160 HUIVlAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



peared and deposited a parcel under the seat and walked off. 

 The original pair returned presently, ordered their trap and 

 briskly drove off. When darkness descended, the guards, on re- 

 turning to their job, noticed that the grave had been tampered 

 with, the coffin removed and the body taken. This was accom- 

 plished by the trio within an interval of thirty minutes, an as- 

 signment which had baffled experienced resurrectionists for weeks. 

 The skeleton was bequeathed to one of England's great anatom- 

 ical museums by Dr. Liston, and was given the number, 3489 

 (Guttmacher, '35). This figure gives an indication of the quantity 

 of specimens collected by the middle of the 19th Century. Liston, 

 a distinguished Edinburgh surgeon, in this incident, joined forces 

 with one of the most nefarious London gangs of resurrectionists, 

 led by a man named Ben Crouch. It demonstrates how a certain 

 kind of strategy and foresight succeeded, where bribery and pos- 

 sibly brute force failed. 



An interesting picture is painted of a well-known Edinburgh 

 body snatcher of the early 1 9th Century period, one Andrew Lees, 

 or Merry-Lees, as he was called. He was exceedingly tall, slender, 

 rawboned, with an elongated, wan face which was likely to excite 

 laughter at first sight. His physiognomy, however, was extremely 

 flexible and he could control his muscles to suit any emotional 

 need: tragedy, comedy or farce. His face was dismal and pale 

 when assuming the role of a mourner; it became timid and coun- 

 trified when approaching a house of death, inquiring after a 

 deceased; on entering such a place, his eyes became bleared and 

 overflowing with tears. He wore clothes to suit the occasion; some- 

 times, they were shabby, of the cast-off type, which fit him very 

 loosely and hung upon his sharp joints so that they actually flapped 

 with the wind. 



As a grave robber, he was always on the alert for candidates 

 in their last illness, who were friendless. He would canvass a 

 wide territory searching for such people, and when spotted, would 

 learn as much of their family background as possible. Eventually, 

 entrance after death, might be gained under the guise of a distant 

 relative. From this point on, it required clever acting, subterfuge 

 and persuasion to gain his goal. His efforts in this direction were 



