The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-10-13
Body snarchinz.

The telegraph brings an account of start
ling outrage committed at Buffalo on Wed
nesday night. It seems that a newly made
grave in Holy Cross Cemetery was found on
Thursday morning lying open with tho
corpse missing and the grave clothes and
fragments of the coffin scattered beside the
desecraied burial place. As the body of a wo-
man had just been laid with reverent affec-
ton in the grave to await the final resurrec-
ton and the tears shed at her funeral were
hardly wiped away, the snatching OF
the corpse seemed an act of in
human cruelty. The reckless and
wanton brutality with which the
dissertation was made public, when it might
have been concealed, SO that the friends o.
the dead woman would never realize what
had happened, naturally added to the popu-
lar indignation. Prompt measures were
taken. and the officers, procuring search
warrant, proceeded to the Buffalo Medical
College, where they found thirty-nine stu
dents engaged in dissecting. and in the dis
secting room were laid out Eve bodies. among
them that of Mrs. Richard j. Carey, whose
grave had been violated on the previous
night The students were brought to the
police court and gave their parole to appear
to answer for the charge of body snatchiug.
The community always looked with little
suspicion on the college; bus that suspicion
is now kinGled to indignation.
In commenting upon such an occurrence
as this. it i useless to argue that dead bodies
are but dust, and that it is better for then
to be used for the purposes o. science than 10
rot in the ground. IG is OF no avail to Insist
that the resurrection is as easy for the frsg-
ments that have been severed under the di,-
secting knife, as for the atoms that have
turned to clay. Human nature will not be-
argued down by any such considerations
The love and reverence for the dead seem
rooted in our being, and even though these
sentiments be proven to our reason TO be
supers'iiOus weaknesses, we are none
the less anxious to cherish them. Sc. aside
tbeidea ofreligiOus respect for the body as the
tabernacle Of the soul, and there's natural
affection for tho "deser ed house," even fer
the tenant has gone away. As far back a.
we can e. in literature the same feeling
meets us. It is in thu petit ion OF Abraham to
the children OF Heth: am stranger
and a sojourner with you; give me posses
son of a burial place with you that msy
bury my dead out of my sight" Il is in
that m0urnful close of the GreciAn epic
where Priam goes to bag from the slayer of
his son. Hector's dishonored body for burial;
and the great poem ends in a funeral wall
Il is in that heroic story of Greek woman
rood which tells OF tho determination OF
Antigone to seek her brothers. corpse uIon
the battle field in front of Thebes, and
give it sculpture even at the cost of her
own life. 1t was seen in the splendid
tomb raised by the love of the queen
of Mausoleus, 60 be one of the
wonders of the world. and yet appears in that
memorial built by the caste I'm king 10 the lost
light ofhis harem, tho fsirest structure amid
the magnificent works Of India. 1t is seen in
the assiduous industry hat scoopsd the n'ys
teTious passages of the catscombs. It can
be read 10 the carefully selected cemeteries
of every American city, decorated with
cost,g marble. fresh with green turf ard
decked with tho rarest flowers. II is clear