els. 
 
 BAKER (Frank) 1841-1918. 
 
 1895. A history of Bodysnatching ... la. 8°. 
 ( Washington , 1916.) 
 
 ^ Discussion by J. Llewellin Eliot of a paper by 
 F. Baker; extr. fr. Washington Med. Annals, 
 1916, pp. 247-53. 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 OF 
 
 SIR WILLIAM OSLER , Bart . 
 
 OXFORD 
 
WASHINGTON MEDICAL ANNALS. 
 
 247 
 
 A HISTORY OF BODYSNATCHING * 
 
 By Frank Baker, M. D., 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 Dr. Llewellin Eliot discussed the paper as follows: 
 
 Bodysnatching, resurrecting, night doctors was a pastime 
 in which I was deeply interested and at one time engaged. 
 There were pleasures and fascinations and excitements and risks 
 attending it that were not found in any other phase of the study 
 of medicine ; but the passage of the Anatomy Act, in April, 1902, 
 put a partial stop to the game; I say a partial stop, for I believe 
 that bodysnatching still continues, although to a limited extent 
 and for the benefit of a select few. 
 
 Medical history records the names of many renowned and re- 
 spected men who were compelled to steal bodies for legitimate 
 purposes. In 1814 William Cheselden was reprimanded, and no 
 one knew the secrets of the resurrection men better than Sir 
 
 Astley Cooper. . 
 
 As far back as 1540 a law was enacted in England allowing 
 the Company of Barbers and Surgeons to have yearly the bodies 
 of four criminals to dissect. The Warburton Anatomy Act in 
 1832 put a stop to the systematic bodysnatching. 
 
 In the early days bodysnatchers were men of the lowest type, 
 murderers, criminals, desperate fellows, who did not hesitate a 
 moment to take any sort of advantage of their opponents ; theirs 
 was a business of bread and butter. 
 
 I shall not discuss the history of bodysnatching in the earliest 
 days of the game — Dr. Baker has done that — but will take up the 
 game in modern times, and what I shall say will take us back a 
 great many years ; somethings I shall draw from tradition, others 
 will be gathered from experience. 
 
 We of the present day call bodysnatching a nefarious trade, 
 that bummers, outcasts, derelicts only will engage in, but let me 
 tell you there was never a greater injustice done to a legitimate 
 business; for while there is honor among thieves, there were 
 honor, bravery, generosity and friendship between rival demon- 
 strators. In illustration of this, one night rival demonstrators 
 met in a burying ground, out for the same body, and although 
 strong personal friends they came nearly to shovel blows ; when, 
 however, the one proved his rights by priority of arrival, the 
 other waived his claim to the stiff and assisted in the snatching. 
 Another night, rivals scouted about a burying ground to get a 
 body each had located during the funeral services earlier in the 
 day ; each party heard the other ; each had visions of police 
 
 * Read at a joint meeting of the Medical Society and Medical History Club, Washington, 
 May 17, 1916. Dr. Baker's MSS. has not been received for publication. 
 
248 
 
 WASHINGTON MEDICAL, ANNAES. 
 
 officers and station houses, and they sneaked out of the grounds ; 
 but in about an hour they returned by different paths ; the first 
 arrival was given all the assistance that time would permit. 
 
 My father was a bodysnatcher ; he was one by reason of his 
 duties as Demonstrator, afterwards Professor of Anatomy. In 
 1844 he was under Dr. Thomas Miller, Professor of Anatomy in 
 the Columbian Medical College, and he continued until 1849, 
 when he became Professor of Anatomy in the Georgetown Med- 
 ical Department. In 1861 he was transferred to the Chair of 
 Surgery. Although the duties of bodysnatching were given to 
 another he remained the friend and protector of the legitimate 
 bodysnatcher until his death. 
 
 In the early days men went armed and were ready to call 
 “ Hands up !” “ Which will you take ?” that is, a drink or a fight. 
 
 I11 1856 one of the prominent practitioners of the city had a 
 sister die ; he feared the resurrection men, so he begged that her 
 body be left undisturbed. 
 
