The New York herald., 1873-08-25
Every State Law Touching the PrOmis-
-. cuous Dead Violated.
Deputy Coroner Sees and the Morgue
superintendent Put Under Bail
How the Body Reached the Cniver-
sfty Spirit Yats. "a (
PHILADELPHIA. August "a. 1879.

RULE 6.-Al bodies brought 10 the Morgue shall
Exnioiton seventyrwo hours or longer or un til de-
cOnpvsttion commences. The clothing shall also
o. bee exhibited near the BODY Ii when tae exmbi.
unrecos snized 1T is to be buried The clothes shall
fsMa 70 exposed twe9sy DAYS ionger Bodies when
exhibition and paced IN private room.
The body Of thomas Munce WAS on exhibition for
only lOrty-eght hours. no -talT i-gt
lhe second statute reads thus - a'- an
RULE l6.-After one years time from the date or
the reception OF any Incident lfied bo0y the Suoern.
tendent saall denver over 10 the Colimls or
CIT. Property all the clothes and otner property that
were found upon the body oi tile deceased at the
time 1T was received into the MOrgue Together
Win list oil the property then handed over, the
Same to oe copied rom the record oook, with the
number to Correspond with thai Oi the pody. The
Commissioner, on nndlng the ,roperty and list to
correspond, snail then preserve the list and have
the property sold ut public sale, and shall hand the
plOoeeus OF such saies over to the City Tre4s
aud take his receipt ior the same. and tue edit to
be made TO the Commissioner shall state as realized
from the sac Of A, or " DECEASED, elects, DC.
lhe clothes were stripped from Thomas Munce at
the time ne was sold illegally to the University Of
Pennsvlyania, and were thrown away IN pie, SO
that their whereabouts are not ut this time kno n.
The other statute OF the law reads thus
RULE H-I any corpse shall remain uurecog.
n1zed f0r lOrty-efeht Hours the superintendent
snai nave me oory photographed IN tue clothes in
Here their we're three laws together broken and
what was there lett Tor the oficers to do surely
nothing but TO arrest those parles VINO under pre-
sent evidence had broksn the law; consequently
warrants were atonce Issued ior Wiillam Baxter
aud deputy Coroner John iSees An AFFAIR OF this
kind was UNPRECEDENTED IN Quaker City History,
and no little excltement attended the hearing
be ore Alderman Bcitler this afternoon. Almost
three hours we're consumed III the renaerng OF the
evidence and many startliny slxteInents diled In
the time. :"
tfa .lt4 TIE TRIAL OPENED sAr M
by remark made by the counsel of Mr.. Sees that
the gentleihan understanding that there was o
warrant issued for his arrest, mad not waited TO
have 1t served, but had yielded up his person
voluntarily. In this letter l. state ony the leading
faces, wnlcn thus lar nave not been fully state IN
the HERALD, and snail omit all evidence which In
Corp0riites the statements made in my last cominu
nicatiOn. The lacts as before narrated are these
Thomas Munce was dro ned in the Scnuyikill
July 2. HIS body was taken to tue Morgus mis-
clothing was robbed and his body sold The man
who stole his watch was arrested and his body
was nnaiiy recognized by his sister and two
brothers in the vats oil the University ol Penn
sylvania. ..t4, .s4
MORGUE STATISTICS WANTING.
Mr.. John II. Pugh, Commissioner o. CITY Property,
being sworn, turned TO tile record book and read
that an INK nown man had peen brought TO the
M0rgue, July 3, eieven A. M, also . lew more gen.
eral statements, ami concluded py reading that the
body mad been taken Out by the Coroner. Alder.
man Butter read the law gwen ABOVE, anu wished
she books produced la which note nad been made
Of the clothing found on the drowned man. He was
gwen to understand that there were no sucn
books. cffr- nl0 ldhu. ia q /
I'm. Taylor, Department OF City Property told
the Alderman in MS evidence that tie man Baxter,
who Is emp oyeL at tue Molgue, Rad toid h,m that
there We're no other books than the one which Mr..
