The Van Buren press., 1878-08-20
GKAVE-ROBBING.
The Expert and the Amatcur-The
Auxiliaries and the MOdus-
Opcrandi.

fessional body y-snatcher, are a spade, a
key-hole saw, and piece of rope. Thus
equipped, he is ready for business. On
arriving at the grave, the spade is called
into use. One.half OF the grave is mark.
ed of, and the dirt from the upper half
of the coffin is thrown out. This work
can be performed by professional in
about eight minutes. At this point the
saw comes into use. The saw is started
into one edge Of the coffin, and soon,
with noise resembling sighs and eroans
has cut through the upper board and of
ten through the shroud and flesh Of the
subject
The further work Of opening the coffin
is easily performed. The manipulation of
the saw raises his body with hand on ei-
ther side OF the grave, foot above the
coIlin's lid, and loosenng his hold on ei-
ther side, preeipitates his whole weight
upon the lid, which gives way with Il
crash. The broken lid is removed and II
rope lowered to the resurrectionist from
above by an assistant. This rope is ar
ranged with slip knot at the end. which
is thrown around the head of the corpse.
and word given to the assistant to hoist
away.
AS soon as the subject is above ground
the shroud is quickly torn from the body
and thrown back into the grave. These
precautions are taken to avoid some tech.
nicality of the law that makes it felony
if any article of apparel is taken, while,
II the body alone is taken. it is only pun.
ishablc as a misdemeanor.
al remember once" said a resurrec
zionist, " that the whole head of wo.
man whose neck we tied the rope around
came off in our grasp. This doesn't oc-
cur often, and neither does the getting
hold Of a corpse like that last winter
with the smallpox, which, if you remem-
Der, spread among the whole class, and
killed several Students"
Where you ever shot at p asked the
porter
"Oh, no, we let private cemeteries
alone. Once was chased through the
lane leading into Potter's tie.d,' near the
aims house. 1t was in the moonlight,
but they never overlook me-
Most of the bodies are brought from
Potter's field, presume.
f" Yes, nearly all. About hundred
and fifty are put in pickle during the sum-
mer season. How much are we paid for
a subject, you say2 Oh, eight dollars, as
a general thing sometimes twelve. Many
a good man has paid his way through
college by this business. l could name
plenty of good doctors who were resur-
rectionists
How do you know when the subject
is fit one 7"
"Can't always tell sometimes we are
fooled, but generally go by the underta-
ker's mark"
"What is that ?"
"Oh, we fix the undertaken he marks
a good one, and lets the bad ones
alone"
"Then all you have to do is to dig up
the subjects p
And carry them in town, We double
up the body, nose-and knee like, and
.'"".p 10 fn -acK, put IT IN wagon, anu
come to town"
do the police stop your"
Tho fellow laughed.
:" You said something about the Cath
olic part of Pottcr's field; what is that -
"Oh, the priests, believe, pay guard
to look after Catholics who die, aid have
to be buried in this place.
" Isn't the other place guarded, too ?"
mot so closely: and then the under
taker, who is a Catholic, rarely marks his
own class. That WAS how the small pox
fellow was picked up, last season. He
came from the Catholic part and wasn't
marked"
"What is done with the bodies Z"
+" They are carried to certain place
where there is a vat of considerable size.
A vein in the neck is opened, arsenic run
through to preserve the body and then
the stiff is stored in the vat"
DIVIDING THE BODY.
The winter term in medical colleges
commences about the 1st of October, but
it is too warm to commence dissecting
for month later, when it can then be
kept up until the middle of May.
Dissectlng classes commence forming
at the beginning of the term, and as fast
40 IuCl are Hllcu are uuHDcICu. lNO ClaSS
is considered formed until the material
and demonstrators tickets are paid for.
Different colleges divide the body
among the class, according to their own
notions. Some put four, some five, while
others put six students to each subject.
There are regular rules for its division
when five take it; from the diaphragm
down two are put; from the diaphragm
TO the collar bone two more, while the
fifth takes the head and neck.
When the class is composed of four
the division is the same, excepting those
on the upper extremity take their side Of
the head and neck. When six take 1t,
the division is the same as when five are
put to it, excepting the sixth has the con-
tents of the chest and abdomen, which
would, otherwise 60 to those on the cx
tremities.
Many suppose that bodies are cut,
slashed, and literally chopped to pieces.
while being dissected, but this is a mista-
ken notion. A dissection, when carried
on by earnest and intelligent students or
practitioners is a very slow and a very
nice piece OF work. From five to seven
weeks is often consumed upon one part,
before the student is ready to take anoth-
or part on fresh subject. ..
DIssECTING ROOM SCENES
Students. while dissecting, are dressed
in long gowns, fastened loose around