Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-12-06

A BOdy-SnatchinS Sensation In Philsdelphso
The Philadelphia Press, through its
city editor, Louis N. Megargee, has un.
earthed body snatching sensation and
caused the arrest of several parties, charc.
ed with having been engaged for a series
of years in robbing the Lebanon cemetery,
a burying ground for colored people in
the lower section of Philadelphia. Meg
argee and several reporters Of the Press
had been working the thing up for nearly
two years, and that paper gives q dramatic
account of the arrest Of the body snatch
ers by the newspaper men, who had been
lying in wait for them on Monday night,
while in the act Of conveying dead bodies
from the cemetery to jefferson college,
which institution they had been supply
ling with cadavers for some years back,
being engaged in systematically stealing
the corpses from the cemetery almost rs
fast as they were brought there, and the
Press exposure showing that there are
more empty graves in Lebanon cemetery
than full ones. The testimony proves tho
cemetery superintendent to have been in
coi!usion with the grave robbers.
Long before the hour set for bearing in
Magistrate Lemons Office in Philadelphia
on Tuesday afternoon, crowds of colOred
people blockaded Seventh street. Plots
to lynch the prisoners on their arrival were
discussed, but Constable Myers, PinkertOn
Detective Henderson, and others rushed
tic prisoners through crowded hallway
to back door, and had them inside be-
fore the mob realized what was going on.
1t vented its disappointment in .jeers and
yells. Tho office was crowded, the colored
| element being strongest. Several Of tho
I<,fssn .,c L oh
present.
Louis N. Megargee testified that two
keys found on McNamee fitted doors IN
the room where bodies were prepared for
dissection at the jefferson college. Nc
Nance denied knowing who gave them to
him or what he was to haul, but finally
said he had waited outside the cemetery
| while tho others brought out the bJlies,
and he knew where they came from.
Robert Chew when arrested at the ceme-
terry about 4:3O o'clock yesterday morning,
began crying aud said hs was paid
So for every body taken from the
cemetery, and that tho money was
handed to him by his brother. He did
not known how many graves had been
robbed. Sometimes Pillet did the digging
and sometimes Levy. He had been in the
cemetery II years and the body -snatching
had been going on for years. His
brother in law, SOloman Butcher, now in
Maryland, did it first. then man named
Myers, and then McNamee. Sometimes,
if the wagon came and the drivers said
they were short, the cofins were opened
in the receiving vault, the corpse "snatch.
ed" and the farce OF burying the empty
coffin was gone through next day.
The records of the burials found at the
cemetery this morning showed that in two
months IS bodies were in one grave. This
created a sensation among the audience.
Upon the conclusion Of the testimony the
defendants were declared committed in
default of 81, 900 bail for a further hearing
on Friday. As soon as the crowd outside
of the magistrates Office learned that the
case was over, an overwhelming rush vas
made for the entry and gateway, with
threats to lynch the prisoLsrs, end g ccr.
geant and 10 Of the reserve; h. tc to scc'
for. The cro~I made Hac"',"r -::-' AID
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