Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-06-22
GRAVE RCBBINa AS \ sIsINGss.
Adventures Of an Expert Body
snatcher-ENfracfs from His VI em-
GRAND um Book, Etc.

The grave rObber, who has eau ed such ex lite
ment in the west is the id sDtical George A
christian who. few years since, in this city,
carried on a wholesale trade in human bodies,
but from his adventures here and the scken-
Ing details OF the dissertation of graves by the
Ohio jackal, We are Of The opinion that it Is the
same man.
MYSTERIOUS HORSE AND BUGGY
The first that was known OF Dr. George A.
Christian in this District as grave yard rob
Der was on the night of December 12th 1873
(west end was attracted by horse and buggy
standing for long time, and until late at
night, near the Washington Circle, Pennsylva-
mia avenue and I'd street In the vehicle was
seated woman and after midnight one of the
officers approached 1t and inquired the occa-
sion OF her remaining there so long. She re-
pied that she was waiting for her husband
who was in house near by transacting some
business. This was accepted as satisfactory
bat later man was seen to approach the
wagon with spade in his hand which he
placed in the bottom of the wagon. Soon an
other man came up and placed shovel in and
all took seats and drove off in the direction of
new Hampshire avenue and Boundary street.
SgSpec Ing they had stolen goods aboard, the
officers followed, and while the vehicle was
crossing 10Th street, overlook ii and
ARRESTED THE PARTY
and escorted the wagon to the station house
on street. Here the prisoners gave evaSye
answers 10 questions put to them by Lieut.
Greer, and on OVERLAPPING the wagon a regu
lar Kit Of grave yard rObbing tools was dis
covered, consisting of shovelS half a dozen
the sides, Syringe and bottle of liquid ball of
lwlne, crow bar, ScrewdTiyer. &c, Grave rob
blng WIS at once suggested to the mind of
Lieut.. Gr"rr, who dispatched squad of men
10 Homfad Cemetery in the same neighbor-
hood who're the arrest was made to see if any
work Of this character could be discovered.
sergeant kneaSs with officers McGlue and
Hawking, In making the circuit of the Gene
fiery on the outside found on the 10th street
SIDE by The fence large canvass bag Contain
ing
THE DEAD BODY OF CoLoRED MAN
twisted up with its knees to the chin and
ready TO be removed. vehicle was porcured
and the body removed to the station house
where il was Identified the following morning
as that of Thomas Fletcher buried the dav
before. he prisoners of course denied all
knowledge of the corpse and not until they
were searched did the officers feel convinced
that they were guilty of the occupation suS-
pected.
The parties arrested were a white man who
gave the name OF DIR. George A Archer a col
Ored man named Charles Green, and the white
woman who at first pretended to be Archer's
wife, at the Sta'iOn-hOuSe gave the name of
Margaret Harrison. In searching Archer a
memorandum book was taken from his pocket
showing That his real name was George A
CHRISTIAN, and be was afterwards recognized
IS former clerk in the Surgeon Generals
Once and graduate OF medical college of
This District. The book also showed c0nclu-
slyely that grave rObbing was his occupation
The next morning the StatiOn-house was
Ihronged WITH cOlored people to see this trio,
and the relatives of the deceased Fletch r
were Very indignant at the outrage commit
ted. The prisoners were removed to the Pc
nee Court, when some delay ensued in the
nearing as there was no known statutory law
to be found to meet he case, and finally the
old Maryland common law had to be reS6rted
10. The warrant sworn by Sergeant KneaSs
charged the taking up of nd b1iieS frnm
them for gain. -
A PROFESSIONAL ATTENDANT OF FUNERALS
Ii was the belief of the officers that the
woman was employed by Christian to attend
funerals for the purpose of locating the graves
and taking notes of the surrounding, for the
purpose OF facilitating the active partner i'm
his night operations, as she was recJgniZe1 in
court by several undertakers as a general
mOurner, the superstition being that she had
weakness, pretty common among class OF
women, for free hack riding at funerals
Grave Robbers Memorandum
Book.
Christians memorandum book, which fell
into the hands of STAR reporter showed the
extent OF his grave rObbing in this CITY and
some letters accompanying the diary showed
that he was in correspondence with medical
schools an over the country, supplying them
Win cadaYerS, and thai he had made very com
plete arrangements with parties in this city to
assist hlm, with promise of division of the
proceeds. The diary commenced with Janu-
uary /, ~, and the first entry relating to
grave rObbng was Oh the 4th of that month
Ii stated that The and c. went out and 90 tWn
es S6ir after which he went to the Wash
lngt0n Asylum and cOnfiSca:ed two sets of ex-
Iremltles and heal" On the 4th his NOES
stated that there was
QUITE STIR ABOUT TOWN.
on the discovery that PARTON of the body of
man found on the coping wall surrounding
the Capitol grounds, but no one suspected
us Furhe along, it appeared that he had
MADE tne friendly acq1ain ance of the phySi-
clans and their assistants attached to the
washington Asylum. He alluded to them
january iadndl and SPOKE Of going through the
Inc circumstance of getting pass 70
TOM wRIGHT's EXECUTION,
lot the murder OF the peddler RDgerSki and
OFFS
Ii appears hat he had particular friend in
Dr. Scheimer, OF the almShnu> e. and that he
mace frequent visits to that institution aud
THE BODY OF POOR BEAU" HICKMAN FEAR
FULLY INITIATED.
Under date OF September I'd he noted the
fact of going out prospecting that night. and
succeeded in getting the body of Beau Hick.
man that It was lovely moonlight night,
ana everything went off smoothly" The
day following he entered the fact of a great
Due and cry in all the daily lpers about the
grave OF Beau Hickman being robbed, aud
That he had not seen any one who seem I'd TO
Know who did it. 1t will probably be recOI.
iected that poor Beau had been i'll for long
1lme at the house of Mr.. E. j. Barrick, on
maryland avenue, and was removed to the
providence HeSpi al, where he died Septem-
Der 2d, and was buried in Potter's field. SSme
OF the old Washington friends OF Beau's after
MS burial started subscription To give him
decent burial, and after the requisite amount
was raised they arranged with Mr. Anthony
6uehly, undertakeT, and securing the neceS-
sdTy permit the undertaken, with his assistant
called on lntendant HOdgSOa at the ASyIum'
ana showing him the authority, they were
Clrec ed 10 his grave. where I'm a short time
they discovered that his body had been mutt
jated and nothing left of il but the trunk The
arms had been cut OF at the sockets the legs
at the knees, the bones uujOinted at the hiDS
and the head severed from tn. boi Nv. The
flesh OF the face, with the ears and scalp. h nd
Leen lett in the coffin with the trunk The
chest had also been opened and the heart
taken out. The facts were reported by Mr.
Buchly TO lntendant HOdgs and the Dfstri Il
commissioners and NJ tiOr Richa -ds of the
police department, and every effort m nd, to
md out the guilty parties. A sealed empty
envelope was found near by marked "Sher
man House, Chicago" diSSeciing knife sc
what remained Of poor Beau was placed in a
pain box and put into a vault in the Con rres
Slonal Cemetery and afterwards were decently
inferred.
COMPREHENSIVE OF THE BODY-sNATCHERs
The diary stated that, on Sept. u, Christian
and DR.. Schleimer rode out To the Asylum ald
mad talk about reSurrecting the following
winter, and partly arranged TO 90 in together
The next day he made arrangem snts with a
physician in this city TO furnish material to
his class for dissection, and that Dr. 5 ,hleim ar
was to receive half-SS15. September 18th he
arranged with two other physicians i'm regard