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CALMLY TO SLEEP.
vv , lay us calmly down to sleep
When friendly night is come, and leave
To God the rest;
Whether wa wake to smile orffeep,
Or wake no more on Time’s fair shore,
He knowetfa best.
So sinks the sun in western skies
When day is done and twilight dim
Comes silent on;
So fades the world’s most luring pri
On eyes that close in deep repose
Till wakes the dawn.
Why vex our soul with wearing care
Why shun the grave for aching head
So cool and low?
Have we found life so passing fair,
So grand to be, so sweet that we
Should dread to go?
Some other hand the task can take,
If so it sermeth best, the task
By us begun;
No work for which we need to wake,
In joy or grief, for life so brief,
Beneath the sun.
—Louise Chandler Moulton.
THE WORK OF GHOULS.
There is one crime whichstands out in
the minds of the mas-es above all others
on the calendar—even above cold-blooded
murder. That ft the crime of grave rob
bing. The average jury will acquit under a
prisoner of almost anything but e’se, rob
one pica or another, the grave
her can make no nor find an excuse,
man who disturbs our dead will
ever be considered a ghoul, and the pub
lie will cry out for revenge against him.
Some years ago. when I was in active
detective service in one of the Middle
States, a certain locality became infested
with body "county, snatchers. having It was a deatlis large,
and populous of cemeteries, many and before
a score
any well-organized plan to capture the
scoundrels had been conceived, they had
robbed upward of a plunderers score of graves. would
The detection of such
seem to be a very easy matter. One
would argue that u" o hing more would be !
needed than to set * watch on a certain
cemetery, or on two or three of them, I
and that the fellows must certainly be
bagged. Although of they walks are of nearly life, thev al
ways men the lower
are bv no means deficient in native
shrewdness. Thev know what deice
tion signifies, and housebreaker. they take more pre
cautions than a
The local d«teetive talent had
hausted itself without result, and when
1 received charge of the whole matter I
soon realized that I had a sharp lot of
rascals to deal with. They had stolen
bodies from cemeteries eaicfiillywatclicd.
and they had shipped them from stations
m all sorts of disguises. Every body was
going direct to medical colleges within
ft radius of 100 miles, and it was
that tlie officers of those institutions
stood in, and would throw every obstacle
in my way.
The sheriff of the county gave me the
services of ten deputies as a starter, and
after I had made the circuit of the
counfv and noted every burial place, I
posted the men. two at a place. Iu each
instance they were to watch all night,
and they #ere in no ease to inform the
public of the nature of their work,
With tho six men posted in three differ
enfc villager, I had the poorest luck,
Almost the first move they made was to
give themselves away, and I presently
of dared enter
a graveyard after dark. Thev had con
tented themselves with skirmishing
around, and during the first two weeks
of their watch, bodies were stolen from
each graveyard. The four other depu
ties were on guard at cemeteries in large
towns, and thev kept their trusts held so
faithfully, that the gliouls were at
a distance. For my part, I had a ceme
tew in a city of 15,000 people. It had
suffered more than any of the others, and
I believed the town to had be the headquar
ters of the gang. I to reveal my
identity and my purpose to the trustees
and the as a matter of
course, and thev were at tlie
idea of my watching alone. There had
been a watch, composed of the grave
digger, two constables and two
men, but they had hung together, and
graves had been opened almost under
ffieir noses
At the hotel whore I boarded I gave
out that I was a night telegraph absent operator,
This accounted for davtimes my being I entered at
„. u i aipcnini- only”after dark',
the cemetery and always
left graves* it in the grav of morning. I located
all under "six weeks old, and kept
track of sssesis?tts? every new one made, and $2X5 after |
xrg Jttfkas \ |
omduty, and for an me'there ob;ect, and though pride
would have kept a
ghost had challenged middle me at October, every turn. with
It was now the of
a great deal of rain and high winds, and
I look back upon those long nights and
shudder I was armed with a double
barreled shotgun 8 and a revolver, and
carried a dark lantern and three pairs of
snatchers went by twos and threes.
Each brefkin" night from an hour after
to the of day, I was on the
move
Sn&us ghouls would make mm change. On
Lh soon a
the s day the body of a suicide was
buried SSnt He abXtinto was a fine large man, who
hwbrains, and,
bein<» a stranger citv had been buried at the
expense Sthe of ffie Itwasquite spotter? likely ver?
ghouls had a and
. would s.-ck snatch
] j probable that they to
this body. On that sixth night I posted
j j myself behind a monument, just across
one of the ccmetry streets from the new
'• grave, and for five hours I did not move
I a foot. I had calculated where the rob-
bers they would would tome that in, I not surprised so sure j
come was j
when midnight brought them. They j
perhaps mistrusted that the cemetery was
watched, for they came along as softly
as IncVans. They were three in number.
