1885: An Outrage Against Humanity

"It was asserted subsequently to the execution of the notorious criminal Campi, in France, that with the permission of the School of Medicine the skin of the murderer had been placed in the hands of a tanner, and that when properly prepared it was to be used for binding books and documents containing the scientific observations made at the post-mortem examination of Campi's remains. The statement at the time was generally discredited, for, although the first republic had its tannery of human skin, which was well supplied by the executioner Samson, it was not believed such practices would be permitted under the third republic. A French paper, however, has recently returned to the ghastly subject, and maintains that the announcement made and disbelieved was literally true and that the skin of the wretched man has been used as was alleged. The affair is creating some excitement in Paris, and the dean of the faculty of medicine is being urged to investigate the matter in order to visit with deserved punishment the parties guilty of an outrage against humanity, and to obtain proofs that the statement is a malicious one. In the interests of science experiments on the dead bodies of malefactors are legitimate, but it can not for one moment be pretended that any scientific object is served by using a human skin as a covering for books or documents."

~ From The Daily Cosmopolitan (Brownsville, Tex.), January 13, 1885 

1885: Mr. Gamble's Coffin Bed

"Forty years ago Mr. David Gamble, a wealthy farmer near here, made a coffin in which he slept every night without failure. His novel bed was chosen, he said, as a constant reminder that death is always near. His desire to impress this fact upon himself was owing to teh sudden death of his wife, at the age of 30 years, by heart disease. Just before he made the coffin they hda been to a ball, and after returning home retired to bed.  Fifteen minutes later Mr. Gamble found that his wife had died in his arms. The shock was believed by many to have unsettled his reason. He always kept his coffin there-after in the corner of his dining room. He would get into it every night and pull the lid up until only his face was exposed to view. One day he had a traveling photographer take a view of him as he lay in his coffin. This picture he had framed and hung over the dining room mantle piece. Last night he retired to his coffin at the usual hour, but when the servant called him this morning it was found that he was dead. The body was not disturbed, and will be buried as it was found. Mr. Gamble was a charitable man and much liked."

~From The Standard (Clarksville, Tex.), August 7, 1885