Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1878-11-08
ruE STEWART aRAvE nopsERY.

The boldest. and perhaps the most
remarkable, case OF body suatching Of
which We have any record in this
try. is reported from New York this
morning. Sometime during the night
OF Wednesday the family vanlt OF the
Stewards. at st. Marks Church. was
forced, and the corpse Of A. I. Stewart.
formerly the merchant prince OF the
metropolis, was secured aud carried
away. Il was enclosed in three cases.
each Of which had to DO broken open by
the robbers. The outer cssket was OF
cedar. AMI this was easily broken. The
second coffin was Of lead. and this ap-
pears to have been ripped open with a
large knife. revealing the inner osken
casket which was easily opened. The
thieves took the silver plate from this,
secured the body OF Mr.. Stewart. aud
made their escape successfully. The
ground around the vault was wet. but no
tracks could be found by which to trace
the course OF the robbers. The church
is situated in = very populous section OF
the city. where policemen are supposed
to be numerous. and pedestrians are con-
t~inually passing; yet no person. so far
as known. saw the grave robbers either
come or go. A mystery hangs over the
entire affair. which .. present seems i'm
penetrable.
Tho motives Of the thieves are also
shrouded in mystery. The San suggests
tho novel theory that the body was
stolen In the interest Of certain persons
who are contesting the will Of Mr..
Stewart. and that their object Is to have
n chemical analysis Of the stomach to
de,sc, traces Of supposed poison. The
explanation is an ingenious one. but 1t
will scarcely bear analysis. Mr.. Stewart
has been dead for many months, and Ii
is not at all probable that. supposing
him to have been poisoned. any proof OF
the fact at this late day could DO es,ab-
Iished by chemical Investigation. Be-
sides. the heirs had only TO take proper
legal measures. and q court would have
ordered the exhumstion OF the body. by
this high-handed proceeding the perpe-
traitors have placed themselves in q po-
sition where. even II they had undoubted
proof OF the murder Of Mr.. Stewart,
they could not produce 1t without at the
same time signing their own sentence to
q term Of Imprisonment. The Suns
theory will not do.
The real motive Of the robbers Is
pro baby to be found in q belief on their
part that Mrs. Stewart or Judge Hilton
would pay a large reward for the recov-
cry OF the body Of the dead millionaire.
This seems to be the opinion Of Mrs.
Stewart herself. aud We are glad to note
that she that she will not pay
the robbers QUE penny. She is willing
to pay any amount for the ares, and
conviction OF the men who have desc
Grated her husbands grave, bat not one
dollar will the estate contribute toward
rsvarding the seoundrels for their vii
lainy. This is well. In = a like this
all sentiment must be thrown aside. It
matters but little what has become OF
Me. Stewards remains. but 1t is OF the
utmost Importance that the men who
have psrpetratod this crime against the
dead aud the living should be hunted to
destruction. To compromise with them
would be bat to encourage them to CON-
init the same hellish deeds in the future.