The New York herald., 1921-08-13
NDICT UNDERTAKEN
FOR SOLDIER BURIAL
William A. Skahill Charged
With False Claim Under
His Contract.
NURSE GIVES EVIDENCE
Finds Body of Arthur Cliff
Buried With Two Others
in Single Grave.
NOT PROPERLY SEALED
Indictment Follows Charges
Of FIimsy Caskets Used for
Soldier Dead.
NOT PROPERLY SEALED

William A. Skahill. an undertaken
of S6s West Fiftieth street, who since
last November, under a contract with
the United States Public Health Ser
vice, has buried more than one hun
dred bodies Of soldiers. was indicted by
the Federal Grand Jury yesterday Of.
a charge Of having presented a false
claim in connection with the burial
of the body of Arthur Cliff, a soldier
at the Fox Hills Hospital. on Staten
Island. who was drowned in the Mar
rows last April
The indictment of Skahill is the first
which has followed the many charges
that bodies of soldier dead in this city
and elsewhere were being buried hast
lily and without proper preparation.
Most of the facts which led up to
Yesterdays indictment were brought
out in the early part of the investi-
cations which are being conducted by
the Meyer committee and through in
vestigation by the American Legion.
Buried with Others.
II was charged before the Meyer COM
mittee that soldier dead had been buried
In the citys burying ground for paupers
by undertakers who had charged for the
purchase of single graves in established
cemeteries, and that they had been
buried in fiimsy caskets and coffins
when it was stipulated that the body of
each soldier must rest In Theoretically
sealed casket.
The punishment provided by law for
the offence, with which Skahil is
charged is a fine of $500 and imprison-
ment for two ~aars. 1t Is contended
that he filed claim for 500 for the
burial of Cliff in the manner and in
such a place 40 provided in his contract
with the health authorities and that
when the burial was investigated 1t was
found that the soldiers body had been
placed in a coffin which was not properly
sealed and then put in grave in which
three other bodies had been buried pre-
viously.
One OF the witnesses who testified be-
fore the Grand Jury which indicted
Skahill is Miss Minnie Byrne a nurse
at the hospital at Fox Hills. Cliff had
been one of the patients l. ward OF
which she was in charge and after his
death relatives communicated with her
and asked her to arrange for them tc
have headstone put over his grave.
Records Are Examined.
She went TO St Michael's Cemetery
in Astoria. where the bo- . body had
been buried, and asked to see the grave
She was taken to II, and having stated
her errand was asked at once which oi
the four bodies in the grave the head
stone was intended for. As she knew
of the arrangement by which each SOL
dier who died in the hospital where
she was on duty was supposed to be
buried in a separate grave, she made
careful inquiry as to his burial and
was finally convinced that he had been
buried In a grave with other bodies. from
the records at the cemetery office.
These records indicate that two other
bodies of soldiers. Joseph Crea and Karl
Koskran. were buried in the grave where
Cliffs body was placed afterward. one
of them on March % and the other Ave
days later. Cliffs body was buried on
May 3. The indictment. however, does
not charge Skahill with presenting a
false claim, for the purchase OF single
grave, for, after charging s35 for the
grave when II was first purchased, he
charged only SIS additional each time
IL was reopened. which fee was paid tc
the cemetery and out of which he re.
ceived nothing