There was patter of rain on the fallen
leaves, wi occasional gusts of wind
harassing e trees, and I neither saw
nor heard them until they were close
upon me. The grave had been located
to a certainty by one of the number, and
thev tost no time in getting to work,
One disappeared to the right, and the
other to the left to act as sentinels, while
the third pulled off his coat
work with a shovel. The manner in J
which he worked proved him a profes- : j
sional. He went down to the coffin like
a rabbit digging a burrow in sandy soil, j
He did not open the full length of the
grave, thereby having a'l the dirt to
throw out, but dug down to the head of
the box, and I plainly heard the hollow
sound as his shovel struck it. He then
threw away the shovel for a crowbar,
and in two or three minutes had split
open lm!h box and coffin. It seemed to
met!, ; ho man must be a savage as I
heard the wood splitting and breaking, I
and so great was my indignation that
could from leav-
ing my post. capture not but all,
I was there to one,
and yet I did not intend to betray myself
even when they had secured the body,
The man came out of the grave and ut
tered a low whistle, and ia a minute was
joined by the other two. He had affixed
a rope to the neck of tlie corpse, and the
three now took hold and drew the body
from the coffin and out of the hole. A
sack had been brought along, and the
cadaver was put into this and tied up.
The shoveler started to fill in the grave,
but after he worked a minute one of the
others observed:
“Oh, let that go! He is only a
pauper, and no one will care whether he
is in or out.”
Thereupon two of them seized the
body, the third gathered up I the followed tools,
and as they moved away
them. A horse and wagon were waiting
outside the fence, and as soon as the
body was dumped into the vehicle a lot
of oats in a bundle, which had been
brought along for the purpose, were
thrown in on top. When the wagon
moved off only one man accompanied different it.
The others went in ways,
to meet again at some rendezvous, and I
followed, after one of them. He went
straight for the town, never once look
ing hack or suspecting that he might
be shadowed. was just breaking
as I saw him enter an old tannery on the
outskirts of the town, and I knew that
the wagot and the other men would soon
show up at the same place. the place with .
An hour later 1 was at a
detachment of police, and we made
a wonderful haul. Four wagons had
come in from different parts of the
county, three of them briuging one sub
ject each, and the fourth having two.
The five corpses were not only there in
their sacks, but we captured finished. seven They men
whose work was not yet
had the bodies to ship away,, and were
making ready to box them up. The
boxes were there and marked, and the
irr.trnr;;cSs>" li n fa exs.'Sssk: w „{’-if
the crowd up and selected one man who
I believed could he induced to peach, whole
He was ready enough to give the
thing away, in order to save himself, and
the story he told and the proofs he fur
nished revealed a horrible state of af
fairs in that community. There was an
organization numbering fifteen men who
made body-snatching almost their sole
box" shipped from his office. The mes-
senger on The head livery sta
capita. man was a
eka xtgxix They had been
to turn State’s evidence.. and
at work for fixed upward price of of two $25 years, for re
ceived the al every
body delivered the express office. If
there were earrings or finger lings those or
gold filling, the find belonged long to time
who secured the body. For a
great pains were taken to hll in
graves and obliterate all ti aces of t
work, but they finally became s j
that the desecrated graves weie . 1
and few p-ecautions.
two years this organization hat 10
over 300 graves. The arrests and trials
created the results intense was excitement^ that «l»“t ans every grave e
in the country under thr^-e y .< •
opened by friends of the deceased. A .
large number of them weie loan erap y.
In some cases costly monuments had
been erected at the head of grave
ing only empty coffins. On y 1 ®
participant was permitted to turn State s
evidence, ana he was very 106 0 ^
with me concerning his horribl -
cation.
“It may be against . the . law, .
said to me, ‘but it seems a pity to waste
so mu h material. A\heu a subject let- \ i
bring $35 in cash what’s the use ot
ting him waste away m the ground,
Acs, people have feelings «» the °a 1 ,
if people don t know that gi.
empty they are just as well olf, and we
are a great deal better. Aou <a.
horrible trade Well it struck mo that
way the first tame I handled a subject
but I soou got over it. It don t do to
have too much feeung m business mat
ters.” •
I learned from him it o‘ -
tion knew that all the cemeteries and
graveyards were being watched, but
it made little difference wi i
work. frighton .
enough to . a
“» »s easy
watchman away, he ac c , a_n
certain that none of the men under you
have hindered us at all. Me an }
gang went oyer to the gra\cyar
Blankville for the corpse of a young . .
We found that you had two men on the
watch. They were not m t e u J la
,
ground, but roosting around on e encr .
when I put a sheet me ancl
denly showed up they took to their Heels
in a way to make you laugh. V» t and got
our subject left o t -en
your men failed it m by day B theie
thanhave it known_we hadbeen
“ Did ever take a body except at
night?” I asked him.
“Yes, several. Saturday a eru ...
the very best tune-to w ? r ‘ c ‘ v »*
graveyard, if it is rightly situated. I kcu
everybody is busy, teams arc passing
along the roads, and no one observesjou
too closely. It ls bu se « oin -
funeral is held on mituvuay a cm i .
