Nevada County picayune., 1890-11-06
A LIVE CORPSE.


 securing subjects for dissection, ' remarked well known physician to a Democrat reporter last evening, II happen to know of an extraordinary case.
 Ut was in the fall of 1886, when a woman, residing on the southern suburbs, died of decidedly unsatis- factorily causes. The death certif- cate from the attending physician was regular, but he was not satisfied himself, and communicated his feel ings to myself and two medical students who were using q part of his office at the time.
 It was decided among IS that an autopsy was necessary. and, as the family of the deceased woman posi- lively objected, we had to take our chances.
 1.-The two students were courage ous young fellows and agreed to bring the body in the night after it was buried in old Oakland. They accordingly secured an ordinary one horse express wagon, and, with my porter, a trustworthy negro, started for the cemetery about 10 o'clock at night, after the body had been buried in the afternoon. They passed through the front gate. and, being well acquainted with the local ity, had little trouble in locating the new-made grave. They quietly set to work to open it, and soon reached the coffin, which they lifted out, and, unscrewing the lid, secured the re- mains. All three took hold and car ried the corpse to the wagon, which had been left standing some fifty yards away. Placing the lifeless clay in the rear end of the vehicle, they retracted their steps for the purpose of letting down the coffin and filling up the grave again. While they were thus employed, the devilment began.
 "It appears that the man from whom the young men had secured the horse and wagon was suspicious of their movements, and had fol- lowed them. The woman who had been buried that afternoon was friend of his family, and noting the operations of the young men, he de- termined to save her body from the dissecting knife.
 "While the young men were filling up the grave, he crept to the wagon, and, lifting out the corpse, laid it several rods away. He then got in the wagon and took the position of the body. The young men, having completed their job, returned short ly, and climbing into the wagon, drove quietly away. The man lying in the bottom of the wagon bed waited till after the outside fence had been passed. when he rolled forward, striking the driver against the leg, and at the same time gave a low, deep groan. There was a mo- mentary pause, and the young men sprang from the wagon as if shocked by an electric battery, and so fright encd were they at what they heard and felt that both ran as if their lives depended on the speed they made. After they had disappeared, the owner of the wagon faced about, and, going to where he had left the remains, he proceeded to unearth the hollow coffin in which they belonged and place them in it again. When he had smoothed over the grave he got in his wagon and drove home.
 "The young men and the porter came in that night half scared to death and reported their adventure. Of course we ridiculed their story, and they returned to find the horse and rig. They were unsuccessful, as matter of fact, and were exceed ingly uneasy about the result.
 Next morning the owner of the horse and wagon, whose practice 1 had done for years, not suspecting me as implicated in the affair in any way, came to my office and related his discovery and what he had done. Of course l advised him never to mention the matter, and there the whole thing dropped, but so far as l know, these two young men have never undertaken anything of like character since.
 Arkansas Resources.
 The Little Rock Press says: