Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1879-07-17
FUNERAL THIEVES.
Robbers Who Ply Their Trade on
the Verge of the Grave--A Dead
Man That Helped to Rob His
Friends.

living on what he can steal, Ii
not, of course, to be expected t.
exhibit any very violent rever
ence for anybody or anything
living or dead. Still one would
fancy that the pickpocket an6
sneak-thief would halt in then
nefarious calling a little this side
Of the grave. If the most prom
inent undertaken in New Yorl
is good authority, however, VIZ
may believe that the light-fin.
gered brotherhood are never hap
pier than at funeral.
NIn fact" said the undertake.
alluded to, to the Dispatch re-
porter last week, otis one Of the
biggest roasts they have, and the
Lord only knows how far it vii
go yet. Last week they got
ring off the, finger Of a customeI
of mine." ~
"Without his knowing it?"
"To be sure. Wasn't he dead
and in his cofin?"
"Do you mean to say that they
stole a ring from the finger Of q
corpse?"
81 do. And what is more,
was perfectly contented that they
did not steal the silver plates off
of the coffin, too. My dear sir;
if you ever die, and if you have
enough respect for yourself tc
want to be buried with any jew.
elry on, you had better die and
be buried out of New York.
The funeral thieves have gone sc
far here that the undertakers
thank them for not stealing the
corpse from them. Stiffs are not
bringing much in the dissecting-
rooms now, or / believe we woNld
have to plant empty coffins,
Why, three weeks ago / was
called upon to bury q young
Frenchman from hotel. He
had committed suicide in a fit
of dependency. l had him
dressed up in a splendid white
satin-lined dress-suit / found a.
mong his effects, and after laying
him out, left a man in charge of
the body and went about my
business. Next morning, when
/ arrived at the hotel, ! found my
corpse in the coffin stark naked.
My watchman had left the room
for a few minutes, and in that
time the thieves had made a raid
on it, and stripped even the dead
man. Only think. The dress
suit has been sold, of course.
Now, then, just imagine some
one dancing at a swell ball in
those same garments that have
clung about the clammy anato-
my of a corpse"
The profession of the funeral
thief, the Dispatch representative
learned, has long been a distinct
branch of thieving. 1t took its
rise out of the custom prevalent
twenty years ago of giving pub
lie funerals. In those days the
end of all earthly ambition was a
big funeral, and when a man
died his relatives advertised his
demise, and kept open house for
all who chose to call and view
the corpse. When the burial
day came they provided vehicles
to carry everybody to the Gem
etery who wanted to 60. Scores
of strangers used to attend these
very much after the
same fashion as they would have
gone to a circus, enjoying a free
ride and gossiping scandal, and
the funeral thief found a fertile
field of gain among them.
The business soon developed
into real fine art. The thieves
got to watching the papers for
and their presence at a
burying became as regular a fact
as the presence of the corpse it
seif~ They formed an organized
band, composed of men and wo-
men, who made a regular busi-
ness of frequenting funerals and
exercising their lawless skill on
They did little else,
confning their labors to this spe-
cial field. Scarcely a funeral
them, whether it took
place from a downtown tene-
ment or Fifth avenue mansion.
at first they limited their dep
rotations to the pockets of their
victims. Every funeral used to
be followed by long strings of
advertisements in the papers Of
fering rewards, and no questions
asked, for the return of stolen
articles. Little by little the
scope of the funeral tlief's op-
erations extended. He took to
stealing articles from the houses
and Railways, until now scarcely
any thing portable is safe from
him. There have been instances
known where the room in which
a corpse lay on view was aetu-
ally stripped of every article
worth carrying off by these dep
redators. AT the funeral of
Gen. Dix, some months ago, ten
cases of theft were reported.
The boldness of the thieves is