I should go
alone?'' | enquired, in a tone that trem-
bled in spite of me, while my knees al
most knocked together, and felt as if
my very lips were white.
"Well, no. replied Benson; my most
threaded tormentor; sit would be hardly
fair to send you alone, for one individu-
al could not succeed in getting the body
from the grave quick enough; and you,
a mere youth, and without experience,
would be sure to fail altogether. No,
we will go with you, some three or four
of us, and help you dig up the corpse;
but then you must take it on your back,
bring it up to our room here and spend
[ the night alone with itf'
at was some relief to find was to
have company during the first part of
my fearful undertaking; but still | felt
f far from agreeable, | assure you; and
CHANGING to look into mirror, as the
, time drew near for setting out, / fairly
| started at beholding the CHASTITY object
, | saw reflected therein"
"Come boys" said Benson" who was
t always, by general consent, the leader
5 of whatever frolic, expedition, Or under
t taking he was to have a hand in, "come
( boys it is time to be on the move. A
) glorious night for us!'' he added throw
! ing up the window and letting in fierce
gust of wind and rain; "the ID himself
1 would hardly venture ont in such a
storm"
| He lit dark lantern, then threw on
his long, heavy cloak, took up a spade,
and led the way down stairs; and the
1 rest of us, three besides my timid self,
4 threw on our cloaks also, took each a
spade, and followed him.
We took roundabout course, to
h. o,t l. -
might chance to be stirring, and in
something less than half an hour, we
reached the cemetry, scaled the wall
without difficulty, and stealthily search
, ed for the grave, till we found it, in the
, darkness-the wind and rain sweeping
past us with dismal bowls and means,
that to me seemed to be the unearthly
, wailing of the spirits of the damned.
Here we are" whispered Benson to
/, me, as we at length stopped at mound
f of fresh earth, over which one of the
, party had stumbled. Come, feel round,
Morris, and strike in your spade, and
let us s,ee if you will make good hand
at exhuming a dead body as you will
some day a: killing a living one with
physic."
| did as directed, trembling in every
limb; but the first spade full | threw up,
| started back with a yell of horror, that
lin any other but bowling, stormy
night, would have betrayed us. 1t ap-
peared to me as if | had thrust my spade
into buried lake of fre-for the first
dirt was all aglow like living Goals; and
as | had fancied the moaning of the
storm the wailings of tormented spirits.
| fancied had uncovered a small por'
ton of the bottomless pit itself.
'Foolr' Kissed Benton, grasping my
arm with the grip of a vice, as | stood
. leaning on my spade for support, my
very teeth chattering with terror, "anoth-
er yell like that and I'll make subject
of you. Are you not ashamed of your
self, to be scared out of your wits, ifyou
ever had any, bya little phosphorescent
earth? Don't you know that it is often
found in graveyards:"
His explanation treasured me, though
| was too weak from my late fright, to
be of any assistance to the party, who
all fell to with will, secretly laughing
at me, and soon reached the coffin
Splitting the lid with a Ratchet, which
had been brought for the purpose, they
quickly lifted out the corpse; and then
Benson and another of the party taking
1 hold of it, one at the head and another
at the feet, they hurried it away, bid
ding me to follow, and leaving the 9TH
ers to fill up the grave, that it might not
be suspected that the body had been ex-
humed.
Having got the corpse safely over the
walls of the cemetry, Benson now called