The Philadelphia Resurrectionists
Jefferson Medical College is still extant. Not sure if their literature highlights this incident.
Source: The Boston Weekly Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 19 Dec 1882, Tue Page 5
Source: The Boston Weekly Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) 19 Dec 1882, Tue Page 5
Comments
As I read this I kept seeing a vision of Marty Feldman playing the role of McNamee.
"It could be worse. It could be raining..."
"It could be worse. It could be raining..."
Posted by KDP on 06/08/21 at 12:01 PM
This link: https://academic.oup.com/jhmas/article-abstract/71/4/422/2473394?redirectedFrom=fulltext
The link will take one to an abstract of the case in the Oxford Academic, Journal of the History of Medicine and Applied Sciences. It only allows one to read just the abstract. Basically everyone but Forbes was found guilty. The other articles related to this case are behind a subscription service. The cheapest, short term, subscription cost $47 and I'm still too cheap to purchase one. However the abstract is a good read
The link will take one to an abstract of the case in the Oxford Academic, Journal of the History of Medicine and Applied Sciences. It only allows one to read just the abstract. Basically everyone but Forbes was found guilty. The other articles related to this case are behind a subscription service. The cheapest, short term, subscription cost $47 and I'm still too cheap to purchase one. However the abstract is a good read
Posted by Steve E. on 06/08/21 at 01:02 PM
Great follow-up, Steve E.!
Posted by Paul on 06/08/21 at 01:06 PM
Apparently this was a real problem back in the day… so much so that people went to extreme measures to protect graves, such as installing cages and pouring concrete on top of them.
Posted by Brian on 06/08/21 at 08:55 PM
Steve, if you scroll to the bottom, you can rent the article through DeepDyve. They seem to have a 14-day free trial.
Posted by ges on 06/08/21 at 11:42 PM
For some reason, I always thought of body snatching as a strictly British sport. Probably because I was unaware that similar laws applied in the US.
Posted by eddi on 06/09/21 at 10:45 PM
@eddi -- Grave robbing is often thought of as being particularly British because of movies. Frankenstein revolves around stealing corpses, and the very best films in that subgenre are set in England.
"The Body Snatcher" (1945) is the greatest movie about the 'profession,' and it's set in Scotland (UK).
Also, the line between archaeology and grave robbing is insanely thin (if it exists at all). Most people are initially exposed to archaeology through movies about the British digging in Egypt ("The Mummy" (1932), "The Mummy's Curse" (1944), "Charlie Chan in Egypt" (1935), "The Ghoul" (1933) etc. etc. etc.).
"The Body Snatcher" (1945) is the greatest movie about the 'profession,' and it's set in Scotland (UK).
Also, the line between archaeology and grave robbing is insanely thin (if it exists at all). Most people are initially exposed to archaeology through movies about the British digging in Egypt ("The Mummy" (1932), "The Mummy's Curse" (1944), "Charlie Chan in Egypt" (1935), "The Ghoul" (1933) etc. etc. etc.).
Posted by Phideaux on 06/10/21 at 02:06 AM
Oh, you amateur Americans...
This is pretty bad, but it's not a patch on the Edinbrogian practices of Burke and Hare.
This is pretty bad, but it's not a patch on the Edinbrogian practices of Burke and Hare.
Posted by Richard Bos on 06/12/21 at 02:36 PM
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Category: Crime | Death | Education | Medicine | Cemeteries, Graveyards, Crypts, Mortuaries and Other Funereal Pursuits | Nineteenth Century