The Penn's Grove record., 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 tod me that
he got the taste through hearing in his
youth a graphic story about the steal
ing of a bone from the grave of the
Rev. George Whitefield, the celebrated
English preacher, who died neal Boston
a few years before the Revolutionary
war. | supposed this Is true. At any
rate Boston was considered at one time
headquarters for dealers in 6rst-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 a 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. a
skull of the General. the collectors be-
came highly excited, and an aUatomlst
was called in. Science decided that one
of the skulls contained a piece of in
tegument whose chemical changes
piONCu IL w DG CO.1SluCI dDtJ less Jflhu
six years old, while the formation OF
the other not only showed a decided
Egyptian origin, but Contained the
teeth OF a person Of twenty years.
Kleber was about fifty. But the fun
NEST part of it, though l did not dare
laugh over 1t when the report was
made, was that OF the collectors
had been cherishing the skull of a
woman,
"It If very singular how easily relic
hunters may be fooled. Neither of
those two men would buy any of the
religious relics so common ID Europe.
But take almost any Kind of a bone,
boil it carefully to take the fat out. dry
it for several days by gentle heat i'll an
oven, and color it yellow with tumeric
and Vandyke brown and you have a
far basis for a decker with the best Of
the relic hunters. The inscription must
be very carefully made on Old velium,
and odd private marks, partially obliter-
ated, must appear here and there on
the bone. Some dealers use a mixture
of a mineral acid and water on parts of
the bone, to makelthem crumble easily
The articles must be kept in heavy
glass cases MADE for them, and, if
mounted, must show costly work. The
price asked must be large, and rigidly
adhered to. These devices may appear
Immoral, but J. is better to use them
than to rob a grave.
"Of course post Of the relic hunters
aim to get a General collection. They
will take a Bottle of water from the
River Jordan; a piece OF rotten stone
from Vesuyids, gulf weed from the At
lantic ocean or a piece OF old BARK
from Hyde Park. With equal calmness
they will BREAK a piece Of stone from a
statue or apublIc building; they would
ntoal O GREAT mans haIrbrush, or split
off a piece of mahogany from his writ
ing-tabIe. A list OF their varied collec-
tons would be very long for the aver
age compass of a mans life. Even the
specialists would make a tremendous
list. l lmve known lGen who took a
shell OF aIpebble from every well-known
beach they ever visited or mountain
they ever assembled. One of them had
q stone ffom the streets of every import
ant city IN Europe. Tue number OF
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 four hundred old
fashioned eyeglasses and spectacies."