They either bury on Frit ay or wai
Sunday. No one goes o e gja ■
on that day, and thice go 1 ”
work and feel , .
in their pie j <
it. One of the bodies s upp ■
Saturday aiternoo _
week was got ot a
Brownsville, lliats
. .
four miles away. It was a Dit exciti
the getting ot that bo >• ‘
a woman who had died of cancer o
throat, and we h,. p o
of her case lor a whoh year. We lean
to have her w hen she went and sli
buried on Friday and wc sot- thc.ei Bat
urday aftei d.nnu. ‘
hay.throw the sack, , and ,
new o'ei
drove throng 1 m thiec : ■ of " and j
please. There were us
while two stood^w-atch I Aung JushH tke
out and^ht the coffin o^en.
there came an idaim. A chap, who
out to be a brother ot tlie dead womans,
was We entenag were badly the S^cd^and rattled, and my my g two two
comrades bolted across lots. I plucked
up co^ageafterammuteand going
«. «
. tC on
the trustees w.thout a permit and wnen
he began to bluft at me 1 hauled off amt
knocked him aheap. He wen tv y
as mad as a hornet, but I kl ®
wonldn t return for an hour an )°ng
enough before that time we had the body
out and the grave filled up exchanged
hats and coats with one of tjie men, and
then drove the wagon right back thr ug
but you must know that a man wit su
a load as that behind him can t he e -
actly easy in his mind. I had got be
Sf.Sr'Vi.da.t.al.uh. I s S
Sheriff had got track of my outfit and
was sure it was the one. Hothnig I
could say had any effect on him and I
^toturnaroundand dnvebaa to
town and the jail. I bey were about to
lock me up and take the rig to a stable.
-whan the:fatumr to^meup.
minute was
bu t it was such a clo-o
„ • ,,
to its
rim,!-,’,, ^ ‘ beatinw for two hours. While
. , p, front of the mil a dozen
““^ff.a'dfulsof Grounded it and several of them
j the ha <tl v Hal
discovered the ^ sack and contents S
me from ° °
up to a limb. i New Yt* hr. 1' ‘di-t
A New York York Swell’s fen ell s Apa Ai)a-*tments tme, is
He had three 100 , .11,
one, very much o my s qui '
as a dressing-room, writes the New ioik ,
corresponden the o mul • of :, f :V 1
Bellamy sat in .e , V - nr
Jess enveloped m > •> o all, '
blankets and rugs. Along the w oa
one side of the room, we.e two Ion
shelves. Tliej head wei a the floor
height of a man s from
o» these shelves stood about t . eaty
pairs ot boots of ciciy •
heavily bm . . .
design, from « • »< -•
winter brogaus to the lighe d of dane ng
pumps. Toere weie s ippe.s o .
dozen different shades and beneath the
lower half afoot shelf high was with an over-gaiters. ebony maud jmed 1 hey
were e.
skin, blue, blae , t ice , ' y
other design know n ^ .j i
From the chandelier, m the : middle ,, of
h e room, there hung n huge and mas-,
sive brass ring. It was aoout on c
in circumference, and bra-s was he.d chains in a from uor
ZO ntal position by
above. Over th s nnu ueie
least two hundred neckties of various de¬
signs. It was a remarkable exh biv oi
neckwear I he who e of the
si<i e of theroom was takcu upwi.ua
wan jrobe with g ass doors - really aa ex
act copy of a harness-case in the mci.ig .'
stable. Hi jt lumg th - harness o ' >'
man of fashion. Mery coat and wais,-
c0!lt was on lt80 wn wire tonn. oaa
corner there a was scries ot presses that
iookod like young cider-mi Is or amateur
cotton-gins. The macniiic, eoi.si;>.e
tw? po hshed and well-ribbed hlac.s w. -
mlt hoards, forced together, and I ■ A
place with a screw an a le ver. Lcivs een
these.boards were pressed some dozens
of pairs of trousers, l livie weie mirrors
of all kincls around tlie room, a linen
c i ose t, an enormous chest of drawers, a
rack 0 f canes , and a sort of a show caso
for hats,
“What do you tliink of itf” a.-ked
Mr. Bellamy radiantly, after lie had ex¬
hibited all these details.
I told him it was the most completely hail
furnished apartment of the kind I
ever seen.
“And it’s so lovely and you
know,” said Mr. Bellamy genially. “I
cawnt—I literally eawnt dress anywhere
else, now-a-days, since I’ve got. accus¬
tomed to it.’’
The Day's Colors.
Mara Sunday with a fair white stone,
And Saturday in red;
Let Friday, when the murderers groan.
In black be garnishod.
Thursday in purple should he hung,
A royal hue for Thor;
Wednesday, when wedding bells are rung.
In pink, Love's monitor!
To Tuesday green’s forever wed,
A most appropriate hue; Head
But for its curled and swollen
Monday is always blue!
—New York Graphic.