Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-12-27
ON A DISSECTING TABLE.
Where David Carrick's Body was
Found by His Friends.

HI DIED N THE fRxEDHAN's HOSPITAL AND HIS
REMAINS WERE FOUND IN THE HOWARD MEDICAL
ooLLKeE-rHE HOSPITAL AUTHORITIES SAY
THAT THE BODY WAS BURIED.
Sixteen days ago young man named David
Carrick was sent to Freedman's hospital by
Sanitary Ohicer Frank. Carrick had no means
and he was compelled TO seek through the au-
thorities admission a. free patient to some
hospital. He was twenty-eight years old and
had resided here nearly five years, having come
here from Fairfax county, Va, in 1884. He
had followed boating on the canal for living,
but recently he was employed as the driver Of
stone wagon by Dan'l Hammond, in Georgetown.
About the 9th Of this month he complained Of
feeling sick, and grew worse until he was re-
moved to the hospital, where it was found that
he was suffering from typhoid fever. His en-
ployer looked after the permit and got it, as he
supposed, for Carrick's admission to Provi-
dence hospital. On the 18th instant he was
taken from home and his friends thought that
he was in Providence hospital. They heard no
more from him for several days, when
Mr.. Edward Daniels and another friend re-
ceived q postal card from DIR. Glennon, Of
Freedman's hospital, notifying them that
Carrick was very i'll. The next they learned
from him was q week ago yesterday, when they
saw in The STAR the name of their friend in
the daily death list. Then they went to look
for the body.
Mr.. DANIELS STORY.
Mr.. Daniels told STAR reporter last evening
that in searching for the body he first went on
of last week to Freedman's hospital.
There he was informed by DIR. Purvis, the
in charge, that Carrick's remains
had had; been buried in potter's field. With
first visited the office OF. the almshouse and
were there informed by the clerk that the man
in charge of the burying ground had told him
that an empty coffin had been sent there, but
that the body had not. He then telephoned to
the hospital that he would return there. Upon
his arrival at the hospital DR.. Purvis
sent for DR.. Miller, who Is demonstration Of
anatomy in the Howard university medical de-
partment. DR.. Miller, he said, told him that
they got bodies from everywhere, but he nat
urally supposed that most of them were from
potter's field. DR.. Purvis, he said, then sent
Tor the night Waterman to prove that Carrick's
body was sent away in the hearse. The latter
confirmed the statements of DIR. Purvis 30 far
as seeing the coffin in the hearse. Dr. Miller,
he said, then asked him if there were any
marks on the body by which he could identify
it. He told him that there was; that there was
scar left by cut across the stomach. After
discussing the case some minutes, he said, DIR.
Miller got the keys of the dissecting
which is on the top floor of the main building
OF the hospital. He went with the doctor, and
when the door was opened he was Mortified to
find the body of his friend
ON DIssEcrING TABLE.
The face, he said, had been disfigured be-
yond recognition, but he identified the body
by other marks. On the right arm of the de-
ceased, tattooed in India ink, were his initials,
''W c." and a design composed of a womans
1xxrlxs oh u n.
Then the little finger on his left hand had been
mashed. and peculiar looking nail had grown
on it. DIR. Miller raised no objection to his
taking the body away and said that he would
give up a body cheerfully if it were found
in the dissecting room and identified. The
and had 1t taken to Carricks former home
in Fairfax county
Friends Of the deceased are Of the opinion
that the body was never taken to potter's field.
and make bitter complaints against the hospital
authorities.
DIR. PURvIs' EXPLANATION.
DR.. Purvis, the physician in charge Of the
hospital, when asked about the matter by q
STAR reporter said that friends of the dead man
we're trying to raise a row for nothing. The
facts, he said, simply showed that there had
been grave robbery at potter's field, and the
Howard University college was fortunate
enough to get the body. The statement that
the body had not been taken to potter's field,
he said, was all bosh. Carrick, he said, was
brought to the hospital on the 18th inst. a very
sick man. He was unable to give the physi-
clans any information concerning his friends,
but in a few days he rallied and gave the names
Of two friends. DIR. Glennon sent them a pos
tai notifying them of the serious illness of the
patient No one came to see him, and ON Mon
day of last week he died. The body was kept
until Wednesday for friends to come, but
thAxy
coffin and sent off to the potter's
ield. Then his friends came to the hospital
and told of what they had learned at the aims
house, and one of them said that he was in
formed by the clerk that the coffin which came
there empty had been used for kindling wood.
The men who called to look after the body said
they could identify it, and were taken to the
room. This room, he said, is con-
nected with the Howard university and has no
whatever with the Freedmans
hospital. They claimed to identify the body
which was turned over to them. DR.. Purvis
here explained the necessity for getting bodies,
and said that so far as he knew the bodies OBJ
tained for Howard university were all obtained
from the potters field. They would refuse to
take body known to have been stolen from
any other cemetery.
REGULARLY PURCHASED.
DIR. Purvis said that DIR. Miller told him that
this body had been purchased from a regular
''resurrectionist." When strangers are brought
to the hospital and die there DR.. Purvis said
every effort was made to find their friends
as in the present case. Letters are written
and if no friends appear the body is buried in
potter's field. If the patient has friends who
will purchase a burial site in any cemetery the
hospital will furnish the coffin and hearse.
Carrick's friends, he said, could never have
found Carrick's body had they not been per-
mitted to go to the dissecting-room, and DIR.
Purvis said that they were not compelled to let
them 60 there. Dr. Miller, he said, assured
the dead mans friends that he did not get the
body from the hospital authorities, but that
he purchased it from q resurrectionist in the
regular way.
CEMETERY RECEIPT.
DR.. Purvis says he holds the receipt Of the
almshouse authorities to show that the body was
delivered at the cemetery and buried, besides
having the testimony of the two men who took it
in the wagon to the cemetery. He said further
that there was some doubt whether the body that
was claimed as Carrick's was really Carricks,
for, he said, the scar on the abdomen could not
be found.
81 know" he said, ''that no body remains in
the potter's field over night. As matter of
fact, there is a great demand for these bodies
and the supply is not equal to it. l have no
sentiment about these things. The colleges
have to secure subjects in order to enable stu
dents to proceed with their studies The only
way they can be obtained now is by taking
them from the potter's field. There should be
q law that would permit the bodies Of friend
less paupers to be turned over from the morgue
to the medical colleges, as is done in other
citiaa