The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1911-02-10
BODY IslsTOLEN
FROM MAUS0LEUM
Ghouls Wreck Interior Of Vault
Garry OF Remains of Wealthy Wo-
man and Hold II for Ransom.

ERIE, Pa, Feb. 9.-The entire Erie
police force. assisted by horde OF
detectives. is making a house TO
house search OF Erie and the sur
rounding country TO locate the ghouls
who looted the magnificent Scott
mausoleum In the local cemetery. IL
Is now considered certain that the
body OF Mrs. McCullom. formerly Miss
Tracy. member OF a prominent Phila-
delphia family, and sister-in-law OF
the late William l.. Scott, has been
carried away, although the police,
cemetery officials and members of the
formation about the case.
From what can be learned Mrs.
McCullom's body was taken for ran
som, but whether an actual demand
for money has been made on the fam
lily cannot be learned. The interior
OF the mausoleum was wrecked by the
robbers. all OF the crypts having been
broken open and the lids of three OF
the coffins smashed to see whose body
was within.
The mausoleum was me of the fin
est of the country. II Is built OF
white marble. with great bronze
doors, and heavy iron gates. The dis
covery that 1t had been broken into
was made by chance. A woman Wis
itor discovered one of the gates ajar.
She touched the bronze door and IL
fell inward with a crash, having been
lifted from it's hinges. The demol-
ished collins were then In plain view
and the. cemetery omcials were no
titled. They sent for Mrs. Charles III.
Strong, daughter of William l.. Scott
and the police. Mrs. Strong engaged
private detectives at once to work
with the police.
Investigation showed that the rob-
bers had chiseled off the locks of the
bronze doors and then forced an en-
trance. Mrs. McCullom's coffin was
gone. 1t is believed that the tomb
was broken into at least week ago.
That there must have been a number
of men on the job, is certain, as the
coffin was very heavy and was en-
cased I'm hammered copper.
The Strong and Scott families are
the wealthiest I'm this section OF the
state. William L. Scott came here
from washington when he was IL
years old and amassed great fortune
through his ~oal and railroad inter
ests. He served two terms In con-
gress from 1884 to 1888, and died In
Newport, r. l., on Sept, 10. 1891.
Charles III. Strong, whose wife was
a daughter oil Mr.. Scott, Is president
of. the Erie & Pittsburg railroad, the
Erie County Electric Light Co.. and
the owner of two newspapers. The
family has Instructed the police and
detectives that no effort Is TO be
spared In recovering the body and
tracking down the ghouls. That other
bodies were to have been carried away
is one of the theories OF the poll D..
The niche In which the caskets con
tanning Mr.. Scott and his wife lay side
by side, had been broken open and
the one containing Mrs. SCOTS body
hauled partly out II is believed that
the robbers planned to carry away
both these caskets but were, fright
ened away.
One theory that the police are
working on is that Italians were con-
oerned in the ghoulish work. There
Is an Italian settlement near the Gem
etery, but search of the houses there
has so far failed to develop any clue.
The fact that the family received
letters signed Black Hand" demand
ing $4,000 with the alternative or
having their summer home blown to
pieces some .wo years ago, adds
strength to this theory. The perpe-