The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-03-17
MISCELLANEOUS
THE B0DY-SNI rrHFPS

~, -4erS than L do, said Il
Volco' hc9 you talk about 'em now, it
can can chiy u; nearsay; but ] have been
@'n,'"S @. The speaker was tall, griZ
Z'e'i man. IN rough pilot Jacket: an / hav-
ing sI'o' en-, he drew some whifrs from his
sn'11 pipe, and no one referring again To
me Subject, l. dropped 1t was in front
oi the bar o. the Five Bells | heard this,
-, with friend. had called for a glass
of ale, one dusty evening last summer
n @roHp .! men We're there, all akin, in
their attire and aspect, to the one [ have
mentioned. | caught up the words, and
having read much about these "resurrec-
tonistS, and often wondered what sort
oi men they were. therefore waited until
the pewter measures Of the group had
been drained, aud the men began to drop
oil My particular man was the last one
II depaTt-and, indeed. he did not offer
20 leave until he had felt sadly but un-
availingly in every pocket just as he
tnrEed To 20 out | spoke, and asked him
II ne could spare half an hour with
couple OF strangers who wanted a little
gossip before they resumed their walk.
lie answered civllly enough that he was
at our service, although he was afraid he
wasn't ut company for the like of us.
Being put at his ease on this point. he
show eo no further hesitation, but followed
us INTO the little parlOr, and, with q glass
and pipe reiilled, listened to my request
that he would tell Us something about tnh
b0dy-snatchers.
on sec, gents" commenced Robert
Purrell, for such, he had III onc- in formed
Us, was his name, " that fve.and thirty or
Ior5S years aSO-say forty-tilinrs were
very ciilsrent TO what they are now.
ou hadn got Sour police, and not over
much gas, a%d oil lamps and Charlsys-
as We uSed to call the watchmen-wcre
not OF much use And the law has been
'i'eT 81 too, in some way that don't un-
u-fs'and, and there is no occasion TO steal
bodies ont of chuTchyards They used to
tie chuTcEyards then, but now you have
got cemeteries everywhere. Do vou
think that cemeteries are good in law
as ChurchyaTds? ?" We assured him of
our belief on this point, but he bea III no
" the air Of man who, while uucon-
W 81, does not deem il polit;d to main.
tain his point too stubbornlc "At anv
Tate," he continued, "tb ere ras . GOOD
deal Of money made ia those days bv men
who supplied the b. ,.,spitals. and they ran
an sorts oi risAs- 20 get the booies-or
su'jec's' as e Doctors called 'cm-and
were pdhE led If they were caught
HsNe' me Ari, mind YOU, of doctor being
i,uiiiSi -et Tor buying these bodies, which
Is >nOther thing | never could under
.a'id; and | don't think that, anyhow,
hOlGs good in law LOr' bless yOul you
can't think what stir there used to be.
q was a very common thing for people to
SIT up for week or two, and watch the I
Srsves OF their friends, especially if they
hai died OF any uncommon disease, or if
strange cart had been seen about 1t
was "cnderiul gents, what lot of sus.
picion was always raised if strange cart
Was seen anywhere, and it was through
their trying to get over this, that / came
40 ne useful 20 the bOdy-snatchers
was hargeman then, and am now,
and | have worked nearly all the time
since on the same bit of canal, little
mere or less; but at that time had charge
vi boat which worked to wharf at a
little place about twenty miles down.
though 1t was very lonely little
place. il was the only wharf about
tAers where the farmers could have the
ss'VfI tor their lands brought, or the brick
SaaSers could send their bricks to, and so
we dld more business than you would
nave thought: for one or another we
worked down there pretty nigh all the
year round. | knew, of course, a lot of
rough parties at the London end, and
among them was one Bill Simmons |
bad known him a long time as a dog fan
cier. and as a chap that used to hang about
public houses, and play good deal at
siomnots-in fact, we used to think he
was "a bonnet a bonnet, gents, is a
party who IS in league with sharps and
gamblers, and MS game was chiefly dom
Lho bonnet. But one day he said to me,
VIXEN was having a drop, just as | may
ourselves in the room, Bob he says, do
you want to earn pound or so every
now and then, easy?' OF course l said /
did; and then he said, i know Long
Haysiip, where you are working to, well,
and know it's quiet place, with quiet
churchyard, and that II you drop two or
three of us mile before you get there
we are in easy reach of two or three other
cribs. Now, | 90 a good deal of business
IN subjects, and with the best-paying hos
pitalS, too All want of YOU is to give
US a lift now and then in your barge; no
one VIII suspect you. Then he explained
hOy every cart seen travelling by night
was supposed 20 contain bodies, and SO
tney were always being chased; and how
we should be met at quiet place on the
canal as we came up, and our load taken
aWay-Our extra passengers he called
them; and at last 1 agreed To join in the
plan. | told him thought there wasn't
Chance of doing much in that quiet vii
lage, where few died and were buried
but then he showed me again, as he had
told me before, that mile or two on this
side OF the village there were other buri-
ai-groundS within an easy run of the
canal 1t seems, too, they had made
friends with the sexton, or, at anv rate
one OF the grave-diggers Of these places,
II let them know when there was chance;
and, sure enough, / had not agreed to
help them more than week, before Sim
mons was waiting for me at the public
house, to say that he and friend or two
were going on the next day to Menchnm,
which was village we passed, where or
little before, should pick them up the
next morning. You must understand
that l left Long Hayslip very early, SO
that should be so far as Mencham on my
way back, before any one was stirring. /
tcA rather quslmish when, after | had
heard and returned "A whistle, three men
slipped out from under the shade of a tree,
and roughly threw long heavy sack on
board; this they quickly covered over,
and then all went To sleep with scarcely
word. / woke them, as had promised,
at the appointed place; they hurriedly
jumped out, dragged the sack onto the
bank, gave me half sovereign, and then
for a week or two | saw no more Of them
"Of course this led to my intimacy
with other members Of the gang, and, Ger.
tainly, / never in my life came across such
a horrible crew; L thought bargees and
nayvies were bad enough, but they were
babies to this lot. The way they used to
talk and swear about their last Job, when
it hsdn't brought so much as they expect
D.
one Sieve MOrrak, or some such name
they called him. He was short, squint-
ing fellow, and certainly the worst of the
whole, although he was the only one who
never got drunk; this, however, he never
did. Over and over again, when Sim
mons-who after all was the best of the
ranr-xas letting bis tongue run too