Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 June 1878 — BODY-SNATCHING. [ARTICLE]

BODY-SNATCHING.

The New-Made Grave ot the Son of a President of the United States Killed Almost Before the Conclusion of the Rites of Sepulture. A strange case of body-snatching was brought to light at Cincinnati a few days ago. Hon. John Scott Harrison, son of the late President Harrison, died very suddenly, and was buried in the cemetery near the old Presidential mansion at North Bend, on the Ohio river, where he had lived for many years in retirement. While the burial service was in progress, it was discovered that the grave of a young man, named August Devens, who had died about ten days before of consumption, and been buried in the same cemetery, had been robbed. When the funeral was over, friends of the young man immediately started for Cincinnati in hope of finding his remains in some of the medical colleges of that city. A search-warrant was procured, and the party went to the Ohio Medical College. Before proceeding to the search, the party was joined by John Harrison, son of the lately deceased J. Scott Harrison, who came up from North Bend with the intention of aiding his friends in their efforts to recover the stolen corpse. The college not being in session, but few bodies were found in the dissectingrooms. None of those examined bore any resemblance to the remains of the young man, and the party were about leaving the building when young Harrison noticed a windlass with a rope reaching down to a lower story. Pulling away at this, he discovered that at the other end of the rope a human body was tied. The body was drawn up and the cloth removed from the face, when the horrorstrick n youth instantly recognized the features of his father, whose grave he had left but a few hours before. The long beard had been cut off, and the body was otherwise disguised, but all doubts as to its identity were soon removed by the arrival from North Bend of Carter Harrison, another son of the deceased, with the news that the grave had been robbed during the night. The news soon spread through the city, and was the subject of excited talk by orowds about the bulletin-boards, where brief particulars were displayed. Much indignation was expressed that the resurrectionists, who were evidently acting with the knowledge and consent of the college faculty, should have desecrated the grave of so distiaguished a citizen and the son of a former President of the United States. The college not being in session during the summer, there could have been no use for the body for purposes of dissection at present. The plan is supposed to have been to secure it now, and preserve it for use until the opening of fall term. There are some features of the case that are strangely mysterious. At the suggestion of Gen. Ben Harrison, who had learned of the robbery of the preceding week, a man was hired to watch the' grave, and, it was said a stone slab of great weight was placed over the opening. All these dfficulties the resurrectionists overcame with apparent ease. The watch, when taken to task about the matter, could give no satisfactory explanation. He had seen and heard nothing during the night. The grave, however, had been dug into, the glass cover of the coffin broken to pieces, and the body removed. Whether the sentinel slept through the proceeding or was bribed is a matter of doubt. The body was taken back to North Bend for reburial.