The Washington herald., 1918-10-20

II
IDENTIFY appreciated the hunaor OF the
situation. for as he lay on the stage
In full view of the audience he opened
his eyes and grinned broadly. This
! was the signal for the medical stu
dents TO begin their fun. They cat
called at Vigo and his very much
alive dead man. and then a shower
of over-ripe eggs and vegetables de-
scended upon exhibit A." as the stu
dents termed the imitation stiff. The
curtain was quickly lowered and the
| crowd, with much good-natured
char, departed. and the first and only
lecture on resurrection" come TO an
abrupt ending
The lecture brought VIgo Jensen
Ross into bad repute with his former
patrons. and he went to Milwaukee
and began a ghoulish career there.
About year later he suddenly reap
peared in Washington, and on
stormy night celebrated hig return
by stealing the body Of Charles Shaw.
coloHed, from the jail Shaw had
been executed that day for the muir
| der OF his sister, near the Govern
ment Hospital for the Insane Vigo,
in some mysterious manner. got pos
I session Of the remains and placed
them In nighttime hack. after TAX
ing on a full cargo of whisky. He sat
beside the cadsver in the vehicle and
had the driver convey him to several
medical colleges. where he endesvored
TO sell It Finally he started for the
dissecting room OF Howard University,
but made a fatal stop at a Seventh
street saloon. While he and the driver
negotiated several drinks at the bar.
a pedestrian observed the dead mans
feet and legs protruding through the
hack window. A policeman was called
and Vigo was arrested. In the Police
Court, while he was being lectured by
| the Judge. Vigo declared.
sits Beside Corpse.
why. your honor, ! would snatch
the body OF George Washington or
that Of Julius Caesar II l could get at
them"
He served one year in Jail for the
escapade. and before his death wrote
will consigning his body after death
/ to a medical college, explaining that
his~act was for the advancement OF
medical science" Jimmie Fallon. one
OF Vigo's assistants engaged with
several other ghouls, in the wholesale
robbery OF graves in adjacent Mary
land counties, was captured and
served a long term in the Maryland
Penitentiary. II was from this source
that Fallon procured the cadavers
which were prepared for shipmen.
from this city as picked pork
: At one time there was a veritable
nest OF resurrectionists in an anti
Quated structure which stood at As
\ TO 4Z3 n J. avenue. two docs from
No. 6 Police Station. and was known
as "Ryder's Castle" In this squalid
structure resided Percy Brown and
his sister, Maude. Fallon and others
OF the resurrectionists. On the lower
! floor at that time was a church con-
! Quoted by a sect of colored people.
and when they learned that the upper
portion OF the house was peopled by
| body-snatchers and what they termed
4 'slap-doctors," il is said they ba ri
caded the entrances TO other parts OF
the premises and during their serv-
/ ices stationed stalwart guards TO pre-
vent the entry OF the uncanny people
/ from above.
Maude Brown was the lady OF the
castle and presided over her compan-
! ions with Queenly dignity She claim
ed she was the daughter OF a noted
Russian physician and anstomist-
and that in her childhood her play
| ground was her fathers dissecting
room. She was a woman OF education
| and her fsds were resurrection and
astronomy.
Women GhouIs Too.
The dance oof the ghouIs," as I de-
scribed Il in one OF my early stories
| was perhaps the weirdest social event
ever pulled on in Ryder's Castle or
/ anywhere else. To the old-fashioned
melody. Turkey Scratchin' in de
San" and Down Mobile" rendered
by Forsyths orchestra. composed o.
suueaky concertina and q cracked nd
die. Percy Brown, gIum-fsced and
= heavily whiskered: Fallon. wild-eyed