The crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1877-1878, 1878-06-13
BODY SNATCHING.
The Harrison Horror Reviviug Other
Notable CaaeS


From the N, Y. Times
The event at Cincinnati, recorded il
our columns on Friday, will send a
thrill of horror through the whole com
munity. A sensation novelist could
scarcely invent more ghastly incident
than that of son discovering the corpse
of his father in a dissecting-room. Nc
crimes committed in the United King
dom ever excited deeper horror than
those of the resurrectionists Burke and
Hare fifty years ago. Burke was an
Irish shoe maker, who settled at Edin-
burg, when the reputation of the med
ical school there stood exceedingly high,
and attracted a crowd of students from
all parts of the kingdom. Their num-
Der thus became largely in excess of the
subjects" they demanded and gave a
stimulus to body snatching. This was
found by Burke more lucrative and at
tractive than the bench and awl, and
having associated with himself one Hare,
hese twoset to work "to supply a want,
with much success. Soon, however the
public grew alarmed, furious threats Of
vengence were leveled against the
snatchers, and it became evident the
business could &c no longer safely car
ried on. Indeed public feeling ran 50
high that even the students incurred
odium, and it has been said that the late
great surgeon Sir James Furguson, left
Scotland for England to escape annoy
ance. Messrs. Burke and Hare there
fore turned about for fresh fields, and
resolved to go to work in different
manner. They inveigled weak persons
or children to their abodes and quietly
smothered them. Two or three years
ago detective in the north of Eng
land cleverly discovered murder by
putting his sagacious terrier on the
track, and Burke and Hare
were brought to justice by means of a
yet smaller animal. 1t was suspected
that one of their victims was little
Italian vagrant, who earned pennies by
exhibiting white mice. The detective
set trap in the murderer's den, and
sure enough a white mouse was caught
and served to complete the chain of
evidence. Burke's body accordingly
went, like those Of his victims, inaid of
Anatomical science, but Hare having
turned kings evidence, escaped; and in
connection with him may be mentioned
acurious circumstance About tenyears
apO nm old man was brought before a
London police magistrate on some minor
charge, when the jailor said: 81 have
reason to believe, your worship, that
this man is Hare, BWke's confederate. ="
We regetto say that this horid affair
at Cincinnati is not the first of its kind
here by any means. So lately as 1873
there was a very similar case at Phila-
delphia. Awealthy farmer named Munce
having been found drowned, was taken
to the morgue. At the inquest there
was no evidence as to the name of the
deceased. On the family coming to
town to institute inquiries, they found
Mr.. Munces watch ut a pawnbroker's
and discovered that it had been pledged
by McEwcn, driver of the coroncr's
wagon. Munce was found July 3, and
McEwen brought the body to the hospi-
tai from the Morgue July 5, though the
deputy coroner stated that he held a
receipt for the body from the superin-
tendent of the city burial ground,
The question arises whether the rules
in hospitals as to the reception of bod
les are not too lax, or, at all events, too
laxly enforced. OF course it is to be
deplored if there is a lack of material
for students to investigate, but that is a
less serious evil than body-snatching,
for which the punishment can scarcely
be too severe, or the precautions to
prevent it too stringent.