THEFT OF A BODY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 974, 1 April 1911, Page 4

THEFT OF A BODY.

A singular case of “ bodysnatching ” is reported from Erie, Pennsylvania, where a magnificent mausoleum erected by the late Mr William T. Scott, President Cleveland’s friend, was broken into and a coffin containing the corpse of a Mrs McCollum removed. The discovery was made by two ladies who were visiting the cemetery. They noticed that the doors of the Scott mausoleum were open and that the chains were broken. They notified the authorities, who hurried to the scene. A brief investigation showed that the vault had been rifled. Mr Scott, himself a millionaire, spent a fortune in the construction of the mausoleum. When he died Mr Cleveland acted as pall-bearer. Mr Scott’s coffin and those of his wife and other relatives were sealed in the wall. The thieves disturbed several coffins and took that of Mrs Scott from the shelf, but did not carry it away. The coffin containing the body of Mrs McCollum, sister-in-law of the dead raillionai e, has totally disappeared. Outside the tomb the marks of wheels, the footsteps of some six men, and waggon tracks could be traced in the snow. Recently the Strong family, which inherited the millions left by Mr Scott, received threatening letters from some Italians in the town, and it is supposed that the ghouls executed their crime with a view to extracting a ransom.