The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1893-05-22
THE TWO DOCTORS.

oA6oe
They do not do so now, but in bygone
times some of the medical students and
young practicing physicians of Detroit
were in the habit of stealing bodies for
dissection from the cemeteries adjoining
the city.
In those times there were two young
doctors, just out of their teens, who
were partners in a practice which left
them with a great deal of time ON their
hands. Both of them We're strong of
head and of physical makeup, and either
OF them could drink any other man in
Detroit drunk On cherry whisky and
still retain his sea legs and his cool
head. And there were not a few sturdy
drinkers in Detroit then.
Nevertheless, while the young physi-
clans appeared to be sailing straight for
the rock of Grog, they put in q great
deal of time, much of it stolen from the
night, advancing themselves in a profess
sion to which they were courageously
devoted. One Of them, it may be men
toned incidentally, advanced in the aft
er days to a very high position in the
medical department of the United States
army, and the other became one Of the
foremost physicians of the city.
One night the two determined upon
making a sally upon a certain cemetery,
to steal the corpse of a man who had
died of a peculiar disease, which was the
talk of the little town at the time, and
which threw medical circles into sharp
and in some instances furious discus
sion. When they sauntered from their
favorite boozing place, they were pretty
well filed with cherry whisky, and the
hour was past II o'clock. Their cronies
came away with them, as that was the
customary hour for retiring unless 1t
happened to be a holiday occasion, when
I'VE Won't Go Home Till Morning was
sung, a song, by the way, which imparts
a flavor Of the wine of the immortals to
good average whiskv-which in its turn
cheerfully and heartily reciprocates the
compliment, by causing the song to thrill
the soul like the war hymn of triurn-
plant archangels.
Earlier in the evening they had made
arrangements for a horse and q light
wagon, spades, pickax, crowbars and
ropes. They knew the location of the
grave, and they started out. The night
favored them with Opaque clouds which
hid a three-fourths faded summer moon.
Arrived at the desired place, outside
the cemetery fence, they led the horse
into a strip Of woods, crossed the road
and entered the cemetery. Before pro-
ceeding to business they took a hearty
pull at the cherry bottle. With the aid
of their dark lanterns they found the
mark which had been made upon the
grave in the daytime. They then pro-
ceeded to adjust their dark colored sheet
ing. The grave was pretty close to the
road, but they didn't mind that. The
sheeting, hung IN sticks pressed into the
ground, screened the grave from all
points of view, and the dark lantern was
hung in such a position that it shone in
a narrow circle downward upon the
grave.
Both seized their spades then and went
to work with a viii at either end of the
grave, space being taken at one end to
afford o for both to work. In this
way the muscular young fellows soon
reached the over box. The top of this
was taken off and laid aside. In q little
while the cover of the coffin was un-
screwed, and in the~haste of the moment
it was thrown out of the grave. 1t struck
the width of sheeting next the road and
threw it down.
The corpse was a very heavy one, and
it took the united efforts of both the doc
tors to raise it in the narrow space of the
grave. They managed to stand it up at
the end Of the grave and then concluded
that the best thing to do was to have one
of them lift from below and the other
from the top. To this end one of hem
proceeded to climb out of the grave, but
just at that moment their blood was
frozen in their veins by a piercing shrek.
On the night chosen by the young doc.
tors for their raid ON the cemetery r.
William Green, a suburban beau, whose
characteristics were of the hue of his
name, and whose courage was utterly
disproportioned to his tall, gaunt frame,
vas returning homeward in company
with Mary S., as beautiful q country
girl as ever tripped over the daisies and
as bright and intelligent as she was beau.
tiful. People often wondered then how
beauty of such manifest superiority oi
character could see anything attractive
in a fellow like Bill Green, but from this
coign of time the riddle is easily read
beaus were very scarce in the township
of H in those days, and hence a CIR
had no choice. 1t was said that they
were affianced, but this was not true
Something in Mary's conduct had hell
William back from declaring himself
although she readily allowed his atten
ton and refused the proffers of escor
OF a certain newcomer in the field.
That night the couple had been to
party, and the shortest and indeed til,
only way 30 their respective homes wa
by the cemetery road, unless it might b.
across the rough fields, an impracticabl
way in the dark.
As the twain approached the dark aol
low of the road, which the bounds of tn
Cemetery touched Mary pa+,relI,, dra,