Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-12-07

Scenes at Lebanon Cemetery-Opentng
the Graves to See If Bodies are Miss-


The excitement over the robbery Of graves at
Lebanon cemetery, Philadelphia. and the cap
ture of the ghouls continues without cessation.
Wednesday the cemetery was visited by many
persons who had friends buried there. and seye-
raj graves were opened. In some cases empty
collins were found, and In others coffin and
corpse had disappeared from the grave. The
mournful work of searching for the dead was
Systematically begun. and the investigation is
to be patiently persisted in until it has been def
nitely ascertained how many bodies have found
their way into the Jefferson picklirrg watts. and
how many remain where loving hands laid them
to rest. Some of the colored spectators were
noisy and disorderly. The grave of Josephine
White, who was buried In September 1881 was
opened, and the noisy crowd were treated to
GENUINE SENSATION.
The men dug steadily until child's coffin was
reached and the earth removed from around IT.
ArOpe was then slipped under the head aud the
coffin lifted to the surface 1t contained the
body of Florence Woodson. the niece of jose
phne White, who had been buried in the same
grave. The child's corpse had not been dis
turbed. The diggers went to work again, an
after penetrating two feet deeper uncovered the
coffin of an adult. The sticky soil was scraped
from the plate, revealing instead of the name
Josephine White that of Elizabeth Givin aged
seventy-nine years, who died December L. 1881!
My Godp' exclaimed man standing on the
graves brink. what does this mean? The body
OF my child is here! Where is Josephine White.
my sister,
Perhaps" suggested a bystander ''this body
has been buried in your lot, without authority
and the body of your sister may be underneath
Dig deeper" After some little consideration
the hint was acted upon, and again the men
went to work. The coffin containing the corpse
of Elizabeth Givin was lifted out of the grave
and the spades removed another foot Of earth
second coffin came to light. and this instead
cred the body of John Givin. an old man.
"Well," said WoodsOn. when this startling
discovery was made. 1.-The thieving hounds were
not satisfied with her body alone, they've taken
coffin and al
This was probably the case. as the presence
of the child's body showed con clusivey that
there could have been no mistake in locating
the grave.
ANOTHER CURIOUS DISCOVERY.
Following Immediately after this was another
and even more curious discovery John Lymas,
armed with permit. had come to search for
the body of his mother. Leah Lymas who was
buried April ID. 1851. The grave was opened.
and three feet below the surface was found the
battered name plate belonging to Mrs. Lymas'
coffin, but the coffin itself and it's silent
tenant had been stolen. The Young man
staggered back. through the crowd and hur-
ried from the place. AS he did 50. stout col
ored woman pushed her way liz and asked the
diggers to go deeper: that her mother. who had
died on December IS. 1880, was in the same
grave. The men Obeyed. and in few moments
their spades struck a hard object. One of them
jumped out of the hole. anda he did so his COM
panons feet went crashing through the lid of an
empty coffin The name plate was wrenched
from the lid, and was found to bear the name of
Louisa Morris, aged los years. months and IA
days"
That is my mothers name" said the woman.
with sob. "Poor soul. If the robbers took
her, who haven't they taken:'
THE GRAVE DIGGER DISMISSED.
The cemetery trustees held a meeting and
dismissed the grave digger. Robert Chew. A
photographer took pictures of the six bodies
that were recovered on Monday night
Lebanon cemetery so far as can be ascer-
tanned, seems to have met the demands of the
body-snatchers so easily and satisfactorily that
the inmates of all the other cemeteries have
been allowed to occupy in peace their narrow
cells.
THE SIXTH BODY
30 ruthlessly dragged from it's resting place by
the grave yard vultures was recognized as that
of Ruth Ballard, very respectable colored
woman. whose relatives reside on South
Eleventh street. The remains of William AntO-
MO have been removed from the morgue and
will be reinforced.