San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-06-22
BOdy-Snatching.

The event at Cincinnati, recorded In
our columns on Friday, will send a thrill
Of horror through the whole commu-
nifty. A sensation novelist could scarcely
invent a more CHASTITY incident than that
of a son discovering the corpse Of his
father in dissecting-room. No crimes
committed in the United Kingdom ever
excited a deeper horror than those Of
the resurrectionists Burke and Hare 80
years ago. Burke was an Irish shoe
maker, who settled at Edinburgh when
the reputation Of the medical school
there stood exceedingly high and at
tracted a crowd Of students from all
parts of the Kingdom. Their number
thus became largely in excess of the
"subjects +" they demanded, and gave
stimulus to body-snatching. This
was found by Burke more lucrative and
attractive than the bench and awl,
and having associated with himself one
Hare, these two set to work "to sup
ply want" with much success. Soon,
however, the public grew alarmed, furi-
GUS threats Of vengeance were leveled
against the snatchers, and 1t became
evident that the business could beno
longer safely carried on. Indeed, pub
lie feeling ran so high that even the
students incurred odium, and it has
been said that the late great
surgeon, Sir James Ferguson, left
Scotland for England to escape
annoyance. Messrs. Burke and Hare
therefore turned about for fresh fields,
and resolved to 90 to work in a differ
emit manner. They inveigled weak per-
sons or children to their abodes and
quietly smothered them. Two or three
years ago detective in the North of
England cleverly discovered a murder
by putting his sagacious terrier on the
track, and Burke and Hare were brought
to justice by means Of yet smaller ami
NAL. 1t was suspected that one of their
victims was a little Italian vagrant, who
earned pennies by exhibiting white mice.
The detective set trap in the murder
er's den, and sure enough white mouse
was caught and served to complete the
chain of evidence. Burke's body &C
cordingly went, like those of his VIC
tins, in aid of anatomical science, but
Hare, having turned Kings evidence,
escaped; and in connection with him
may be mentioned curious circum-
stance. About ten years ago an old
man was brought before a London Po-
lice Magistrate on some minor charge,
When the Jailer said: II have reason
to believe, your Worship, that this man
is Hare, Burke's confederate"
We regret to say that this horrid al
fair at Cincinnati is not the first OF its
kind here, by any means. So lately as
1873 there was very similar case at
Philadelphia. A wealthy farmer NAM
ed Munce, having been found drowned,
was taken to the Morgue. At the in
quest, there was no evidence as to the
name of the deceased. On the family
coming to town to institute inquiries,
they found Mr.. Munce's watch at a
pawnbroker's, and discovered that it
had been pledged by McEwen, driver
of the Coroner's wagon. Munce was
found July 8, and McEwen brought the
body to the hospital from the Morgue
July 5, though the Deputy Coroner
stated that he held receipt for the
body from the Superintendent of the
City Burial Ground.
The question arises whether the rules
in hospitals as to the reception of bodies
are not too lax, or, at all events, too
laxly enforced. Of course, it is to be
deplored if there is lack of material
for students " investigate, but that is q
less eIvus evil than body-snatching,
Tor which the punishment can scarcely
be too severe, or the precautions to pre-
vent it too stringent.-New York Times.
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