 When the Columbian Medical College was located in the old 
 jail, the Demonstrator gently and quietly and carefully lifted the 
 body of a brother Mason from its final resting place, and promptly 
 entered it in the student class of anatomy. In some manner sus- 
 picion was aroused ; the Lodge ordered an investigation. The 
 grave was reopened ; the committee found the clothing and other 
 belongings in the coffin, but the brother had left for parts un- 
 known. The chairman of the committee visited the Demonstrator 
 and requested permission to make a search of the college ; this 
 permission was freely granted. Immediately afterwards the 
 Demonstrator hurried to the college, had a section of the flooring 
 taken up, the body placed, and the flooring replaced. The com- 
 mittee arrived ; they were assured most positively that they 
 would not find the body ; they searched into everj T place, but 
 failed to find the body. They left, the flooring was again re- 
 moved and the body carried to the dissecting table. 
 
 The keenest piece of body stealing that ever occurred in thi 
 city happened as follows : 
 
 A man had died of some peculiar disease ; both medical col 
 leges wanted the body and the Superintendent of Washington 
 Asylum knew it. He swore a mighty swear that neither should 
 have it, and in order to carry out his swear had the body brought 
 from the dead house and placed in his back office. Now, the 
 dead house was a secure place, with windows barred, door locked 
 and chained, almost impossible of burglarious entrance ; the body 
 would have been safe there. He thought not. Shortly after 
 dark two students called to spend the evening, for he was a good 
 fellow ; in time more came down to see him. He felt compli- 
 mented, and about ten o’clock went to the kitchen to order 
 supper and other things prepared for his guests. At twelve 
 o’clock the party broke up. But, while he was seeing to the 
 
WASHINGTON MEDICAL ANNALS. 
 
 249 
 
 supper the body was lowered from the window into the arms of 
 waiting students and carried away. Our old friend felt jubilant 
 over his success and went to bed a happy and a contented man, 
 but one can imagine his surprise and “ what a difference in the 
 
 morning.” , , . 
 
 Selden W. Crow got into trouble about 1859 and he was unable to 
 make good after that. Sylvester went so far that he had to give 
 up or get caught. 
 
 George A. Christian was a clerk in a Government office ; he as- 
 sociated himself with a bad gang— Percy Brown and his sister 
 Maude ; Workhouse Kate and Margaret Harrison. They did a 
 big and a profitable business. Away out on Hast Capitol Street, 
 near the old Lincoln Hospital, this gang had a shanty, where they 
 soon accumulated a great quantity of clothing, shrouds, and other 
 graveyard things. It was a security storage until Christian sug- 
 gested the medical college at 10th and E Streets as a better place 
 for shipment. The suggestion was, in part, adopted. Christian 
 would inject and pack the bodies in whiskey barrels at the col- 
 lege, roll these barrels up in front of the Army Medical Museum, 
 where the express company would call for them ; Christian was 
 always on hand to pay charges and direct the shipments ; in this 
 way the company did not suspect the fraud. The price of bodies 
 fluctuated with the demand and the weather. When the demand 
 was great it was a common thing to charge one hundred dollars 
 for a good subject ; when the market became glutted the average 
 price was forty dollars. Quite a number of Demonstrators paid 
 a hundred dollars. Shipments were mostly to the South. 
 
 Christian was a man of medium build, athletic, strong-muscled, 
 of great endurance, and a good worker in the cause ; his hair 
 and beard were black. His clothing was always that taken from 
 the grave ; he, therefore, was usually well dressed. His frequent 
 raids and ’ his sullenness when drinking were the causes of his 
 
 On the night of December 13, 1873, he was stopped in the street 
 by Officer McGlue ; with Christian were Margaret Harrison 
 (white) and Charles Green (colored). They had been to Hol- 
 mead’s Cemetery and had a body. All hands were partially intox- 
 icated ; Christian refused to answer the questions McGlue put to 
 him ; he would give no explanation whatever, so the party was 
 taken to the 4th precinct station house. The charges were : Car- 
 rying concealed weapons, disorderly conduct, suspicious char- 
 acter, and every imaginable thing. While they were at the station 
 the Lieutenant sent Sergeant Kneas and Officer Hawkins to Hol- 
 mead’s, and there they found the body of Thomas Fletcher, that 
 had been buried only the night before, dug up and enclosed in a 
 sack. I11 the search of the prisoners there were found some 
 chemicals, a syringe for injecting, a diary, Colt s service revolvers, 
 and a card of membership to the Young Men s Christian Associa- 
 tion made out in the name of George A. Christian. 
 
