Grave Robbing Scandal
Location: Southeast of the Fishers Fire Department, Station #92, near 11595 Brooks School Rd, Fishers (Hamilton County), 46037
Installed 2022 Indiana Historical Bureau, Friends of the Fishers Historical Society, The Historic Ambassador House, and Fall Creek Township
ID#: 29.2022.1
Text
Side One
By the early 1900s, Indianapolis was home to multiple medical education institutions which required corpses for dissection-based learning. Extant laws failed to provide enough bodies for this use, generating a lucrative black market. In 1902, Indianapolis resident Rufus Cantrell was arrested and charged with grave robbing, starting a widely publicized scandal.
Side Two
Cantrell implicated local farmer Hampton West, Indianapolis physician Dr. Joseph Alexander, and many others in a far-reaching grave robbing syndicate. A Hamilton County jury convicted West of robbing a grave in a cemetery near here. In 1903, the Indiana General Assembly created the State Anatomical Board to oversee the distribution of cadavers to medical schools.
Annotated Text
Side 1
By the early 1900s, Indianapolis was home to multiple medical education institutions which required corpses for dissection-based learning.[1] Extant laws failed to provide enough bodies for this use, generating a lucrative black market.[2] In 1902, Indianapolis resident Rufus Cantrell was arrested and charged with grave robbing, starting a widely publicized scandal.[3]
Side 2
Cantrell implicated local farmer Hampton West, Indianapolis physician Dr. Joseph Alexander, and many others in a far-reaching grave robbing syndicate.[4] A Hamilton County jury convicted West of robbing a grave in a cemetery near here.[5] In 1903, the Indiana General Assembly created the State Anatomical Board to oversee the distribution of cadavers to medical schools.[6]
Newspapers accessed Hoosier State Chronicles, Indiana State Library.
[1] “Found in an Old Barrel,” Indianapolis News, December 14, 1901, 14; “Body is Recovered,” Indianapolis Journal, September 22, 1902, 12; “Another Stolen Body at Central College,” Indianapolis News, September 22, 1902, 10; “No Bodies Found,” Indianapolis Journal, October 2, 1902, 10; Burton Myers, The History of Medical Education in Indiana, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1956.
Medical education institutions in Indianapolis in the early 1900s included the Medical College of Indiana (1875-1905), Central College of Physicians and Surgeons (1979-1905), Eclectic Medical College of Indianapolis (1900-1908), Indiana University School of Medicine (1903-present), Physiomedical College of Indiana (1973-1909), and Embalming school for instruction of undertakers at National Casket Company Plant.
[2] “City News Items,” Indianapolis Journal, November 1, 1901, 2; “Body in a Street,” Indianapolis News, November 16, 1901, 1; “Watch Kept at Cemetery,” Indianapolis News, December 5, 1901, 3; “Found in an Old Barrel,” Indianapolis News, December 14, 1901, 14; “Feared that many Graves are Empty,” Indianapolis News, September 20, 1902, 1; “Ghouls in a Graveyard,” Indianapolis Journal, September 20, 1902, 3;”Body is Recovered,” Indianapolis Journal, September 22, 1902, 12; “Another Stolen Body at Central College,” Indianapolis News, September 22, 1902, 10; “Another Body Gone,” Indianapolis Journal, October 9, 1902, 10; “Four Bodies Found,” Indianapolis Journal, October 14, 1902, 10; “Ghouls Worked in Many of the Cemeteries of this Co.,” Hailton County Democrat, December 26, 1901, 1.
[3] “Confessions of Ghouls,” Indianapolis Journal, September 30, 1902, 1; “The Law’s Strong Arm,” Indianapolis Journal, October 2, 1902, 10.
[4] 1900 United States Federal Census, District 9, Delaware Township, Hamilton County, Indiana, Page 71, Line 3, accessed AncestryLibrary.com; 1900 United States Federal Census, District 7, Center Township, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, Page B, Line 85, accessed AncestryLibrary.com; “Confession of Ghouls,” Indianapolis Journal, September 30, 1902, 1;”Ghouls are Indicted,” Indianapolis Journal, October 26, 1902, 10; “Negro Porter Suspected,” Indianapolis Journal, October 26, 1902, 10; “A Castleton Physician,” Hamilton County Ledger, October 31, 1902, 6; “The Ghouls in Court,” Indianapolis Journal, October 28, 1902, 1; “Farmer Stole Bodies,” Indianapolis Journal, November 14, 1902, 1; “Alexander’s Trial to Begin Monday,” Indianapolis News, January 31, 1903, 1; “Fate of Alexander,” Indianapolis Journal,” February 12, 1903, 10; “Jury Discharged,” Indianapolis Journal, February 16, 1903, 1; “Cantrell Here,” Hamilton County Ledger, March 10, 1903, 1.
[5] “Farmer Stole Bodies,” Indianapolis Journal, November 14, 1902, 1; “West Can’t Give Bond,” Hamilton County Ledger, January 9, 1903, 1; “New Cases Filed,” Hamilton County Democrat, April 3, 1903, 6; State of Indiana Vs. Hampton West, June 22, 1903, Hamilton Circuit Court, Term 189, Case 2637, copy in IHB marker file; “The West Trial,” Hamilton County Ledger, July 14, 1903, 1; ”Another Ghoul Convicted,” (Seymour) Tribune, July 17, 1903, 4: “Like a Romance,” Hamilton County Ledger, July 21, 1903, 1; “West is Sentenced,” Hamilton County Ledger,” July 24, 1903, 1; “New Trial Denied West,” Richmond Item, July 25, 1903, 3; “Hampton West Taken North,” (Seymour) Tribune, July 31, 1903.
[6] “Favors Grave Robbery Bill,’” South Bend Tribune, January 21, 1903, 1; “Anatomical Board,” Hamilton County Democrat, March 20, 1903, 9; “Robbing of Graves,” South Bend Tribune, May 29, 1903, 2; Indiana General Assembly, An Act for the Promotion of Anatomical Science and to Prevent the Desecration of Graves, Prescribing Penalties for the Violation Thereof, Repealing All Laws in Conflict Therewith, and Declaring an Emergency, Approved February 25, 1903, in Laws of the State of Indiana Passed at the Sixty-Third Regular Session of the General Assembly (Indianapolis: Wm. B. Burford, Contractor for State Printing and Binding, 1903), 84-88.
Keywords
Science, Medicine, & Invention