Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1888-01-13

Only the one participant was per-
mitted to turn States evidence, and
he was very free to talk with me
concerning his horrible vocation.
at may be against the law" he
calmly said to me, "but it seems a
pity to waste so much MATERIAL
When a subject will bring S25 in
cash what's the use Of letting him
waste away in the ground? Yes,
people have feelings about it, but
/ If people don't know that the grave
is empty they are just as well of,
and we are a great deal better
You call it horrible trade. Well,
/ it struck me that way the first time
| | handled a subject, but | soon got
over it. 1t don't do to have too
much feeling in business matters"
| learned from him that the or
canization knew that all the ceme-
teries and graYeyards were being
watched, but it made little differ.
ence with their work.
"It is easy enough to irighten a
watchman away" he added, "and
Pm certain that none Of the men
under You have hindered us at all.
Me and my gang went over to the
graveyard at Blankville for the
corpse of young man. We found
that you had two men on the
watch. They we're not in the burial
ground, but roosting on the fence,
and when | put sheet around me
and suddenly showed mp they took
to their heels in way to make you
laugh. We got our subject, left the
grave open, and your men filed it
in by daylight rather than have it
known we had been there.n
"Did you ever take body eI.
cept at night ?" | asked him.
eyes, several. Saturday after
noon is .hc very best time to work
a village graveyard, If it is rightly
situated. Then everybody is busy,
teams are passing along the roads,
and no one observes you too close
| ". II is but seldom that funeral
is held on saturday afternoon
They either bury on Friday or wait
until Sunday. No one goes to the
graveyard on that day, and three
good men can get in their work and
feel pretty safe about it. One OF
the bodies shipped of last week
was got of Saturday afternoon in
Brownsville. That's village twen-
ty.four miles away. 1t was bit
exciting, the getting of that body.
1t was that of a woman who had
died of cancer of the throat, and
we had been keeping track OF her
case for a whole year. We meant
to have her when she went, and she
was buried on Friday and we got
there Saturday after dinner. We
had a lot of new hay to throw over
the sack, and we drove through the
town as bold as you please. There
were three of us, and while two
stood watch l flung the dirt out
and split the coffin open. Just then
there came an alarm, A chap, who
turned out to be a brother of the
dead wOman's, was entering the
graveyard by the gate. We we're
badly ratified, and my two comrades
bolted across lots. | plucked up
courage after a minute, and, going
down to meet the fellow, asked
who he was and what he wanted
there. He had come, he said, to
look at the lot and measure 1T for q
fence. Then Iput on that was
the grayedigger, and that no one
could come IN under the new ruls
of the trustees without a permit,
and when he began to bluff at me
| hauled of and knocked him in a
heap. lie went away as mad as a
hornet, but | knew he wouldn't re-
turn for an hour, and long enough
before that time we had the body
out and the grave filled up, l ex.
changed hats and coats with one
of the men, and then drove the
wagon right back through the
town.
81 had the sack we'll covered with
hay, but Won must know that man
with such a load as that behind him
can't be exactly easy in his mind.
| had got beyond the town when a
couple of men came riding after
me. One was the Sheriff himself,
and he at once put me under arrest.
1t seemed that a rig of the sort
had been stolen from a farmer a
few miles away the night before,
and the Sheriff had got track OF
nv outfit, and was sure it was the
one. Nothing | could say had any
effect on him, and | had to turn
around and drive back to town and
the Jail. They we're about to lock
|
me up and take the rig to a stable
when the farmer happened to come
up. 1t was not his outfit, of course,
and within five minutes the Sheriff
was apologizing to me; but it was
such close call that my heart did
not get back to lis regular beating
for two hours. While the rig stood
in front Of the Jail a dozen men sur
rounded it, and several of them
pulled off handfuls of the hay. Had
they discovered the sack and it,
contents nothing could have saved
me from going up to llmb.-Ne't