Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1895-04-11
A HUMAN FOOT.
Kicks Up a Disturbance at
Tempe.
A Possibility that a Grand Jury will
Have to Consider Law Re-
Iating to Water Courses.

lating to Water Courses.
Legal circles at Tempe are torn and
distracted by an unusual ani rather
gruesome event. A day or two ago
boy lettering along the river below
the town saw human foot and a part
of leg protruding from the sand in the
river bed. Boys are generally of an in
vestigating turn of mind and that boy
may not have been an exception. but
the casesalresdy seemed plain enough
to him. There appeared to be no legi-
innate field for further investigation.
He breathlessly carried the news to
town. Several citizens accompanied
him back to the place of the ghastly
discovery. The popular superstitious
conception of the sacredness of dead
body yet unsubjacted to an inquest pre-
vented anyone from meddling with the
appraised foot until a justice of the peace
of Tempe precinct had been informed.
There seemed no doubt that someone
had come to death irregularly and a
coroner's jury was impaneled. Then
an investigation began which If made
sooner would have saved the fire and fuel
necessary to put the indicial machinery
in motion. The foot and leg were real
flesh and skin somewhat decayed and
offensive, but there was nothing else,
no body, no head. nothing but human
foot and leg, severed at a point above
| the knee. The jury was discharged.
No authority could be found for sitting
upon stray members of the human
| frame.
This is a wise provision of the law
or rather wise neglect OF provision,
otherwise, unprincipled coroners could
manage corpse SO as to make an in
finite number of inquests possible. So
the human foot was buried deep in the
sand near where 1t was found.
An informal investigation of the
cause of it's late presence ensued and later
in the day it was discovered that it had
been thrown into the river by Tempe
physician who had removed it from the
leg of a patient.
There is a law IN. Arizona against
throwing some things into water
course. Among these things are car
casses remains, offal, matter obnoxious
to the public health or offensive to the
public sense and calculated to remove
an appetite from a hungry man OF
make recently fed man regret his late
meal.
An application was made to the
Justice for the doctors arrest. The
Justice was disposed TO grant it. but he
conquered his disappointment concern
ing the inquest which was not held and
decided to let the matter come before
the grand jury if any one desired to re.
port it.
The doctor stood pat concerning his
action; he admitted that he had thrown
the foot into the stream and under the
same circumstances would do it again.
From a legal ndpoint he is not sure
that he acted in violation of the law.
The loot was not a remains" carcass
or even offal, if offal is the rejected por
ton of a slaughtered carcass. The
man from whom the foot was removed
is not a carcass but is alive and doing
well.
I Iii any event though the doctor in
sists that he did the proper thing. Mel
who make laws do not usually know
mitch about hygiene. A foot thrown
into q stream goes into dissolution more
quickly, it's poisonous gases are freee
more rapidly and waited out of thu
community with greater dispatch thar
if it were buried. This theory was 81
plausible chat those who accepted
it are inclined to believe that
would be better to hereafter dispose
all their dead that way and cut tn
cemetery up into town lots. -,
1t is threatened though that th
| grand fury will hear OF it.
' A funny thing about the case is tina
/ the Justice is IN the same boat with tn
: doctor. The law which forbids tn
= throwing of certain matter into stream
q forbids the interment of the same KIN
). of matter in river beds. The hnai oil
" position of the foot was made at the II
a stance of the justice.