148 HUMAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



considered the matter important enough to arrange a meeting 

 with the first ranking official of the city for the following morn- 

 ing. While breakfasting, the mayor listened to the transaction 

 of the previous evening, with interest and attention, and then as- 

 sured the surgeon that he would not be troubled further (Cooper, 

 1843; Guttmacher, '35). 



The following cites an incident as to how a well-known Lon- 

 don resurrectionist named Patrick handled an opportune situa- 

 tion to his satisfaction and profit. While sauntering in neighboring 

 Sydenharri, he learned that the body of a female had been found 

 the preceding evening in an adjacent canal and removed to a 

 public house. He went at once to the inn and learned from the 

 potboy there that it had been placed in the stable to await ex- 

 amination by a coroner's jury, that it was thought to be an escaped 

 pauper from the Woolwich workhouse, that it seemed to be un- 

 claimed for burial and that no person had been selected to watch 

 over its safety. This was all he needed to know. He took the op- 

 portunity of examining the size and form of the keyhole of the 

 barndoor and then left for London. 



Along with a companion, Patrick returned to the scene at 

 a late hour the same night with a large bunch of keys. With 

 unusual luck, the first one chosen opened the door, following 

 which, the pair speedily removed the prize to their hidden cart, 

 and then proceeded to London via an obscure and narrow lane. 

 They succeeded in depositing their bundle at an anatomical lab- 

 oratory sometime before daybreak. The resurrectionist returned 

 to Sydenham the next afternoon; there, he heard a firsthand ac- 

 count of the commotion which had occurred that morning when 

 the coroner's jury appeared to make an examination of the body 

 and found it had disappeared. 



Even the bodies of the well-to-do could be spirited away by 

 clever grave robbers and Patrick was such. On one occasion, he 

 was informed by an intimate friend, that the latter's employer, 

 who lived a short distance from London had died. The informant 

 thought that there was a chance to do some business because 

 of the physical situation of the premises. Patrick investigated the 

 possibilities, agreed and decided on a plan of attack. The funeral 

 was to be held on Sunday and he calculated that the lid of the 



