GOODWIN' S WEEKLY. H
many cases where sincere gratitude is shown and
I never allowed little experiences like this to
lessen my faith in humanity, or to cause me to
depart in any manner from our ideals.
I was, however, very much surprised when
several hours later I received a message from the
state's attorney to come to his office at once, as
Jjti there were two men there from Kansas who were
threatening all sorts of reprisals against the in
stitution, and that I might avoid serious trouble
by seeing them before they took action.
It was five miles to the court house, but I pro
ceeded there in all haste, knowing that it must
be an urgent matter that prompted the state's
attorney to call me. When I arrived there I
found the two Kansans, who had been so pleas
ant in the morning, looking very angry. They
scarcely spoke to me as I entered the room, so
I asked the state's attorney the occasion for the
sudden summons.
He said, "Doctor, these gentlemen claim to
Jjh have visited the cemetery of your Institution this
morning, and to have discovered a shocking con
dition of affairs."
I said, "Gentlemen, I cannot understand, this.
Our cemetery is known the country over as the
most artistic and unique in the institutional
world, and instead of being criticised has been
pictured and written up in the magazines in ttie
most appreciative manner." I said further that
no man held the dead in higher respect than I,
and the manner In which I kept my institutional
cemetery would justify my claim.
One of the brothers asked, "Do you consider it
right to allow the decayed bodies of your patients
to lie around among the trees where the buzzards
and dogs can get at them? Why, even the scaven
gers bury the bodies of horses and other animals,
and it would seem that the poor insane should be
shown at least equal consideration!"
Institutional life is filled with many surprises.
It is one constant suspense, for the reason that
the most unexpected occurrence is likely to take
place at any moment. This, however, was beyond
anything that I ever experienced or expected. That
my cemetery, my pet creation, should be the sub
ject of criticism was utterly incomprehensible. I
wondered if the two men, affected by the atmos
phere of the institution, had suddenly lost their
senses or had indulged in strong drink to over
come the emotions occasioned by the morning's
visit, so I said, "Gentlemen, there is some serious
mistake about this. No such spectacle could have
been witnessed in our cemetery." And I asked
them to be more explicit.
They proceeded to rolate that as they were
passing along the row of graves seeking that of
their sister, they were horrified to come upon the
skeleton of a human body with decayed flesh cling
Ing to the bones and a half-rotted shroud cover
ing it. An open grave was near-by and fragments
of a coffin lid were scattered about.
L They concluded that perhaps a body was be-
" Ing disinterred for shipment, but even then
thought it was an exceedingly crude way to handle
the dead.
Presently they discovered two other bodies
similarly placed, and this made them so Indig
nant that they decided to end their visit right
there that it was useless to look for their sis
ter's grave, as there seemed to be no proof that
she was in It after the shocking disclosures they
had just witnessed. They thought that the state's
attorney should know these facts and came
straight to his office and expressed surprise that
he should even give me a chance to explain mat
ters, all being so clear to them.
I said, "Gentlemen, in view of what you claim
you saw, I can only ask that you proceed with
me at once to the asylum and I will go with
you to the cemetery, and, if the facts are as you
say, I will confess that you have done the state
and me a great service."
We entered an awaiting automobile and in a
few minutes were at the headquarters of the in
stitution. I called the doctors, including attend
ant Forner, who, classified as "Patients' Foreman,'
carried along with other duties that of the dis
posal of the dead and the care of 'the cemetery.
As we neared that spot I called attention to
the even rows of graves, each marked by its
cement headstone with the identifying number
plainly visible. I went along with a confident air,
detailing the life tragedy of this and that de
ceased, and every doctor would fail to reveal
any of the horrible conditions that the heightened
imagination of the two brothers had depleted to
the state's attorney.
As we approached a spot in which no recent
grave had been dug, I noticed a pile of fresh clay,
and as we drew nearer one of the brothers ex
claimed, "There it is, just as I told you!"
A closer inspection showed that he was cor
rect. Not only were the hideous features of a
corpse visible, but the splintered remain of a cof
fin lid were scattered about the grave. Our policy
being to conceal nothing, we continued the search,
and we finally found just the conditions that the
two brothers had related, with the exception that
this grave was in addition to what they had seen,
being in another part of the burial lot.
After satisfying ourselves of the seriousness of
the situation, I told the two brothers of the mys
tery surrounding the entire matter and asked
them to suspend judgment and give us time to in
vestigate. I assured them that the motive could not have
been that of grave robbing or body snatching, as
in no instance had the corpse been removed. This
they plainly s"aw, and they were considerate
enough to return to their homes without giving
the matter further publicity, and the state's at
torney was kind enough to say that he would
hold the entire matter in abeyance awaiting my
final report.
