St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-23
A CONFUSION OF CoRPsEs.
They Get into the Wrong Collins
and Create a Great UpPoar.


and Create a Great Uproar.
Public curiosity has been aroused by
reports of the extraordinary confusion
which nearly led to the body of Alfred
Linnel being buried in place of that of
another patient on Saturday, the
Sd inst, says the Pail Mall
Gazette. The following are the facts,
which point to the conclusion that other
minds at the hospital besides that of
Mr.. Smith have been in a strange state
OF misrepresentation and confusion. A
man of the name Of Ham had died in
the hospital on Thursday. On Satur-
day the undertaken employed by his rel
alive called at the hospital to ask when
he would be allowed to remove the
body. AS a matter of fact an i'll
quest had been ordered to be held
on the remains in question; however.
the undertaken was told that he might
remove them at once, and body, which
he was assured was that of Mr.. Ham,
was handed over to him. This he in
caSed and conveyed to the relatives, and
have been inferred by the widow as the
corpse of her late husband. She, how
ever, wished to take last look at the
deceased, aud OH the removal of
the cOffin-lid, what was her horror
to dis cover the features of an
entire stranger! The body which had
been made over to the relatives of James
liam was that of Arthur Linnell. Mrs.
Ham, with her sister. at once took
steps to return the body, and went to
the hospital to ask for the remains of
Mr.. Ham. They were naturally much
agltated by. so painful an incident, and
were indignant to find the affair
treated in the most off-hand man
at the mortuary, whittier the re-
mains had now been removed
under wrong name. Mrs. Ham has
since received p roper expressions of re-
gre from the secretary, instructed by
the board: but at the time she and her
sister were unfortunate enough to fall
in with &. j. Smith and with underlings
who took their tone from this most cOur-
gteouS OF house surgeons. s'Well, what do
dOyOu want here?" said MI. Smith and on
hearing that it was her husbands body
that Mrs. Ham wanted, and why, he
proceeded to show his consideration for
the feelings natural to her situation and
his regret for SO ineXcuSable a mistake
by turning his back Oh her without a
word, struggling his shoulders and walk
NPoeeiAof lSofihS dIitt
her sister in indignation and surprise in
the hall.
But the strange features of this
strange story are not yet exhausted.
On proceeding to the mOrtuary Mrs.
Hams sister asked leave to see the
body which was labeled LinneH, and
which she naturally supposed had been
interchanged for her husbands. At first
the authorities would not hear of il. .s.You
see the name is Linnell." she was told:
she must be mistaken However, as
the body which had been sent to her
was certainly Linneli's land from its
frightful injury, Enthusiastically. enough,
3 one would think, the inspection was
afterward allowed. 1t then came to
i ght that, though the body labeled
with Linnell's name was not his.
neither, indeed, was it that of
Mr.. Ham, whose relatives finally
discovered his remains under
the name of third person deceased,
whose corpse was the one which passed
under the name of Linnell. This extra
ordinary story OF changing corpses and
ineXplicable confusion being thus con-
cluded, the body of Mr.. Ham was at last
made over to his distressed friends, and
was inferred on the following Thursday