The herald., 1895-03-03
FINDING OF A HUMAN LEG
Under a Pile of Rubbish Lay
the Gruesome Thing
IN LITERATURE AND BLOOD
The Small Boys Startling Story Of the
Fate Of Its Mate
In . Respectable and Quiet Neighbcrhood the
Right Leg Of Woman Was Hidden
Away by Some One
IN LITERATURE AND BLOOD

Mrs. Weeks, at 929 South Broadway,
raked over pile Of rubbish in the back
yard yesterday morning and found a
woman's leg. The rest of the woman
could not be found.
The leg was the portion of woman 8
body from the right knee down. 1t was
whole, but the flesh was putirfied and be-
fore it was removed from the place it was
found, had dropped from the bones and
was lugged away by yellow dog before
the Coroner came to claim it.
When Mrs. Weeks found the gruesome
thing, it was wrapped up nicely in a grain
sack and tied neatly around with cords.
Inside the sack and around the leg was
a copy of the Christmas edition OF the
Ladies' Home Journal of 1898, copy oil
the Times supplement of September %,
1898, and OF the San Francisco Chronicle
of the same date. There had been no
shoe or stocking on the leg or foot The
papers were stained by blood, which had
clotted and dried.
Mrs. Weeks discovered the leg in the
morning. Ever since her return from the
East some weeks ago she has been aware
and decided of late that it came from a
pile OF rubbish which had been left by
persons who cleaned house for her during
her absence in the East. Yesterday morn
ing she took q rake, and, assisted by q
Mr.. Faulkner, who lives at the place, she
stirred up the pile. The sack, nicely tied
up, came from under the rubbish while
she piled the rake.
II would be pleased II people would
throw their unused beefsteaks in some
body else's yard she remarked to Mr..
Faulkner, as she proceeded to unite the
strings and open the bundle. Suddenly
she screamed.
A few minutes later she called on Gro
Ger J.. Lowell, at the corner of Main and
Ninth streets, and told of her finu. In the
meantime a physician visiting her daught-
er had been told of the affair and pro-
nounced the member the leg of woman.
Grocer Lowell telephoned to the police
station. Officer McLain went out and
took look and notified the Coroner.
Coroner Campbell went out later in the
day and carefully examinde the object
and the surroundings and examined into
the circumstances OF the finding of it. The
flesh had been stripped clean from the
bones and was gone. but the bones were
unbroken, and after an examination
Coroner Campbell said he did not believe
the leg had been cut off but had been
unjointed at the knee. He was unable to
offer any explanation of the mystery that
seemed satisfactory even to himself. He
ordered an undertaken to come and re-
move it, and went away undecided as to
what further proceedings he should take
in the matter to fulfill his duties.
To Herald reporter the inmates OF the
house could offer no explanation. A med
! ical student once boarded in house in
! the rear of the place, facing on Hill street,
but he left six months ago. The pile oil
rubbish has only been there few weeks,
and the limb, according to the two physi-
| clans who saw it yesterday, has been sew
cred from its original owner less than two
months, in fact not more than three OF
four weeks, they said.
No medical student would have done
this" said DR.. Campbell, neither would
any physician. The bones are too valu.
able to be thrown away by either, for one
necessity for concealment by physi-
| cian."
Some small boys living in the neigh
borhood are authority for the startling
statement that mate to the limb was
| lying over in a vacant lot one day last
week, and that the boys lugged it around
| a while and then the scavenger carried
| it off. The Coroner was not inclined to
believe the story told by the boys He al
| lowed for the vivid imagination the youth
of the period is apt to have.
There was pair of corsets found be.
| meath the pile OF rubbish. None Of the
ladies in the house ever remembered Of
having had pair like them, but nobody
any way to the leg. On the papers there
was no name or mark which would indi-
| cate to whom they had belonged, OF
whence they came.
So there is a great mystery clinging to
the whole affair. No one who saw the leg OF