Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1878-12-21
A New SOrt Or Crime

New York Vas startled last week by
the discovery OF deed that has no mar.
allel in the annals Of crime. The vault
Il the Stewart family. in st. Marks
churchyard, had been entered and
rifled Of the remsins OF the late A. T.
Stewart. The churchyard is at the
corner Of Second Avenue and Eleventh
street, is lighted by four Tampa, and
passed at brief intervals by three pa.
irolmen. The corpse was in IN al.
vanced state OF decomposition, and hov
it could have been successfully carried
of and concealed is q mystery.
This is the first outrage Of the sort
for although "bo,ly snatching" is com
mon enough, this was no ordinary case.
The body Of Mr. Ste xart Was evi ,ently
stolen in order to extort large ransom
from his friends for its restoration.
The cathedral which Mrs. Stewart is
building on Long Island is fast APP
preaching completion. and the remains
were soon to have been removed to q
crypt in that edificc. The thieves
doubtless reasoned that il Mrs. Stew
art Mas willing to si-c;.l 100000 on
memorial building Ter her husband,
she would spend tina, or more to re-
cover his body. rhi. conclusion il
strengthened Jy the facts. now first
made knOwn. that similar attempt was
made about q month ago, and that
Judge Hilton has received letters
threatening such an outrage il money
was not at once sent to the writer. Mr..
Libby is reported to have sail that any
amount niece sary would he spent to
recover the body AMI punish the
thieves, but not one cent for ransom m.
This is right, for if the robbers should
sue iced in their plan. this kind of
outrage would becom. common. The
only attempt of the sort known to have
been made before this was the plot to
rob President Lincoln's tomb, and that
was happily discovered in time to pre-
vent its execution. It is doubtful,
however, whether the robbers can he
punished even if detected; the law pro-
vides for the punishment OF removing
bodies "for the purpose Of selling the
same, for the purpose # dissection, or
from mere wantOnnehs," but case like
this seems never to have occurred to
our legislators.
This occurrence calls renewed at
tention to the fact that the crime of
grave-robbery has become very COM
mon of late. 1t is but few months
ago that the grandson of President of
the United States was found in the dis
sectipg-room OF Western Medical Col
lege. A woman has Just been tried for
her life at Bridgeport, o., for murder
ing a man in order to sell his body as .
"subject" to the Medical Department
of Yale College. 1t is necessary, we
suppose, to the proper education Of
physicians and surgeons, that they
should have the practical familiarity
with the anatomy of the human body
which can be gained only in the dis
secting-room. And OF course, if there
is to be dissecting there must be bod
les to dissect. But it would seem that
there must be subjects" enough to be
obtained without robbing graves, and
at any rate without murders. There
are surely enough criminals executed,
enough bodies Of those who are found
dead or who die in hospitals, and have
no friends to claim them, to supply
the needs of the profession. There is
no need of Decorating graves which are
lovingly tended by friends whose
hearts will be racked at the mere
thought of such an outrage. The fact
that these robberies have become 80
common shows that the authorities of
Medical Colleges have been remiss. BY
taking subjects" from any one who
offered them, they have offered pre-
MUM to crime, and have become ac-
completes in a shocking series of out
rages.-N. Y. Eramiaer.