Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1884-01-02
NO. 1.

heard of, for the practics of robbing
graves is dangerous. A Canadian gen
tleman who used to call on me twice a
year for fine 'rattlers'- hats what they
call these cheerful reI,Os-told me that
he got the taste through hearing in his
youth a graphic story about the steal
ing of bone from the grave of the
Rev. George Whitefeld, the celebrated
Eng lish preacher, who died near 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 frst-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, q
skull of the General. the collectors be-
came highly excited, ani an apatomIst
was called in. Science decided that one
of the skulls ccnylined a 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 q decided
Egyptian origin, but Contained the
teeth OF person Of twenty years.
kleber was about fifty. But the fun
niest part of it, though dld not dare
laugh over 1t when the report was
made, was that one oil the collectors
had been eherishing the skull of II
woman,
'.lt Is very singular how easily rei.c
hunters may be fooled. Neither vi
those two men would buy any Of tue
religious relics SO common III Europe
But take almost any kind of ne,
boil it carefully to take the fat out, dry
1t for several days by gentle heat i, All
oven, and color 1t yellow with tuncrlc
and Vandyke brown, and you havs
fair basis for a dicker with the best y.
the relic hunters. The inscription must
be very carefully made on old We ium,
and odd private marks, partially oblitcr-
ated, must appear here and there Oh
the bone. Some dealers use mix uro
of a mineral acid and water on parts oi
the bone, to make them crumble ,slly
The articles must be kept in heavy
glass cases made for them, all, If
mounted, must show costly work lie
price asked must be large, and gully
adhered to. These devices may appear
immoral, but 1t Is better to use taeu
than to rob q grave.
'.Of course most Of the relic hunters
aim to get general collection. Tney
will take a bottle of water from tbs
River Jordan; piece of rotten stJuo
from VesuYius, gulf weed from tIs At
lantlc ocean, or piece of oil BARK
from Hyde Park. With equal ca.mu IS
they will break piece of stone frOm 4
statue or public 0uilding; they woald
steal great mans hairbrush, of spit
of piece of mahogany from bis vut-
ing-table. A list OF their varied cJ.lec-
tions would be very long for the ayer-
age compass of mans life. EgeI the
specialists would make o tremendous
list. l have known lnen who took u
shell Or a pebble from every well known
beach they ever visited or mJuutain
they ever ascended. One of them had
a stone from the stIeets of every import
ant city IN Europe. The number ol
collectors of pipes is quite iarg=. a
Brooklyn minister had a handsome col
lection OF meerschaums. l knsS one
gentle man who cared for nothing but
Old clocks, and another who had be-
tween three and four hundred Old
fashioned eyeglasses and spectacies."