by Emily Rinaman, Technical Services Manager
"Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change,” reflects Mary Shelley in her classic, “Frankenstein.” Frankenstein, written in an era when diseases for which modern medicine can treat easily with antibiotics were fatal.
It was also written in an era when modern medicine was just beginning to blossom. Medical schools were rapidly cropping up around the nation, yet at the same time, bodies were disappearing from their graves.
This was the era of grave robberies, when corpses from fresh graves were stolen in the middle of the night and transported to college campuses with doctors-in-training who needed to learn human anatomy.
An era was, unlike Frankenstein, it was not the stuff of legend – it was real. In this month’s blog we are sharing a local “horror” story of our own from “Omar: A Community of Memories”, but this one is not fiction.
The Omar Cemetery where Belle Bowen, who died of consumption (tuberculosis) at age 18, is buried.
It begins, “On Sept. 8, 1886, Belle L. Bowen, daughter of John M. and Isabel Bowen, a beautiful and very popular lady of the area, died of consumption (age 18) and was buried at the little country cemetery at Omar (in Reed Township). The night following her funeral, the body of a young woman was discovered in a truck at Toledo, sent by train from the town of Bellevue. Martin E. Wilson, a medical student from Attica, was arrested for grave robbery or murder when he presented his claim check for the trunk. A second man, Dr. H.G. Blaine, also of Attica and Wilson’s mentor, was arrested on the same charges in Bellevue when he showed up there to pick up his horse and buggy, which had been borrowed and left there by Wilson. He was taken to Attica by Marshall Korner of Bellevue to consult an attorney. This case was a peculiarly reprehensible one, in that both men were acquainted with the deceased and her family. The fact that she was almost a neighbor made the offense more heinous.”
Those who succumbed to consumption (tuberculosis) were ideal candidates for grave robbers and the medical professors who claimed the stolen bodies because consumption slowly caused the victim to become thin, making their bodies easier to dissect post-mortem. Since Wilson and Blaine would have known that Belle had died from consumption shows some pre-determined planning to take her after her death.
Our story continues, “Mayor Harmon of Attica hastened to tell Mr. Silcox, brother-in-law of John Bowen and he at once hurried to the Bowen residence. Taking a half-dozen men with him to the cemetery, the bereaved father made his way and there the grave was opened. The casket was lifted out and all present were horrified to discover the body missing. Starting for Bellevue, Mr. Bowen soon met on the road two men who told him where he could find the body of his child. He and his brother, W.R. Bowen started at once for Toledo.”
Most of the cadavers supplied were bodies of convicted felons, the poor, or unclaimed individuals. There were major incentives to becoming a grave robber. The demand for bodies not yet in decay paid a high price – by the professors themselves. In today’s money, they provided a $3,000/corpse reward. In Belle’s case, this served as the main motivation for the abuse of her corpse.
A railroad map from 1898 shows the route Belle Bowen’s body would have taken from the Attica Station to Bellevue before heading on its way to the Toledo Medical College. This is a clipping from a map of the railroads in the entire state and can be found on Ohio Memory.
Our tale now turns to the courtroom … “Wilson refused to be interviewed at the same time as Blaine and would say nothing whatever. He was raised in a poorhouse and lived in the Blaine home while pursuing his medical training. He would have graduated from the Toledo Medical School the following month (following the incident). As he was entirely out of funds, it was thought that the faculty of the college offered him the balance of his tuition fee if he would furnish them with one or more bodies.”
Often, if grave robbers were caught, there weren’t major punishments. “The convicted were given a fine or imprisoned for a short term. Lawyers argued that because the previous occupant had vacated the body, its ownership was in doubt,” explains Antero Pietila in a Smithsonian article. Generally, upper society welcomed the advancement of medical discoveries, so long as it was not being done to their own class. Belle’s case is one exception to the rule since the Bowen family was a respected family in the area.
But our tale has a somewhat happy ending, depending on how you personally view the situation.
“Both men appeared before a grand jury. Dr. Blaine was acquitted on March 13, 1887 of any complicity in the case. He returned to his practice and later established the first hospital in Chicago Junction (Willard). Wilson was subsequently found guilty and served a brief prison sentence, after which he finished medical school and married his fiancé whom he had been engaged to when the crime occurred. He became a highly respected physician in Bettsville, held elective positions in the community and the Masons, and helped found the local bank. He died in 1925 at the bedside of a patient.”
To read the story of Belle Bowen in its entirety, visit the Seneca County Digital Library to find “Omar: A Community of Memories.” (A link is included in the “Works Cited” section).
From records found on Ancestry.com (free access available at Tiffin-Seneca Public Library and any library within the state of Ohio), Belle Bowen had an older brother 9 years her senior, Selwin, and an older sister 6 years her senior, Alice. Her mother died 7 years after Belle at the age of 52. Her father died in Fort Wayne, Indiana the same year as Dr. Wilson – 1925 – at the age of 88. Her sister Alice, had one son, John, with her husband and lived in Defiance until 1907 when they moved to Fort Wayne. Brother Selwin and his wife also lived in Defiance with their two sons, Glenn and Walter. By 1910 he was a traveling salesman for a baking company based out of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Works cited:
Lepard, Larry. Omar: A Community of Memories. Seneca County Digital Library. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/41429
Bauer Addicen. “The Long Strange History of Grave Robbing and its Modern Counterpart”. June 2023. Slate. https://slate.com/technology/2023/06/harvard-medical-school-body-stealing-history.html
Pietila, Antero. “In Need of Cadavers, 19th Century Medical Students Raided Baltimore’s Graves.” Oct. 25, 2018. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/in-need-cadavers-19th-century-medical-students-raided-baltimores-graves-180970629/
Rimer, Julie. “Body Snatching in the 1800s.” https://cemeteryindex.com/wordpress/featured-cemeteries/mt-washington-cemetery/julie-rimer-historical-ramblings/body-snatching-in-the-1800s/
Cornwell, Allen. “Robbing Graves in 19th Century America: Nightmares of the Past.” Jan. 2016. https://www.ourgreatamericanheritage.com/2016/01/body-snatchers-were-the-subject-of-nightmares-for-many-in-19th-century-america/
Ancestry.com
Columbus Lithograph Co. “Railroad of Ohio: 1898”. Ohio Memory. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll2/id/854