St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-01-24
TENANTLESS GRAVES.
Tremendous Excitement in Georgia VII
lage Over the Discovery of Wholesale
Body-Snatching,
In Which Trusted Sexton Proves to bs
the Leader Ofa Gang of
Ghouls.
\ Chinaman Murders an Aged Cali
1ornia Couple and immediately I
Crosses the Pacific.
ex-senator SwoPe of Kentucky, Leg.
Asiator' Murderer and Burglar, Fa-
tally Injured in n Row.
Georgia Grave Rohhsr.

Special to the Globe.
DECATUR, Ga, Jan. 23.-This commun-
ity is greatly excited over the reported desc
Grafton of its graveyard by body-snatchers.
and the discovery of the completely of the
sexton in the crime. Decatur has hand
some cemetery, located on the edge of the
town. The inclOSure is large and many OF
the lots are well cared for. There the
bodies OF the dead have been laid to rest for
three or four score years Part
OF the cemetery is set aside "a
"GodS acre" and there the poor are laid
away. Up to week ago no one dreamed
that the bodies in the cemetery had been
disturbed. but last week Joe Smith. the
sexton of the cemetery. directed suspicion
on himself, and was watched that night.
with George Vaughan, the negro janitOr OF
the Atlanta Medical college, lie was de-
tected in the act of robbing the grave Of
Israel Sanford. Vaughan gave bond. while
Smith was lodged in Jail. The body was
never recovered. Smith is still IN lail.
About two weeks ago Simon Read
a colored man, aged 75 years. died. He
was buried in Gods acre" When it was
found that the body of Sanford was miss
ing great many people began to wonder
It old man Read had not gone tie same
way. Public opinion ran high and pres
sure was brought on the mayor and coun-
ell for
AN INVESTIGATION
Yesterday Mayor Kirkpatrick, Councilman
Austin, Marshal Chivers and several other
gentlemen went 10 the graves, accompanied
Oy force of negro men To open them and
see if there was anything missing. The
first grave examined was that of Simon
kead. The negroes with shovels set upon
the grave and were soon at the coffin. It
was empty save pair of breeches. and
one or to minor pieces of wearing
apparel The body of the old man had been
taken away, and was then, no doubt, lying
well cured in some deans watts. The ne
groes who were shOyelng dirt grew very
much excited and did not need to be urged
To greater exertiOn. AS soon as it was
clearly seen that Reads body was gone,
they were put to work on two other graves
that were very near together.
Both were graves of colOred
people, and when the collins were
reached it was found that one body was
gone. The men were then put TO work
on the grave OF white lady, whose death
occurred some weeks ago. When the
planks over the coffin were reached the
mayor said: ut is no use TO 90 further in
this grave. | saw this lady buried and I
know the planks have not been disturbed"
The coffin was, therefore, not disturbed.
There were no other suspected graves that
the mayor felt authorized to open and the
WORK WAS ABANDONED
at that point. There are other graves In
the cemetery that are thought to be empty.
but so tar there have been no investiga-
/ tions, as the relatives of the dead people
object to the graves being. opened Ii is
not improbable, however, that there will
be still more graves opened. The general
impression is that there has been a
good deal of grave robbing i'm the
vicinity of Atlanta. OF late several
robberies have been detected, and It's be-
lieyed that about these parts many mound
rises above an empty coffin. There is
great Indignation at Decatur. The people
feel that the desecration of their cemetery
was great outrage, and they will sit up
with" the guilty men. The cOlored
people are furious and are talk
ing about lynching Joe Smith,
the traitor sexton. Smith is trying to give
bond, but the cOlOred people say the safest
place for him is in jail. One old cOlored
man said to reporter: He ought to be
hung and then tarred and then burnt, the
dirty rascal" Mayor Kirkpatrick said to q
reporter:
''The guilty men need not look for SYM
pathy in Decatur. Public sympathy is strong
against them"
''Will you open any more graves?" asked
the reporter.
Il VIII not open any without the permission
OF the relatives Of the people buried. Wnat
l have already done was in my official capac-
ity. and l don't feel like going any further
without permission"
The excitement is not only all over the
neighbOrhOOd of Decatur, but has extended
to Atlanta and vicinity. Doubtless an off
eye will now be kept on newly-made graves
all over the state.