New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-06-20
GRAVE-ROBBERS.

GRAVE-ROBBERS.
The horrible robbery of the grave of the SON
of President Harrison at North Bend, Ohio,
has led 10 still more shocking discoveries 1t
will be remembered that the son OF Mr.. Har-
1ison in searching the Ohio Medical College,
at Cincinnati for the body of young man
named DeVin, which had recently been stolen
from the cemetery, was Mortified at discover
inc, not the corpse for which he was looking
but the disfgured remains of his own father
hanging by a rope around the neck. Otherd eYel-
opments soon followed. Itappeared from card
signed by the Dean of the College Faculty that
although these gentlemen regretted that they
should have been betrayed into buying the
body of a distinguished person like the Hon.
j. Scott Harrison, whose family would be likely
TO make fuss about the dissertation of his
tomb, they were in the habit of dealing with
resurrectionists, and were inclined to maintain
that the robbery of graves was a necessary
branch of medical education. The person sus-
pected of committing the outrage Is known
to have operated extensively in that
line of business, and to have supplied
a great many medical colleges in different
parts of the country. Or, to put the case in
another way, a great many medical colleges
are known to have employed this Doctor
- Norton to desecrate grayeyards.
In the course of their search for the missing
body of young Deyin, the officers of the law
visited the Miami Medical College in Cincin-
matt, and there they learned that Morton had
been in the habit Of dePOsiting his plumber in
the vaults of that institution, preparing 1T for
market, and then shipping it by express
TO his customers. Acting upon informa-
tlon reluctantly given by the terrified
ianitor, the officers proceeded to Ann
Arbor, Michigan, to beat up one John Q.
"Ouinby,r to whom Morton had recently been
forwarding a great deal of freight. John Q.
Ouinby turned out to be-as the authorities
had suspccted-an imaginary person, under
whose name was concealed the Medical De-
partment Of the State University. The vaults
of the college were promptly searched. A
correspondent Of The Cincinnati Enquirer, who
accompanied the officers, gives a hOrrllying
account Of what was discovered. The
narrative of the night visit to the
cellar is evidently too highly cOlOred;
but making allowance for the eXaggera-
tons of an excited reporter, enough undOubted
fact remains to fill us with indignation and
amazement. Forty cOrpses were found "pick
cling" in watts of brine. They were turned out
on the floor, and among them was the body
of Devin, easily identified by certain marks.
After wrangle with the college people, who
ut first refused to give it up, until they had
been paid for their trouble and labor O, it
was at last returned to the grave from which
it had been stolen. The express company's re-
ceipts indicated that as many as thirteen of
the picked subjects had recently been OBJ
tanned from MortOns curing establishment, in
the cellar Of the Cincinnati College.
Naturally there is the greatest excitement
over these discoveries, and the widest stories
are circulating in Cincinnati and elsewhere
about the systematic pillaging of cemeteries
and brutal malreatment of the stolen dead.
Whatever may be the truth about such ru-
mors, 1t is clear enough first, that members
of the medical profession are extensively en-
gagged in the theft of subjects for dissection;
secondly, that bad rs this crime is, the perpe-
traitors aggravate it by shocking disregard
of the sanctities of death; and thirdly, that
college professors and other reputable doctors
defend the business of the resurrectiODist as
being necessary, though it may not be precisely
legitimate. 1t is ridiculous to waste indignation
on fugitive wretches like Morton when there
are criminals 80 much higher placed who in
sist that felony and outrage are not wrong.
The chef offender is not the brutal fellow
who prows around graveyards with sack and
shovel but the educated gentleman who pays
him for his nights work. 1t is idle to pre-
tend that doctors who employ resurrechonists
do not know how the subjects are obtained.
They cannot throw off responsibility by merely
abstaining from curious questions. A grand
Jury in Cincinnati has indicted the resJTrec-
ZIONIST Morton, who cannot be found, and
the ianitor of the Ohio Medical College, who
is only the servant of the faculty. Most lame
and impOtent conclusion! If you seek the
criminals, gentlemen of the jury, go up higher.
If you would clear yOur tainted regulations,
doctors, professors, medical societies, speak
out and den0unce these horrible brutalities,
and make every man guilty of them an out
law from your ranks. 1t is at you the indig-
nant finger of the community is pointedj and
it would be a great satisfaction to the public
TO see half dozen or so of You in Jail.
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THE SCHUTZEN FEST
Tho natipnce Of the German SharpslOOters under