Pugh had just shown, and winch was
simply . register OF parties brought IN.
Taylor said tnat he had been i, employed
for years and had never seen any other books.
Alderman Batter then read tae follO wing law -
RULE 6.-Tue attendant IN charge VIII, on the
arrival oI tie uouy at the Moigue, immediately
report 10 the coroner. ne with tnea record IN q
book to be kept IUr the purpose, detained account
OF the recovery o. TIE uoay, when lound, and at
what place anu at what hour, the hour OF adniis-
warrant; u descripten o. the bouy, clothing, pa
pers and money iound Ola IL; ana IN the margin OF
in consecutive order o the bodies received, wn.ca
number shai lie also piaced on the body. TIE pa
pers, money anu aii Otner yalua1es snau be put
up la a 1ackage, shlarkcd with the same number
Is lne UOdy, and placed IN security by tine Supefsn-
tendent who shall be held responsible lor the
same.
the law had been violated. inT +
THE SPIRIT VAT KEEPER. M rg-i, 4
william wilImot was then called upon the stand.
He was u negro. in charge OF the vats at tho Uni
versity Of Pen.sylvania, in Q somewhat inferior
position. He sand - So ati7r1-r Hri glgaf'iF
do not know VINO brought the body 20 the Uni
versiLy; the body Was receiyed by Mr. Nash -
u VINO was lille man .wnO orOugnC IL in A.
There are SO maay coming and going that cannot
Z. " Villain baxter, stand mp. Is he theJnah who
brOus ht the body 10 tne building A. He looks
like the man, but wOiilu MT Ike TO swear posi-
lively tnat nels; the body vas brought IN between
tive ana SIX ociO x In the evening; tue clothing
was pulled or and thrown aside do not Know
what has become Olit. -. .r p Mh
ROBERT NASH, assistant OF the Professor OF Ana
tony III the University oil Pennsy vanta, sald :-ihe
body of Thomas Muucc MAS brought TO us rom the
No. que great many bodies come TO % us tnIrougn
Lal brought them several bodles at different times
wil not swear that Baxter brought Tits body. Z
q. Did you see the men who brought Tho mas
Munces corpse TO your a. Yes. VIZ ~
= Was Was y wsTe dark kSasS A. 40 ! cannot teil'
e. DO you mean to tell me that you could not tell
who we're the men wnO Drought the Dody wnen you
received " rom Their nandsy Do YOU mean " say
seen hmS a. am not positive.
U. Are you positive OF any taIng9 A. Not OF this
POLICE oAPrAIN's STATEMENT.
Captain Thompson, OF the police then said IL
had u talk VITA Bi.xsel, anu he said tuat Captain
Hens and others had been up 10 tue Morgue 70 und
au old man, ami that 1, ~ woud be OF any interest
TO me ne (Baxter| coad take me to where it was.
Detective Mears said ~ have been looking TOR
this body ior the term OF hse weeks; have talked
with Baxter and Deputy Coroner Sees; they both
told me that the body was buried Captain Helms
and myself called Baxter out at the time of our
nrst visit to the Mo1guc aud asked him whe ther
the unknown man did not nave on O PAIR OF spec
taces; Baxter told US, wnen We asked him where
they were that he had given them TO Deputy
Coroner sees ; we then asked Mr.. Sees where they
were; he answered tnat Baxter had never given
them to nim when we called baxter up ne denied
that he told us lie had given the speciaces 10 the
deputy Coroner; Mr. bees tncn pulled out etter,
the unknown man.. a p fR kli
Alderman BETTER here interrupted Detective
Nears, and asked Deputy Coroner secs whether
ne could furnish any books whci ein, according 70
law, tie record OF tnis letter cou.d De l0nGd. No
yucn DOCK Was produced, and no record hai Dceh
made.
Mr.. Mears then continued his testimony, and told