122 HUMAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



Stealing or purchasing bodies, in the British Isles, before in- 

 terment, was not the most common way of obtaining them for pur- 

 poses of dissection. This approach accounted for only about 10 

 per cent of the total. The remainder was acquired by the method 

 of exhumation: from the churchyards, private cemeteries and 

 public burial fields of the principal cities. 



In cases where potter's fields were depleted of cadavers suit- 

 able for dissection, and there was a demand for them, raids were 

 made on private cemeteries, which required much more effort and 

 ingenuity on the part of the body snatchers. Walls were built 

 around such graveyards and the tops littered with broken glass, 

 loose stones or sharp spikes. The entrance gate was large, strong 

 and padlocked at night. Watchmen might be hired by relatives 

 to guard the new graves of their beloved ones or special iron 

 grilles, called mortsafes, were made to surround the plot to pre- 

 vent removal. The best plan the resurrectionists could try in such 

 a case was to entice the sexton into their employ on a piecework 

 wage basis: so much per subject raised. It wasn't too much ol a 

 chore for the caretaker to leave the gate unlocked, permitting easy 

 entrance and it was a simple way for him to earn money. 



Pilfered plots in private burial places, when found, were of 

 much concern to the populace. Discoveries were made, not so 

 much on the basis of ineptitude on the part of sack-em-up men 

 but because of machinations and quarrels between rivals. Monop- 

 olies, which were recognized, were held by certain groups on dil- 

 ferent cemeteries; if violated by another gang, it meant a war 

 of retaliation against the offenders: pulling up coffins in the com 

 petitor's territory, propping bodies up against walls or scatterini; 

 the graveclothes. A hubbub would thus be created among the citi 

 zens resulting in a police investigation, which was usually fruit 

 less in catching the culprits. Putting oil lamps in the burial ground 

 and hiring a watchman were customary defenses but these almost 

 inevitably failed because of successful bribery of the guard by 

 the resurrectionists. 



There was no such word as ethics among competing body 

 snatchers; it was a cutthroat proposition for all concerned. The 

 aim of each was to spoil the success of the other and further his 

 own gain. Rival grave robbers sometimes made their weight felt 



