Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-27
OLD TIMES RECALLED
TALES TOLD TO 1HE REMIN1s-
crHc1x cEIus.
Sensational Grave Robbery - A Re-
markabls susFset4pn-How Sec
rotary Cobb "sAoyea the Queer"

Resurrect ionists and their sacreligious
work were among the themes talked about
when the "Reminiscences Club members met
in their little cigar store back parIor two
OF three nights ago. 1t was a COOL pleasant
evening, the storekeeper was In fairly
amiable mood, and interesting stories from
several members of the club made the time
pass swiftly away.
One of the membership dean Of the as
sociation-narrated a pathetic incident that
occurred in period during which grave
robberies were very common events in this
city, and when Jerry Crunchers," like the
noted character in Dickens masterpiece
The Tale Of Two Cities" whose fingers
were always stained with iron rust, and
who went on nocturnal fishing excursions
equipped with graphing irons, ropes and
spades, were to be met with any day
Boys" said the old NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
isn't 1t, that these old fellows have pro-
pensity for calling each other boys?-
boys" he repeated, Il myself have seen
corpses dumped from furniture wagons in
front of medical colleges here on scores Of
occasions. The doctors, particularly the
embryo, urfiedged doctors, called them
'stifts' What was their levity was a source
of much sorrow IN many cases to many
people.
when I was a lad. in my early teens"
he went on to say-and here the storekeeper
felt impelled to remark that that must have
y.
man addressed, without being offended, adj
mitted that 1t was years before the first
half of it had been moved down by the
scythe of time, and then continued: When
| was a mere boy a grave robbery hap
pened here that stirred up no end of indig
nation. A young woman not long after her
marriag e-only few weeks-was taken
seriously ILL., Her case disconnected the eff
forts of her physicians, who We're entirely
unable to agree upon a satisfactory diagno
sis, and the young woman. after long
Illness, died. The physicians, in the inter-
est of medical science, were anxious to
make a post -mortem examination, but to
this the young husband strenuously OBJ
night following her interment was one of
the widest nights that ever visited the city,
and there was no watch kept at her grave.
1t was the custom then" he added in par
enthesis, "for friends of deceased persons
who feared their bodies might be stolen by
medical students to keep watch for sew
eral nights over their loved ones graves;
1.-THE day after the funeral. however, the
we called them graveyards in those days
and noticed that wreath which had
been placed on the mound was lying sew
eral feet away. This he attributed, how
ever, to the high wind of the night, but
close examination showed beyond doubt
that the grave had been opened.
We'll, to make long story short, the in
dignant man promptlys obtained authority
to visit the medical colleges of the city,
and. to his great horror, in one of them he
not been dissected but was doubled up in
a barrel and in pickle that is, covered with
a solution of brine, IN order to prevent de-
composition before khe surgeons could do
their work. OF course was re-enterred
and the husband brought suit for heavy
amount against the college, but it was
never tried some sort of compromise haV-
ing been agreed upop.'