I 
 
 250 WASHINGTON MEDICAL ANNALS. 
 
 The papers gave a full account of the arrest ; the District 
 Attorney charged Christian with robbing grave yards of dead 
 bodies and disposing of them to medical colleges in different places 
 throughout the country. Dr. George A. Otis recommended 
 Christian’s immediate dishonorable discharge from the Govern- 
 ment service. This was approved and Christian was out of two 
 jobs. 
 
 The diary captured showed much incriminating evidence. This 
 diary was turned over to the Chief of Police and by him it was 
 given to one of his Surgeons ; it was censored and portions were 
 given out for publication in the city papers. Many names of 
 those who had been out with Christian were, for good and suffi- 
 cient reasons, omitted. In the Police Court, Judge Snell imposed 
 on him a fine of $1,000.00 and one year in jail. 
 
 Among the entries were the admission, that he had engaged in 
 the exhuming of the body of Beau Hickman and in its horrible 
 mutilation, and that he had put the face and scalp near the steps 
 of the main entrance of the Capitol Building ; this piece of 
 business was done in April, 1873, and created considerable 
 excitement; he also made an entry that he had put the scalp 
 and face of another body on one of the gate-posts of the same 
 grounds. - 
 
 I shall give a few extracts from his record : 
 
 January 3d, 1873. “On the 3d, B and C went out and got twc 
 cadavers tonight.” % _ 
 
 September 2d ; he gives the names of several places visited 
 during the night and then winds up with: — “It was a lovel> 
 moonlight night, and everything went off smoothly.” 
 
 September 18th. “Called on Dr. this morning, and he 
 
 promised to let Dr. Schleimer and I furnish his college with 
 material this winter at $15 each — we to inject and remove it.” 
 Christian had his own private troubles, for on “September 19. 
 Jay Cooke & Co. suspended yesterday, and I was unfortunate 
 enough to have some money in their hands. Went up to see 
 about it today, but everything is closed and no information can 
 be had.” 
 
 September 20. “ Got a permit from the Board of Health today 
 
 to bury material from the dissecting-room of college.” 
 
 Christian also confessed to being an abortionist in the following : 
 October 4th. “ Gave ‘ M’ tincture of gentian compound to pro- 
 duce an abortion.” A few days later he records his success. 
 
 Business was quite lively in December ; work was heavy. 
 Monday, December 1. Visited Potter’s field; shipped two 
 subjects in whiskey barrels to Virginia.” 
 
 December 4th. ‘ ‘ Visited Holmead’s and Young Men’s grounds 
 and failed.” 5 
 
 . December 6. “Visited Ebenezer, Kate and I, and got sub- 
 ject.” 
 
WASHINGTON MEDICAL ANNALS. 
 
 25 1 
 
 December. “Visited Holmead’s and Young Men’s grounds 
 
 and f ailed.’ ’ . , , - 
 
 It would require too much time to give more extracts from 
 this diary ; enough has been quoted to allow one to form an idea 
 
 of the amount of work done. . . 
 
 One of Christian’s workers was appointed a ward physician, 
 and the death rate of that ward soared very high for the good of 
 
 the cause. , „ , , r 
 
 Percy Brown was a big fellow, a good fighter, and of a very 
 ugly disposition when he was drinking. Maude Pratt was 
 Percy’s sister, or his common law wife, it was never known 
 which ; she was a very devil ; she married a disreputable dentist 
 just about the time he was dying. Maude was chief mourner at 
 funerals ; heavily veiled and decked out in the most sombre 
 looking dress, weeping as though her heart were broken, Maude 
 would accompany the family to the cemetery ; she always wanted 
 a few flowers from the coffin of the dead friend ; she would by 
 some unfortunate accident drop these flowers near the grave and 
 then report progress. The position of the flowers usually showed 
 the right grave. The last time I saw Maude she was but a shadow 
 of her former self ; she was a wreck and nearly blind. 
 
 There was a negro preacher ; he taught salvation and repent- 
 ance to the limit bn Sundays, buried the dead of his congregation ; 
 but the strain on his nervous system was so great that he was 
 compelled to let off steam by stealing the bodies he so faithfully 
 ouried. 
 
 The Superintendent of the Washington Asylum went out one 
 night to catch the bodysnatchers. He had malice in his heart, 
 but cowardice in his actions. He pinned on his shield, buckled 
 on his revolver and club ; then he lighted his lantern, and then, like 
 old Diogenes, went in search of an honest man ; that is, one who 
 quietly give himself up for trespass on the Potter s Field. He 
 might just as well have staid in doors. 
 
