Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-30
HOOSIER CHOULS IN COURT
Respectable Absttors Of the Crime Of Grave
RObbiDg About to Be Tried.
GREAT LEGAL BATTLE ON THE DOCKET
Medical Colleges Put Up Money for
Defense and Relatives of the Dead
Raise n F~und-story of
the Crime.

The hrst Of the trials OF members Of the
gang indicted for grave-robbing is seized
uled to begin in Indianapolis tomorrow.
Or. Alexander, Demonstration Of anatomy
in the Central Medical college, will be
placed on trial on the charge OF secreting
human bodies and disturbing graves. As
the fate Of other indicted members Of the
gang Is linked with that Of DIR. Alexander.
the trial will command widespread public
interest, and is likely to be the greatest
legal battle ever fought in the criminal
court Of Indiana's capital. Besides DR..
Alexander the list OF indicted men include
DR.. Frank Wright, secretary OF the Eclec-
tic Medical college, charged with failure to
keep record Of bodies used for dissecting
purposes; Dr. Frank Wilson, an inferno
at the Central Medical college, charged
with secreting human bodies; Rufus Can't
rell and fifteen negroes, self-confessed
ghouls, who are indicted by the grand
Jury on specific cases OF grave robbing'
although accused OF hundreds Of thefts
OF bodies; John McEndree, William Mofltt
and Hampton West, white. similarly
charged; c.. M. C. Willis, a colored under
taker, charged with the failure to bury a
county charge and the selling of the body
20 a medical college, and his assistant,
f1dTTy F1dtNNys COloICut VI NNN
plicity in this offense. Fred speers, owner
OF the Mount Jackson cemetery, and other
cemetery sections and employees. accused Of
conspiracy with the ghouls in their whole
sale robbery Of graves.
A Great Legal Battle.
The state, in its prosecution on the In
aictments, will be represented by County
Prosecutor John Ruckelshaus and MS
deputy, Charles Benedict. In addition, w.
II. Brown, who has been retained by rela-
tives who have suffered through the depre-
dations Of the ghouls, has been engaged.
William T. Lo1g, a veterinary surgeon, Is
one of the Indianapolis residents who Is
active in seeing that the ghouls Will be
prosecuted. Longs activity is due to the
fact that the body OF his brother-in-law
Wallace Johnson, was stolen from Ebenezer
cemetery July 9 by Rufus Cantrell, on the
day of It's burial. Johnson's widow at the
time OF the discovery of the robbery Of her
husbands grave was FRUSTRATED. Her
brother, Long, represented her in the In
yestigation for the search Of Johnson's body
and continued increasingly for four weeks
finally recovering the body, with three
others, early one morning, in dry goods
boxes in the middle Of the wholesale dis
trict Of Indianapolis.
other relatives who have suffered sim
ilarly have been equally as energetic in the
search for the bodies OF dead members of
their families. These, in company with
many citizens from Hamilton and Marion
counties, held a mass meeting recently, at
which 5000 was subscribed to assist the
prosecution. With this sum 1t is hoped
that the state will be able to prosecute
the offenders Of the peace OF these fam
flies. The faculty OF the Central Medical
college, Of which DIR. Alexander Is a mem
Der, has voted $4,000 to aid his defense.
With this sum the best legal talent In the
Indiana bar has been retained.
How the Crimes Were Discovered.
On the night of September 2s someone
drove up to the residence of Wesley Gates,
in q suburb OF Irvington, and called him TO
the door. A voice from a hack standing at
the curb Informed him that the body of his
daughtef Glendore. who was buried a few
days before in the Anderson cemetery, had
been stolen, and he would find 1t at the Gen.
trail College Of Physicians and Surgeons.
Mr.. Gates made an investigation the next
day, but when he dug down to the pine box
enclosing the CONN and found it intact he
caused the grave to be filled up. believing
that he had been deceived. but unable to
divine why anyone should play such a crueI
Joke upon him.
A night or two later a hack stopped IN
front OF the home of John Middleton, and
he also was called to the door and notified
that the body OF his daughter Stella haC
been stolen and was at the Central College
Of Physicians and Surgeons. The grave wal
opened next day and the truth OF the state
ment was verified. A search of the collegI
led to the finding OF the body, and 1t wa
reburied. The mystery in these two cases
one Of which was supposed TO be false ant