The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1883-12-29

graves is dangerous. A Canadian gen
tleman who used TO call on me twice a
year for fine 'rattlers'-that's what they
call these cheerful relIcs-told me that
he got the taste through hearing in his
youth graphic story about the steal
ing OF bone from the grave of the
Rev. George Whitefield, the celebrated
Engli preacher, who died near Boston
few years before the Revolutionary
war. l supposed this is true. At any
rate Boston was considered at one time
headquarters for dealers in first-class
'rattlers. There is not much call for
them openly, except among collectors
OF morbid articles connected with great
criminals. The Canadian once had a
bitter fight with fellow collector, who,
on visiting him, found in his possession
the skull of General Kleber, who was
assassinated in Cairo in the year 1900.
Now, as the visitor had himself pro.
cured in Egypt, at great expense.
skull of the General. the collectors be.
came highly excited, and an apatomlst
wa5 called in. Science decided that one
OF the skulls contained piece of in
tegument whose chemical changes
proved it to be considerably less than
six years old, while the formation of
the other not only showed decided
Egyptian origin, but contained the
teeth OF person of twenty years.
Kleber was about fifty. But the fun.
niest part of it, though did not dare
laugh over II when the report was
made, was that one of the collectors
had been cherishing the skull of
woman.
at Is very singular how easily relic
hunters may De fooled. Neither of
those two men would buy any Of the
religious relics so common iD Europe.
But take almost any kind of bone,
boil it carefully to take the fat out, dry
1T for several days By gentle heat in an
oven, aud color it yellow with tumeric
and Nandyke brown, and you have
fair basis Tor dicker with the best of
the relic hunters. The inscription must
be very carefully made on old ve.ium,
and odd private marks, partially obliter-
ated, must appear here and there on
the bone. Some dealers use mixture
OF a mineral acid and water on parts OF
the bone, to make them crumble easily
The articles must be kept in heavy
glass cases made for them, and, il
mounted, must show costly work, The
price asked must be large, and rigldly
adhered to. These devices may appear
immoral, but 1t is better to use them
than to rob a grave.
"Of course most If the relic hunters
aim to get general collection. They
will take bottle OF water from the
River Jordan; a piece OF rotten stone
from YesuYius, gulf we'd from the At
lantic ocean, or a piece of old bark
from Hyde Park. With equal calmness
they Will break piece of stone from
statue or pubic building; they would
steal great mans haIrbrush, or split
off piece of mahogany from bis writ
ing-table. A list OF their varied collec-
tions would be very long for the aver
age compass OF mans life. Even the
specialists would make u tremendous
list. l have known lnen who took a
shell or pebble from every well known
beach they ever visited or mountain
they ever ascended. One of them had
stone from the streets oil every import
ant city in Europe. The number oil
collectors of pipes is quite large. A
Brooklyn minister had "a handsome col
lection of meerschaums. L knew one
gentleman who cared for nothing but
old clocks, and another who had be-
tween three and iour hundred old
fashioned eyeglasses and spectacles.