The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-09-09
SYSTEMATIC GRAVE-ROBBING.
How the Convict Dead Of the Indiana Prison
South Have Been Treated.
Louisville Times.

Louisville Times
just to the north of the Jeffersonville penit6h-
tiary is small Enclosure, which is known as the
prison graveyard tits graveyard ip name only
for it is said, upon good authority that there are
few. if any, bodies buried there In the times of
the early wardens everybody was sold to the
medical colleges by the hospital stewards When
the body of dead convict was unclaimed
by relatives, at least this is the way it was done
under the administration of one warden, the
hospital steward carefully packed it into bar
rel and labeled it &c. l. Henderson. Chicago "
Early the next morning light buggy would
convey the barrel to the depot, and it would be
expressed to Chicago to be dissected by the med
zeal students in that city. A log of sufficient
weight was placed in the plain white coffin,
which was supposed to contain the body, and a
sorrowful procession of convicts followed it to
the grave.
Every time convict dies those of his imme-
date friends who so desire are permitted to at
tend the funeral 1t is so different from other
funerals that description of may prove OF
interest Four convicts bearing the coffin on
their shoulders form the head of the procession.
Behind them march in single file, with the right
hand of each convict upon the shoulder of the
man in front of him, the mourners Two guards
with carbines upon their shoulders accomp any
safely. The chaplain, with a small Bible in his
hand, brings up the rear. At the grave the con-
vlcts stand round with uncoyerad heads, and
listen to the prayers of the chaplain as the box
is being lowered into the ground. A small board
bearing the name of the deceased prisoner paint
ed upon 1t is then stuck into the ground, at the
head of the newly made grave, and the process
sion again moves towards the prison. In course
of time the board rots away. and all trace of the
unfortunate man who is supposed to have been
buried there is lost.
It has not been this way under the administra-
tration Of all the wardens; for some bodies have
been buried there. but they have been removed
by ghouls before the body has been underground
twenty-four hours. There is man who lives
near the cemetery who makes a regular business
of supplying the medical colleges in this city
with subjects, and some of them have been con-
victs too He receives $12 so for each subject,
and makes it pay.
Several years ago the police noticed wagon
on the ferry dock with suspicious-looking box
in it. Upon asking the two men who occupied
the drivers seat what the box contained, the
officers were informed that it held eggs. The lid
was wrenched off, and there in a cramped posi-
ton, with the legs and arms folded together
under it, was the nude body of dead man. 1t
was afterward found to be that of a convict who
had died the day before. The body was rein
TERED, and the very next night it was stolen
again.
On another occasion. in 1871, the hospital
steward fixed up a barrel with the body Of q col
ored convict inside it, and shipped it to Chicago
When it arrived there the label became olsen
gagged from the barrel, andafter lying around for
about two weeks it was opened by the baggage
master, whose suspicious were aroused by the
foul odor emitted from it. The head was knocked
out, and there Invested of every stitch of cloth
ing, was a dead negro. 1t created a nine days
sensation in Chicago, and numerous thrilling
articles concerning il were written up by the
Chicago journalists The hospital steward was
very still about It, and the mystery was never
explained to the Chicago people