Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1859-02-10
THE BUSINESS OF BODY SNATCHING
Its Extent and Profits.

The recent detected case of stealing dead
body from its resting place, for the PURPOSE of
furnishing a subject for the Eclectic Medi-
cal Institute, corner of Plum and Court streets
has produced no little feeling in the commu-
nifty, and yet this is but a single instance of
the kind amongst over one hundred, which
occur during the four months winter term of
the Medical Institutes of the city. The per-
sons engaged in this last operation made a
blunder, and were caught. They had grown
careless from past success, Just as men most
familiar with firearms meet with more numer-
Gus accidents than those who seldom handle
them, and are consequently timd ia their use
The extent to which this trade in the dead is
carried on in this city, is known 10 but few, and
those, generally, the initiated, who have an in
terest In keeping the secret. There are four
medical institutions who annually dispose Of
the aggregate number Of one hundred to one
hundred and twenty-five dead bodies in their
dIssecung rooms And this, too, during a
term Of about four months each in duration
Some of these subjects come from the hospitals,
but at least four-ffths are stolen from the grave
yards BY professional TssHrTSrtiOuIsts These
ghouls are paid for their services 50 much per
body, upon delivery, the price depending, as
one OF the Professors cOolly and commercially
remarked in station house a day or two ago,
upon the state of the market" That is, we
suppose he would mean that the price is gov
erned by the same law which regulates the
value Of pork or beef, or potatoes, or cabbage,
or any other marketable article-the inevita bic
law Of supply and demand. So, according TO
this disciple of Esculapius, dead bodies may
De considered a Huctuating ''stock" in mar
ket-not exactly quOtable in a price currect
column, but nevertheless possessing CONNER
ciel value for four months in the wear
The principal business of Z" body snatchir y''
in the city is done by the two men now in Gus
tody, and the third who escaped The price
which they receive for each subject is from
sl2 to SIS, although SIS is the sum generally
paid. Out Of this amount they usually pay So
TO the express driver, who accompanies them,
leaving the net profits of their labor at $l3 for
each body, We have good authority for say
ing that not less than one hundred bodies are
dlssected by the Colleges each winter which
deducting the express hire, would leave a profit
OF 81, 300, to be divided amongst the three Re.
surrectiOnists-or about i33 to each man for
four months employment in this dsreputablo
business The bed .es are taken to the Col
leges and dssected, the fes1 of course being
removed in the process, and is thrown into u
barrel OF chloride OF lime, or some other similar
deodoriZing substance, tightly headed up and
earted away at night to some point up or down
the river, outside Of the city, and the contents
emptied into the water. Thus 60 the fesby
portions the skeleton becomes the property of
some one Of the students, and after he has pro-
cured his parchment permit to kill or cure"
1t graces his g back Office" in some country
town, where his professional "shingle' hap
pens to be hung out
ThOre who steal the bodies, Of course have
no other motive than the money which it puts
IN their purses. Science is of no account and
humanity not thought Of The body snatchers
feels no computations, and res poets neither age,
sex or condition. 1t is a question of dollars and
cents, and when he gets ''short" or rent day
comes round, or the butchers or bakers, or
tradesmans bill comes in, all he has to do is
TO request the .OlectOr to "call tomorrow" :"
and that night he puts himself in funds by
rObbing the grave!
1t Is well known that the body of the unfor-
tunate girl, Kate Bureau, for whose mur,ler
young Cook was on trial last week, furnished
an interesting subject for lecture with prac-
teal illustrations. while her bones have been
anatomically prepared, and are now hanging
In one Of the Medical institutes of this city.
But for the blundeTs Of the resurrcctionists
Thursday night, the skeleton of her equally
unfortunate trail sister would, by this time
nave been occupying a place by the side OF
that OF the murdered girl
The body-snGtchers, who are now IN custody
formerly employed an old negro express driver,
known as & Topsey," to accompany them in
their midnight Operations, and occasionally
lend his aid by holding the dark lantern, while
the others piled their picks and spades. arI
then mounted his box and drove the body to
the medical college for which it had been
= raised In course of time 'Topsey' went
the way . that all good negroes 60, > and the
night following his burial his late profession
al employers stole his body anl sold it to a
college The sack in which he had helped to
carry many corpse he finally filled himself
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