 Jansen appeared on the scene. Jansen was a dirty fellow, as 
 dirty men go ; he was bold, boastful, revengeful. He stole many 
 bodies, kept a record of his doings, kept all letters he received, 
 and showed them to anyone interested sufficiently to read them. 
 I have had a big batch of them in my possession for weeks at a 
 
 time. . , 
 
 In January, 1881, Charlie Shaw beat his sister so badly that 
 she died under my care. Suspicion pointed to Charlie, and while 
 he denied all knowledge of the affair, he was arrested after her 
 death, convicted of her murder March 29, 1882, and executed by 
 Warden Crocker Friday, January 19, 1883. During his stay 111 
 the jail he several times attempted suicide, and once set afire the 
 bed of his cell mate. Shaw’s body was not in the ground three 
 hours before Jansen was digging for it. He took it to a medical 
 college ; he claimed he was not sufficiently well paid for it and 
 
252 
 
 WASHINGTON MEDICAL ANNALS. 
 
 swore to get even. At three o’clock on Sunday morning, the 22d, 
 he was arrested while trying to break in the college door. Col- 
 lateral was forfeited. During the night of the 226 . he engaged a 
 hackman, Johnny Mack, at the old Baltimore and Ohio Depot ; ' 
 he gave Johnny several drinks and they went to the college, got 1 
 the body and proceeded to Columbian Medical College to sell it ; 
 he failed ; they then went to Howard University, but Dr. Shadd 
 would have nothing to do with Jansen. Daylight was at hand and 
 Jansen was in a fix as to what to do with the body ; he quickly 
 solved the problem so far as he was concerned by making his 
 “ get away,” leaving poor Johnny in the lurch. More drunk 
 than sober, Johnny drove to the Seventh Street station house, the 
 legs and feet of Shaw dangling out of the hack window. Mack 
 would not give Jansen away, he was willing to take his medicine, 
 but Jansen told on himself while he was in John Shea’s saloon 
 down on Maryland Avenue near Third Street. He was boasting 
 of what he had done “ last night” and on several other nights ; 
 this was heard by a colored man from the alley in the rear of 
 Shea’s ; he told the police officer on the beat, and Jansen was soon 
 under arrest. When convicted, his remark was that he had ” got 
 into trouble for the stiff of a damned nigger.” The court gave 
 him one year in jail. 
 
 The body of Shaw was carried to the dead house at the Asylum, 
 
 and Superintendent swore by all that was good and 
 
 holy that no one would ever see Shaw again. The weather was 
 bitter cold, the ground too hard for grave digging, so quite a 
 number of coffins accumulated in the dead house. However, a 
 few days afterward the right box was found, opened and the head 
 stolen for a keepsake ; I had the skull in my possession a number 
 of years when it disappeared. There was ice in the coffin and in 
 the skull. The skull was taken to the Hospital office, placed in 
 a box lined with plaster of paris, buried in sawdust, then the top 
 of the box securely nailed on ; this box was not opened for six 
 months, and during the entire time there was no odor ; at the 
 time of opening it, the skin fell away, and the bones were per* 
 fectly clean and white. 
 
 The grave dug for Shaw about two weeks after his receipt at 
 the dead house was shelved at the bottom and the coffin pushed 
 under the shelf. 
 
 Beale came along, but he soon became scared of the work ; was 
 afraid of the ghosts of the jail. 
 
 No cemetery was held sacred by the old-time bodysnatcher. 
 
 I shall not occupy your time nor try your patience much longer, 
 but I will say I do not believe any law will ever stop bodysnatch- 
 ing, and that what Sir Astley Cooper said before a committee of 
 the House of Commons : ” There is no person, let his situation 
 in life be what it may, whom, if I were disposed to dissect, I 
 could not obtain. The law only enhances the price, and does not 
 prevent exhumation,” is only too true. 
 
WASHINGTON MEDICAL, ANNAES. 
 
 253 
 
 I shall not tell how to properly snatch a body, as it might end 
 disastrously for some of the younger men, and then again “ lead 
 us not into temptation.” 
 
 I would suggest the reading of Southey’s poem, “The Sur- 
 geon’s Warning,” and Thomas Hood’s “ Mary’s Ghost.” 
 
