Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1868-12-17
A Marvellous AdYentnre Of three BOdJ
gnatciera ~ Louisville.

befel item ptiQro fthey Ketufhou 70 oni-
vefaty Place.
Il hiss been stated repeatedly that the
medical fraternity in Louisville, though q
large, wealthy and powerful class, are often
reduced to extremities for subjects for the
dissecting room. Often they have been
arrested and forced to pay heavy fines; not
unfrequently they have been fired on; and
il is a common practice to import bodies
from Chicago. Only last week we recorded
case in point The present is even more
l'startiup. ~ sta-gri-l 'sss-1 !
Three students, whose names We shall
for the present conceal-one from Alabama
and two from Tennessee resolved to sup
ply themselves. with subject and obtein-
ing information Of the sudden death q an
Irishman, lately released from the Indiana
State Prison, who had just been inferred
in an old field outside of New Albany by
some charitable persons in whose house be
had died, they arranged for anocturnal
excursion,
The plan was simple. They had only to
prooure a boat, cross the river, proceed to
The designated place of burial, exhume the
body. wrap il In blanket and convey Il to
the dissecting room. They. provided them
selves mattocks and spades, secured good
yawl, and Just after twelve o'clock set Rom
a point near the ferry, reaching the oppo-
site shore in safety.
They were all armed, OF course, and we're
agreed to make fight If molested.
Fortune seemed 10 favor them. Fhey
were not observed as they sped across the
shining Ohio, ripping bright and clear IN
the moonshine, and landed m an obscure
nook which they had explor d In the otter
noon. Thence they tooka by-path around
the town, and were soon brought to the
lonely, of. cast, new-made grave.
Daring, as well as enterprise, is char
acteristic of medical students. One stood
on guard while his two companions (who
lad learned the art and practice Of digging
during the famous campaign from Dalton
to Atlanta) set to actively with the spades
and very soon they struck the coffin. Hav-
ing shoveled the dirt awny, they placed
this rude pine box upon terra firma, and
were preparing to take off the lid, when a
noise startled them 1t was very dreary
place, near clump Of trees, and not far
from q brick-kiln, and cluster OF work
peoples dwellings,, The clocks had just
struck two; but there was stir OF ap-
preaching footsteps beyond thegrove, and
no time was to be lost
"What shall we dor said Alabama.
KNOCK off the lid"
,'No. we haven't time. The noise will
betray us. Pick the thing up, and let's be
off"
Hastily the three students lifted the cof-
fin ON their enthusiastically they were
oil strapping fellows who had carried many
| a poor fellow to the rear on a stretcher--
and made for the river as fast as possible.
Just as they turned the angle Of hill they
saw lights in the grove behind them. But
they did not stop to reconnoitre or learn
whether it was party in pursuit They
hurried forward over uneven ground and
up and down out-of-the-way lanes and
alleys, and finally gained their boat, in
which they deposited their loathsome bur-
den.
..Now for the other side, boysP
"All right Pull away r.
The yawl darted out from land into the
channel, and was struggling up stream
against the current, which is swift and tur-
bulent at this point. It was the object OF
our students to land as far up as they
could row their boat and so they turned
her head directly for the ferry, and were
soon tossing among the waves. They were
elate / with their success. To cross the
river, elude detectives and police, secure
fresh body, (which is to q medical student
what nosegay is to "a lady,) and to find
themselves so safely sped on their journey
back was indeed q triumph. They had
not, up to this time, paused forrest or rec
reation, and had quite neglected o hagon
Of brandy which they had provided. This
they now recollected. 1t was produced,
and lying on their oars they--as they have
related to us-drank several toasts. They
drank to the University, TO their sweet
hearts, and to poor Pat, who lay uncon-
scious in the coffin, fat on the bottom Of
the skiff. How it was they could not tell;
but suddenly, as ifimpelled by a strong
arm, the boat upset and its contents were
emptied into the river.
Horrible l
As the skiff capsized, submerging our
three students for moment the coffin lid
fell Of, and the corpse was rudely thrown
into the water The moon, though on the
wane was shining bright aud clear. The
waves of the river rising and falling ranged
round white and weird as ghosts, az they
danced from shore to shore The church
spires of the two cities glittered among the
stars in the quiet sky. But away below,
where the cold, uncomfortable daylight
dawned, fogs were stealing upward, and
tho houses along the banks showed like
a fleet becalmed. This was vague out
line Of the situation as 1t appeared To our
adventurers when their heads came to the
surface; but another sight quickly arrested
their attention, appalling in every sense.
There before them in an upright position
was the corpse, half clad, as they had
found it in the coffin supported by the
boat, over which, it being turned upside
down, an arm was thrown, while from the
side Of the body little stream Of blood
peeled Off The face was hvid and stark.
The eyes were wide open. The teeth
seemed to chatter: and so it moved away
with the current, thing of life, yet dead;
a corpse, yet floating with the stream, as
erect as o human being
Our students were confounded.
They were brave and hardy fellows who
had seen death on the battlefield and
faced dead bodies IN dissecting rooms
But this was horrible. It foated away with
their boat and they dared not pursue it; it
foated away as ifAn angry spirit possessed
it, as If 1t took grim, sardonic pleasure in
their discontinue. They turned their
faces away from the ghastly sight and to-
ward the Kentucky shore. 1t was not far
distant and they reached it numb and
dazed, but perfectly sober They then
turned again to the stream and the corps,
clinging to the bottom of the boat, passed
of INTO the mist and out Of sight, still rig
i'd and erect.
A SPIRITUAL PERFoRArRR CAUeHT. %. W.
jackson, who claims to be spiritual me-
dunn, has created quite q sensation in St..
Louis in the tying-up business. he was
challenged to an exhibition of his skill by
Hartz, the magician, and on his first trial
succeeded in freeing himself from his
bonds in few moments, to the great de-