National Republican., 1882-12-08
SEARCHING FOR THE DEAD.
Strange Scenes at the Cemetery in Phila-
delphia.
Singular Discoveries at Many Of the
Graves Of the Dead.
An Excited Mob Proclaim Against the Work Of be
GhOuls.
An Indignation Meeting and Threats of
Lynching.

resurrection at Lebanon Cemetery to discover |
how many bodies were stolen goes ON to-day. |
Thirteen permits for disinterment were |
granted this morning An indignation meet
ing of the colored people Of the city was held
this afternoon, at which addresses were de-
livered bv prominent colored men. resolu-
tion was adopted rendering heartfelt and sim
cere thanks TO the proprietors of the Press,
Mr. Louis N. Megargee, the city editor of that
paper, and all others connected with the ar
rest and imprisonment of the grave robbers.
When trustee of Lebanon Cemetery named
Burton appeared on the platform there
was great excitement. Several razors and
revolvers were drawn. Nearly every
body arose, and shouts for vengeance were
mingled with calls for peace by Bishop
Campbell and other clergymen. Tho peace
makers were successful, but the meeting was
at once adjourned after the announcement
that subscriptions to prosecute the ghouls
would be received at the Press office. Thirty
graves were opened to-day. From about half
of them the bodies had been stolen. The
health department will not allow any more
graves to be opened until it shall have ascer-
tanned whether the person inferred died from
contagious disease or not.
SEARCHING FOR THE DEAD.
The mournful work of searching for the
dead in Lebanon Cemetery was systematically
begun yesterday, and the investigation is to
be patiently persisted in until it has boen
definitely ascertained how many bodies have
found their way into the Jefferson picking
vats, and how many remain where loving
hands laid them to rest. 1t was after
o'clock before the searchers began to arrive,
and then in struggling groups of twos and
threes, many of them carrying spades and
shovels. The only persons in charge of the
MIA Williams Df
Levi Chew, and Lewis Williams, the grave
digger, and they refused to permit any one
to begin digging until the arrival of some of
the trustees Guy NJ. Burton, the president
of the Cemetery, Company, arrived about
10 o'clock, and applications were at
once made to him for permission
to make the examinations This was accorded
to all persons holding permits from the board
of health. The first thing done was the ex
humation of the empty coffins, which had con-
tanned the corpses captured by the Press re-
porters. Five of the six were placed upon the
wagon of Undertaken Dutier, to be taken to
his establishment to be repaired preparatory
to receiving their former occupants for rein
terment in the desecrated graves. This did
not occupy more than two hours, and excited
considerable curiosity among the spectators,
many of whom imagined that it was the first
discovery of the empty caskets
BY noon the character and extent of the
crowd had changed visibly. There were about
100 blacks on the ground and as many whites.
The latter were mainly made up of young
men, boys and slatternly women, pushing and
crowding about the grave-diggers the moment
spade was stuck in the ground. The boys
played leap-frog over the tombstones, and the
slip-shod women joked and bantered with the
men. Grief was subject of ridicule; the
scoffers turned what should have been solemn
scene into one of vulgar mockery
STEALING A SLIPPER.
Some of the behavior was Simply dispraceful
Fl. Price Williams, the colored turnkey of the
seventeenth district station-hOuse, distin-
guished himself by getting into fight with
Guy Burton. When the empty coffins were
placed in the undertaker's wagon the one in
which had reposed the remains of Clara Ring
gold was noticed to contain white kid slipper.
1t had covered one of the feet of the dead
woman, and had been tossed back into the
grave after the ghouls had stripped the body.
Williams saw the slipper, and, pushing his
way through the crowd, he boldly thrust his
hand into the coffin, and, taking it out, slipped
it into his pocket The action, quick as it
was did not escape detection. Williams
was walking away from the wagon,
when he was suddenly seized by the strong
arm of Mr.. Burton and commanded to give up
the dead woman's property. With the most
amazing assurance he refused point blank,
whereupon Burton grasped him by the throat
and choked him vigorously. Williams
reached into his back pocket apparently to
draw weapon, but he was not quick enough,
for in another instant he lay sprawling on his
back. During the struggle the slipper was
dropped on the ground, and was recovered
and placed in the coffin. Williams did not
appear at all ashamed of what he had done,
but very coolly announced his intention of
securing some sort of relic, and started in
search of human bone, which he found,
wrapped in newspaper, and took away with
him. While this was going on inside the ceme-
terry two young women were having q regular
set-two outside of the southern fence. The con-
test was witnessed by several men and boys,
who clapped their hands loudly whenever one
OF the combatants succeeded in digging her
fnger-nails deep into the others flesh In
another part of the graveyard two youngsters
amused themselves with a couple of thigh
bones, which they had dug out of a shallow
grave. Near the upper end of the fence, ly-
ing uncovered on the ground, was the dis
jointed skeleton of human being A col
ored man who had evidently been drinking
came along, and, giving the skull kick, sent
it flying twenty yards away. 1t was picked
up by boy and tossed to a companion, and
the two kept up their horrid sport until they
tired of it.
SINGULAR DISCOVERY
At 2 o'clock the grave of Josephine White,
~ho was buried in September, 1881, was
opened, and the noisy crowd We're treated to a
genuine sensation. The men dug steadily
until n child's coffin was reached and the
SISth removed from around il. rope was
then slipped under the head and the coffin
lifted to the surface. 1t contained the body
OF Florence Woodsop, the niece of Josephine
White, who had been buried in the same
grave. The chid's corpse had not been dis
turbcd. The diggers went to work again, and
after penetrating two feet deeper uncovered
the coffin of an adult. The sticky soil was
scrapgd from the plate, revealing instead of
the name Josephine White, that of Elizabeth
Given, aged 40 years, who died December l2
lSSl! MY God" exclaimed a man standing
on the graves brink, what does this mean ?
The body of my child is here! Where is
Josephine White, my sisterP
Perhaps suggested bystander, this
body has been buried in your lot without au-
thOrity, 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 con-
tanning the corpse of Elizabeth Givin was
lifted out of the grave, and the spades re-
moved another foot of EARTH A second coffin
came to light, and this, instead of holding the
corpse Of Woodson's sister, covered the body
of John Givin, an old man.
"Well," said Woodson when this startling
discovery was made the thieving hounds
were not satisfied with her body alone, they've
taken coffin and ALL"
This was probably the case, as the presence
of the child's body showed conclusively that
there could have been no mistake in locating
the grave. 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 IA, 1881. The
grave was opened, and three feet below the
surface was found the battered name-p plate
belonging to Mrs. Lymas's coffin, but the coffin
all LIANT h.l haa st.,Ialr