Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 January 1907 — Pope’s Skull. [ARTICLE]

Pope’s Skull.

The skull of Alexander Pope, the poet and satirist, is in the private collection of a phrenologist. During some alterations in the churchyard where Pope was buried it was necessary to move his coffin, which was opened at the time to ascertain the state of his -remains. By bribing the sexton of the church possession of the poet’s skull was obtained for the night, and in the morning a different skull was returned instead. The cost of the skull, Including the bribe, was fifty pounds.