We always designated one of our most trust
worthy employes to care for the cemetery. He
had a detail of about eight rather reliable pa
tients, and could always be depended on to have
a grave ready when occasion demanded. For
the past three years this assignment was held by
the aforementioned Forner, who, while an attend
ant, had shown special aptness in securing the
co-operation of patients when their labor was
required by the various department heads of the
institution.
I called him into the office and asked for an
explanation of the revolting condition of the ceme
tery. He had none to give.
.1 then asked him how long it had been since
a body had been exhumed for shipment and he
said that the body of a man had been claimed by
relatives and shipped to Canada about three
months before, under all the safeguards and reg
ulations imposed by the state board of health and
the interstate commerce commission. We then
concluded that Forner, in opening the grave, had
selected the wrong one and, discovering the error,
kept opening graves until he reached the right
one and that, having accomplished his purpose,
he recklessly left the other exhumed bodies with
out taking the trouble to reinter them. He said
that this was impossible, as the incident took
place months ago, and the bodies could not have
remained there thus exposed without having been
discovered a hundred times over.
Nevertheless, the evidence was absolute and
incontrovertible, and Forner was suspended on the
spot for neglect of duty.
When his case came up for trial before the
Civil Service Commission, we simply introduced
the witnesses who had observed the nauseating
condition of affairs revealed on the occasion of
the visit of the two brothers. The case was abso
lutely conclusive, but Forner was entitled to a
hearing, and the Commission asked him if he
had anything to Bay, whereupon ho took the stand
and made this simple and direct statement:
"There has been a great mistake made in my
suspension: I am not guilty of the charge. I con
' duct every funeral with the utmost propriety, al
ways banking the earth into a neat mound at its
conclusion, and return my detail of patients to the
ward in good order.
"To be accused of desecration of the dead is
to me a great humiliation, but I accept my dis
missal. The evidence Is overwhelmingly against
me, but I will sift this thing to the bottom If given
permission to frequent the asylum grounds for a
reasonable time."
We had no objection to his presence and so
when we saw him loitering about the place dur
ing the next week, paid little attention to him.
Occasionally some man of influence would Inter
cede for him, asking for his reinstatement, but In
view of the scandal we had so narrowly averted
this was wholly out of the question.
Another and more trustworthy man was put In
charge of the funeral detail and burials proceeded
as usual, but safe from any fear that the resting
places of the dead would ibe molested.
One day iForner came Into my office, nearly out
of breath, and said, "What have you to say of
your graveyard now? I have not been in charge
of it for a month and the same thing has hap
pened." I asked him what had happened, and he said, I
"Come and sec. There are two open graves with H
the bodies in both of them plainly visible." I
Again I summoned my doctors and all others H
concerned, and Forner let us straight to the two I
graves and we found the identical condition that H
had caused us so much concern on the former H
occasion. H
There was nothing to say. My first suspicion H
rested upon Forner. H
We noted the surroundings, excused the ex- H
employe and proceeded to the office, where I H
called an extraordinary staff meeting. In the H
course of our discussion an idea came to my mind H
and I went to the book shelf and took down the H
medical dictionary, and turning to the proper H
page read: H
"NECROPHILE, A paranoiac whose mania H
manifests itself In abnormal love for tho M
dead, sometimes extending to cannibal- H
ism." H
Plainly Forner was a necrophile and had asked H
the privilege of remaining about the place for H
no other purpose than to continue his maniacal H
desire to be with the dead. H
Addressing the staff, I said, "Gentlemen, here H
we have 'been diagnosing and treating two thou- H
sand insane and have remained in total ignor- H
ance of tho fact that one of the most dangerous H
lunatics of the state has for two years been an H
employe of our own institution, a man with whom H
wo have been in daily contact and yet in whom H
we failed to discover any of the symptoms that H
stamp him as belonging to that rare group of H
paranoiacs characterized in tho definition I have H
just read." M
I asked each member of the staff in turn what M
he thought of the Forner case and all agreed that H
the proof was unassailable. M
Wo called him in and, without letting him HS
know our purpose, put him through a psychologl- B
cal examination. He came out of It unscathed, M
answering every question with unerring precision. M
I remarked to the staff that this was not an H
Infrequent outcome of the examination of a para- IK
nolac as he usually responded to every test of M
normality and successfully concealed his partlcu- M
lar mania. M
Wo decided that our only prospect of solving jH
this mystery was to have Forner shadowed and
catch him in the act of disinterring a body. Ac- M
cordingly we secured a reliable detective and re- jfl