Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1888-01-13
VOL. 81.
THE WORK OF GHOOLS.

above all others on the calendar
even above cold bloOded murder
That is the crime OF grave robbing'
The average jury will acquit pris-
oner Of almost anything else, under
one plea or another, but the grave
robber can make no plea nor find
an excuse. The man who disturbs
our dead will ever be considered a
ghoul, and the public will cry out
for revenge against him.
Some years ago, when | was in
active detective service in one of
the Middle States, a certain locali-
ty became infested with body
snatchers. 1t was a large, popu-
lous county, having many deaths
and a score of cemeteries, and be-
fore any well.organized plan to
capture the scOundrels had been
conceived, they had robbed up
ward of a score of graves. The de-
lection Of such plunderers would
seem to be a very easy natter
One would argue that nothing more
would be needed than to set a
watch on a certain cemetery, or on
two or three of them, and that the
fellows must certainly be bagged.
Although they are nearly always
men of the lower walks of life, they
are by no means deficient in native
shrewdness. They know what de-
lection signifies, and they take
more precautions than a house
breaker.
The local detective talent had
exhausted itself without result, and
when received charge ofthe whole
matter | soon realized that had
sharp lot of rascals to deal with
They had stolen bodies from ceme-
terieS carefully watched, and they
had shipped them from stations in
all sorts of disguses. Everybody
was going direct to medical col
leges within a radius of 100 miles,
and it was evident that the officers
Of those institutions stood in, and
would throw every obstacle in my
way.
The sheriff of the county gave me
the services of ten deputies as a
starter, and after | had made the
circuit of the county and noted ev-
cry burial place, posted the men,
two at a place. In each instance
they were to watch all night, and
they were in no case to inform the
public of the nature Of their work.
With the six men posted in three
different villages, l had the poorest
luck. Almost the first move they
made was to give themselves away,
and | presently learned that not
one of them dared enter a grave
yard after dark. They had con-
tented themselves with skirmishing
around, and during the first two
weeks of their watch, bodies were
stolen from each graveyard. The
four other deputies were on guard
at cemeteries in large towns, and
they kept their trusts 80 faithfully,
that the ghouls were held at a dis
tance. For my part, 1 had ceme-
terry in a city of $1,000 people. 1t
had suffered more than any OF the
others, and l believed the town to
be the headquarters OF the gang
| had to reveal my identity and my
purpose to the trustees and the su-
perintendent, as a matter Of course,
and they were astounded at the
idea OF my watching alone. There
had been a watch, composed of a
grave-digger, two conStables and
two policemen, but they had hung
together, and graves had been
opened almost under their noses.
At the hotel where | boarded |
gave out that [ was night tele-
graph operator. This accounted
for my being absent at night and
sleeping daytimes. l entered the
cemetery only after dark, and al
ways left 1t in the gray Of morning.
located all graves under six weeks
old, and kept track Of every new
one made, and after a couple of
nights I felt quite at home in the
city of the dead. | don't pretend
to say | didn't feel bit poklsh,
and that now and then tho vision
of a white headstone through the
pines did not give me a sudden
start. bat was there on duty, and
for an object, and pride would have
kept me there though a ghost had
challenged me at every turn. 1t
was now the middle of October,
with a great deal of rain and high
winds, and / look back upon those
long nights and shudder. / was
armed with a double barreled shot.
gun and a revolver, and carried a
dark lantern and three pairs of
handouts. My instructions were
10 capture or kill, and l knew that
the body snatchers went by twos
and threes.
Each night, from an hour after
dark to the breaking of day, was
on the move through the cemetery
getting many alarms, bat develop
ing nothing until the sixth night
While 1 had been watching this
place bodies had been stolen at al
most every other place in the coun'
tv o,d hnng on because / believ-