The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-10-06
GRAVE Was ROBBED.
Mysterious Case Of Body Snatching
in WestbrOOk.
REMAINS OF AGED LADY TAKEN
FROM LAST RESTING PLACE.

Body Had Lain in Grave Since Middle of
August-Deed Must Have Occurred
| Since Sunday-No Known Motive for
Crime,
The citizens of Westbrook are greatly
excited and very indignant over the case
of body snatching which came to light
yesterday. The affair is one of great
mystery and the officials are much per-
picked to account for the motive of the
crime. The facts OF the case as they were
told to PRESS reporter last night are
as follows:
On Saturday, August IA, Mrs. Martha
Ellen Roberts, the wife of Mr.. John Rob-
erts, who lives on the Saco road not very
far from the city of Westbrook was strick-
en- with q paralytic shock and died very
suddenly. She had been about the house
on Saturday morning and seemed to be
in her usual good health until about ten
o'clock in the forenoon when she COM
planned of feeling numb sensation in
her right arm, By noon she was SO i'll as
to be in an unconscious condition and
night without having recovered con-
sciousness. Mrs. Roberts was most es-
| timable lady and her husband is men,
Der of one Of the best known and most
highly respected families of Westbrook.
The body Of Mrs. Roberts was buried on
Tuesday, August 18th In the family lot
in the old Saccarappa burying ground.
This cemetery which is the Oldest in West
brook is-situated right in the centre of
the city and is within few hundred feet
of Church.street which passes near 1t on
the westerly side of Spring street,
which is perhaps three hundred feet from
the cemetery on the easterly side. Within
very short distance are many residences,
and houses line the approaches to the
cemetery on all sides. On the northerly
side is the Portland and Rochester rail
road and the cemetery is bordered on this
side by tall trees, entirely screening it
from view from this. direction.
On Sunday some of the children of Mrs
Roberts and other members of her family
visited the cemetery and left on the newly
made grave bouquet of flowers. AT four
o'clock that afternoon Messrs. Henry
Sands and Henry Blachford both passed
by the grave and noticed the flowers and
at that hour nothing about the grave had
been disturbed.
Yesterday morning about nine O'Clock
Calvin Barbour who cuts the grass about
the cemetery and looks after the place
generally, while passing by the lot of Mr..
Roberts noticed that the grave of Mrs
Roberts bore evidence of having been re-
Gently disturbed. The earth was strewn
all about the grave within radius of
eight feet and the mound which had been
above the grave had disappeared and
barely enough earth had been thrown in
to the excavation to bring it up even with
the surrounding surface.
Mr.. Barbour at once went down street
and communicated the result of his
discovery to Mr. Roberts, whom he found
in town. The two men hunted I'D I'm
dertaker William B. Hodgdon and the
three men then went up to the cemetery
together. One Of the first discoveries made
by Mr.. Hodgdon was pieco of broken
ing come from the lid of the casket. The
bouquet and the iron urn which held it
above the grave had been cast to one side
by the hands Of the desecrators and there
was every indication that the grave had
been tampered with
Mr.. Roberts obtained assistance and
exhumed the casket. This was placed in
an ordinary pine box and when this box
was brought to view it was seen that the
cover had been split open. The lid of
the oasket had also been split and forced
open and the body removed. There was
no trace OF the remains of Mrs. Roberts
to be found anywhere and the only clue
to the perpetrators Of this ghoulish act was
the print Of a picked toe shoe in the fresh
earth about the grave. The lot Of Mr..
Roberts is in the far southeastern corner
of the cemetery, and is SO far removed
this grave had ample opportunity to do
their 1iendish work after midnight with
out any danger of interruption or chance
of being heard by any of those who live
in the vicinity.
The body must have been in a fair state
of preservation as 1t had been carefully
embalmed and the lining of the casket
was as fresh and stainless as it was the
day of the funeral. The only theory as to
the motive for this crime is that the work
was done by experienced body snatchers
who We're tempted to do this act for the
amount of money which the body would
bring when sold to some medical college
or physician. The grave must have been
robbed between Sunday at four o'clock
in the afternoon and nine O'Clock yester.
day morning, and 1t is presumed that the
act was done on Sunday night. Sheriff
Plummer and some of his assistants, to-
gether with County Attorney Libby Wis
tied Westbrook last night and held long
consultation with the Westbrook police
There does not seem to be the slightest
clue to the whereabouts of the body or the
identity of the body snatchers.
The penalty for body snatching in this
for