Grave Robbing Scandal

By the early 1900s, Indianapolis was home to multiple medical education institutions that required corpses for dissection-based learning. Existing 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. 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.

Fishers, Indiana · United States