The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1881-02-24
IN. I. Observer j
iKENEUS LETTERS.
Violations of The Grave.

Another shocking case Of robbine
the grave is reported in Cleveland
Ohio, paper. Two men who had sto.
len the body of a young lady were
pursued, and in their flight threw the
corpse from their sleigh. While il
was cared for by the pursuers, the
hyenas made good their escape.
The corpse when found mutllated, and deer
digger. The PEOPLE OF the neigh6orhood are highly
o at ne Se aad every Ts Is
an estnable Christian lady, and had large circle
All respectable physicians will unite
with me In pronouncing such viola
tions Of the grave to be abhorrent to
civilization, morality, and society.
But | raise the inquiry here, if, in
medical journals, in reports of medical
conventions, in addresses and lectures
published as made by medical men,
there are words designed to stigmatize
such crimes as Infamous?
When these crimes have been trac-
ed. the remains of our departed kind
red and friends have been often found
in dissecting rooms of medical collie
ges. And who that read the Harrison
tragedy in Ohio will forget the horror
that filled the land when the hiding
place was discovered, in which the
mutilated corpse of that distinguished
citizen was suspended?
The law of the land Justly Furnishes
this crime, as it does horse-stealing,
burglary, and any other Infamous Of
fence, short Of murder. Its penalty is
the States Prison. Imprisonment for
life is light punishment for this
crime. Who would not prefer to have
all his cattle, all his household stuff,
carried off by thieves, rather than that
the dead body of the daughter Of his
heart should be torn from her bed in
the tomb and cut to pieces.
1t Is the dictate of human nature to
treat with tenderness and respect the
remains of our departed friends. 1t is
not superstition. 1t is not sentiment.
1t Is humanity. 1t is kindred dust
that we bury: part of ourselves: the
face We have loved: the form that we
have often embraced with parental.
tilial or conjugal love: our hearts were
buried with it i'll the grave. Like
Mary in the Gospel, we go to the grave
TO weep there. One whom we loved
lies buried, and the spot is holy. We
plant flowers on the grave. We place
a marble above it inscribed with the
precious name We may go away to
the ends of the earth. but the green
mound beneath which our child, our
mother, our friend, is lying, IS in sight
Ia memory we visit it every day. We
cannot be absent so long as to forget
it. 1t Is our beloved grave forever.
All our cemeteries-the rural grounds
where cities 90 out with their dead
are adorned and made rich with the
choice productions Of art rs witnesses
Of respect and affection for the dead
The rites of sepultuse are various IN
various lands, but | know of no coun-
try where the people cast out their
dead to the dogs or willingly surrend-
er them to the demonstrator of anato-
my. Cremation has something to be
said for it, and repugnant as it is to
the finer sentiments of nature, would
vastly prefer to burn the corpse OF a
friend than to have it exposed in a
surgical theatre.
This sentiment is so nearly univer-
sal in the human race (as nearly uni
versal as belief IN God), that there is
no danger of doing wrong when | say
that the violation of the grave is
crime against the common rights of
mankind. The wretch who commits
the crime is unfit to live among men,
He who hires him to do the horrid job
is worse than the dull digger who has
no feelings and steals for bread.
When | was boy, young lady
died in the parish and was buried in
the little graveyard by the side of the
Old White Meeting House. No GEM
etery in this wide world--and | have
seen them in every quarter of the
globe-will ever be half so holy in my
heart as where ''the rude forefathers
of that hamlet sleep"
Far from the maddng crowds ignel;s ssrre,
ong f6e seGer ceo ae of lie
They kept tho noiseless tenor of their way.
Yet cen these bones from insult to protect,
- Some frai memorial still erected high ~
With uncouth rhymes and shapeess sculpture deck d.
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.
The young lady WIS buried, and the
grave, when filled up, received Jumps
of ice asl snow with the clods that
fell on her coffin and gave back
nournful solndS. And when it w;,s
noticed. in the spring, THAI the grave
was sunken in, it was thought that
l. l., h. !