The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-09-18
CHILD'S BODY ,NUTlATEO
Margaret KuhieWInd Killed by
Automobile, Victim CT Ghouls.
CofEn of Eight-YeaF-Old Profaned at
Bernardsville, N. J.-Body Dug
Up AID Reburied by Vandals.

B~ernardsvil1e, N. J.-Through the
elimination of the body of Margaret
Kuhlewind, one of the victims of the
fatal automobile wreck near Ber-
nardsYille ten days before, it became
known that within a few hours after
the interment a fend had desecrated
the grave. The body of the child
had been dug up and mutilated.
When he had finished his ghoulish
work the brute threw the body back
into the coffin and cast it into the
grave. But in replacing the dirt and
flowers he did not arrange them as
they had been left, and this led to the
exhuming of the body.
The child was killed on August IA
while riding in the automobile Of
Grant B. Schley, the broker. Thomas
Clark, Mr.. Schley's chauffeur, had
picked up a party including the little
girl to give them a ride. He ran into
a telegraph pole and the child was
thrown out with the others. Her
death was instantaneous. Clark was
also killed instantly and Ralph Hazel
ton, another occupant Of the car, died
the next day in a hospital, while Miss
Adelaide Pepper, of Brooklyn, and
Miss Anna Kuhlewind, a sister Of
little Margaret, were seriously in
jured.
Three days later the body Of the
child was buried in St. Bernard's
Episcopal Cemetery, where for years
the dead of the parish have lain un-
disturbed. When the last word of the
funeral service had been spoken the
superintendent took the many floral
offerings and placed them IN the
grave. He banked them higher ct
the head OF the grave than at the
foot.
While making his rounds the fol-
lowing morning the superintendent
saw that the flowers had been dis
placed. He looked, and the banking
of the grave, which he had attended
to, did not seem the same. He be-
came> convinced that some one had
been meddling.
While there was nc proof that the
grave had been actually opened, he
reported the matter to William r.
Bonfield, one of the Cemetery Com
mittee. Mr.. Bonfield decided to do
nothing until Richard V. Lindabury,
a lawyer, of New York City, who is
chairman of the Cemetery Commit
tee, returned to Bernardsville. Mr..
Lindabury. arrived and ordered that
the grave be opened.
|. The aged father Of the little girl
was asked to be present. as was the
undertaken, Isaiah Bower. When the
outer box Of the coffin was reached it
was apparent that the grave had been
disturbed. The box had been secure
ly fastened by the undertaken, but
the lid vas now found to be loose.
Then the coffin was taken out, and it,
too, showed signs of a ghoul's work.
1t was not, however, until the coffin
was opened that the whole horror
u%nfolded.
The little body was found to have
been thrown back into the coffin with
the shroud nearly torn from it. No
care had been used, and the casket,
large for the child, had been tossed
back into the grave. The body had
slid to the foot Of the coffin and was
huddled in a heap.
The examination showed that the
fiend had taken the body from the
coffin and, using the under side of
the lid of the outer box as an operat-
ing table, had made a slash with a
knife in a circular manner and then
removal the vital organs which he
wanted.