 CASE OF TRAUMATIC FEAT FOOT CURED BY 
 OPERATION* 
 
 By W. P. Carr, M. D., F. A. C. S., 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 J. E. V., white, male, age 37, electrician; fell from a scaffold 
 in March, 1910, crushing both heels. I first saw him two years 
 afterwards. He walked with difficulty with the aid of two canes ; 
 was unable to work and suffered much pain in both feet if he 
 w T alked more than a few hundred yards or stood on his feet. He 
 was wearing steel arches in both shoes, made from plaster casts 
 of his feet, and thought they helped him a little but not much. 
 He was very anxious to have something radical done to relieve 
 him. 
 
 On examination I found both feet unusually long and slender, 
 weak and perfectly flat ; when he stood there was absolutely no 
 arch, and even when sitting, with no weight on his feet, a ruler 
 laid along the sole touched every point from heel to toe. April 
 3, 1912, I operated. A curved incision three inches long was 
 made behind the outer malleolus down to the os calcis, which 
 was exposed on one side only by slight dissection, and divided 
 between the ankle joint and attachment of the tendo Achilles, 
 with my modified Wyeth’s bone saw. I know no other instru- 
 ment with which this could be easily done. 
 
 The divided posterior part of the os calcis was easily slipped 
 downward three-fourths inch on the right foot, but on the left this 
 could not be done until the tendo Achilles had been obliquely 
 divided and lengthened. This was readily done through the 
 original incision. The sawn bones were nailed in their new posi- 
 tions through a half inch incision over the heel, with wire nails 
 2i inches long. 
 
 Improvement in the shape of the foot was at once noted. A 
 very good arch was formed and a firm heel. Both feet were put 
 up in plaster casts in position to increase the arch as much as pos- 
 sible. Primary union resulted. The casts were removed in four 
 weeks. Iq six weeks the patient was allowed to walk and could 
 do it better than before the operation. He continued to improve. 
 
 Reported, and patient presented, to the Medical Society April 12, 1916. 
 
254 
 
 WASHINGTON MEDICAL, ANNALS. 
 
 
 Five months later the nails were removed under local anesthesia, 
 by Dr. H. S. Lewis, because there was some tenderness caused by 
 the pressure of the shoes on the ends of the nails. Some time 
 later, the patient living two miles from his place of work, 
 walked each way daily. 
 
 In December, 1912, he told me that he had walked the two 
 miles, carrying a heavy load without discomfort. This was a 
 traumatic case, but there would hardly be a weaker or more un- 
 favorable foot for the operation, and there has been no sign of 
 relapse after four years. I should now like to try it on a bad 
 case of gradually-acquired pes planus. I think that the giving of 
 a firm projecting heel, which takes the weight and pressure off 
 the plantar nerves and other tissues, is the chief cause of the relief, 
 "and that this would apply equally to gradually-acquired cases. 
 The operation is simple, leaves no scar on the weight-bearing 
 surface of the foot, and can cause no trouble if infection is 
 excluded. 
 
 [Recess taken to examine patient. The heels were found firm, 
 arches good and scars scarcely perceptible.] 
 
 Dr. Snyder said that Dr. Carr was to be congratulated on this 
 original operation ; Dr. Snyder had never heard of any similar 
 surgical procedure. The result in the case called for high com- 
 mendation. 
 
 Dr. Carr felt rather proud of the case. The man had come- to 
 his office hobbling with the aid of two canes, but now walks and 
 works comfortably. Both patient and surgeon are pleased with 
 the result. 
 
 INDICANURIA ; STUDY OF 100 CONSECUTIVE 
 CASES.— ABSTRACT* 
 
 By J. Russell Verbrycke, Jr., M. D., 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 Indican as a fairly accurate index of auto-intoxication is of 
 very great importance. The analysis of the hundred cases illus- 
 trates points which have been noted by the author in several 
 hundred other cases. 
 
 In 24 patients the condition was probably primary, in 69 it was 
 clearly secondary, while in 7 this point could not be determined. 
 In the series were represented 26 cases of ulcer, 23 of colitis or 
 pericolitis, 12 of visceroptosis, 9 of appendiceal dyspepsia, 5 
 of cholecystitis and 2 of cancer. These lesions when present 
 
 *Read before the joint meeting of the Medical Society of the District of Colum- 
 bia and the Baltimore Medical Society, April 7, 1916, in Baltimore, Md. 
 


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 1916