The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1906-11-27
IN The GHosTLY OLD TIMES.
Grcwsome Troubles of Medical
Doctor Then and Now.

Doctor Then and Now.
Exactly how the little medical de-
partment of the College of Philadel-
phia or University of Pennsylvania
first procured bodies for dissection
! before Or William Shippen became
the professor OF surgery and anat-
omy is probably not known, says the
Philadelphia Bulletin Doubtless
the Potter's Field was drawn upon
chiefly; possibly an obscure grave
yard was occasionally opened But
at one time in Shippen's career he
became a particular object of the
prejudice and the horror of many of
the people. 1t was believed that he
especially instructed his students in
ways and means of body-snatching,
that his rooms were filled with
against hts predatory plans. 1t was
further suspected that he kept vats
in which he disposed of the bones
and fragments of the bodies, and
there was a superstition which asso-
ciated these imaginary receptacles
with such deeds as Macbeth's
witches performed when they gath
cred around the cauldron. The doc
tors assurance that he made use
only of the eorpses of animals and
suicides was received with incredul-
ity. Finally the report was started
that he had been digging into the
graves in churchyards. 1t excited
the special wrath of the sailors in
the city, because they supposed that
some of their dead comrades were in
danger, and mob was formed to
deal with Shippen by sacking his
house. His property was saved from
spoilation, but he found it necessary
to appease the popular clamor by ex-
planning some OF his habits as dis
sector. 1T has given DR.. Shippen
much pain" he said, writing in the
third person in a public card, ito
hear that, Notwithstanding all the
care and caution he has taken to
preserve the utmost decency in
opening and dissecting dead bodies,
which he has persevered in chiefly
from the motive of being useful to
mankind, soSle evil-minded persons,
either wantonly or maliciously, have
reported TO his disadvantage that he
has taken up some persons who are
buried in the church burying
grounds, which has distressed the
minds of his worthy fellow-citizens.
The doctor, with much pleasure, i'm
proves this opportunity to declare
that the report is absolutely false,
and to assure them that the bodies
he dissected were either of persons
who had wilfully murdered them
selves or were publicly executed, ex-
cept one now and then from Potter's
Field whose death was owing to
some particular disease, and that he
never had one body from the church
or any private burial place" Long
afterward, however, it was stated
that when the building in which
Shippen instructed his anatomical
classes was torn down, and the
ground next to it was dug into, the
workmen found that 1t bad been
used as a graveyard.
But few of the instructors in anat-
omy at the university, or in after
years at the Jefferson, or at least
those who held their places for a
long time, escaped entirely some
form of the prejudice which Shippen
had to encounter. Among the ne
groes it was superstition in almost
every household. 1t is said that they
would walk far out of their way at
night time in order to avoid Wash
ington Square when 1t was Potter's
Field or that IL they had to pass 1t
they would run as fast as their heels
would carry them. Some Of them
even believed that the doctors or
their students laid plans for decoy-
ing people into their rooms, quietly
Staying them and then picking the
bodies for future use! Many a doc
tor noted how, when a negro met
him walking along the streets at
night, the negro would look at him
askance or dart out of the way, as If
he feared that he might be made a
victim of the Doctors mysterious
cunning.
A similar feeling prevailed largely
among not few of the whites. Nor
was 1t confined to the ignorant
whites alone. Every once in while
some suspicious circumstance would
Indicate that nocturnal providers
were operating in graveyard, which
was usually attached to church, DO
cemeteries having been introduced
until 1925. When grave was rified
1t was usually that of some obscure
person, so that IL the deed were dis
covered there would be no wide
spread commotion over the affair
But well-to-do families felt that they
had no guarantee that their own de-
parted members might not be chosen
by the ghouls, and sensitive men
and women were greatly oppressed
with this haunting fear. Occasion,
ally they would hire men to act af
guards for some time after a burial
or give the night Watchman gratu,