"Peeper" Is Suspected As Grave Robber

New York, 1928

Cordon of State Police Thrown Around Baldwinsville

Start Night Vigil

Ghoul Mutilates Body After Opening Casket

State troopers and deputy sheriffs seeking the ghoul who entered the grave of Mrs. Cora O'Brien, 51, and mutilated her body, Saturday night prepared to keep vigil in Baldwinsville for a "peeper," who is believed be the grave robber.

This "peeper," according to Sergt. M. F. Dillon of the State police who is directing the search, has been seen for five consecutive nights in Baldwinsville peering into the windows of homes and loitering about the cemeteries.

The information was withheld from the officials until Saturday afternoon.

"People wouldn't talk until they realized how serious a thing this was," Sergeant Dillon explained. "Then they came forward with plenty of information. Now we have a real lead to work on."

The State police officer added that medical authorities had told him that a man with the form of insanity which would cause him to enter a grave and mutilate a body would, in all probability, be given to peering into houses. This form of insanity, the medical authorities stated, causes the victim to return to the scene of his crime.

Therefore, the vigil Saturday night was based upon scientific knowledge. It began with a special detail of troopers stationed in the cemetery and about every home where the "peeper" has left tracks.

Sergeant Dillon, who had not been in bed since the empty grave was discovered Friday morning, took active charge and prepared to remain on duty all night.

The troopers were assisted by Deputy Sheriffs Edward Hoffmire and John Carey and Chief of Police Edward McCarty, the latter chief of the Baldwinsville police force.

The vigil began with Sergeant Dillon confident the "peeper" would be captured, and that he would prove to be the grave robber.

With the preliminary investigation completed, the full horror of the crime was made apparent. The vandal passed at least three hours in the Riverside Cemetery, which is located on the banks of the Seneca River.

After opening the grave until the casket was revealed, he pushed open and dragged the body to the grass near the grave.

Then, according to the manner in which Sergeant Dillon reconstructed the crime, he dragged the body by the hair for more than 100 feet. This was proved by bruises on the body.

One hundred feet from the grave, probably using a flashlight, he mutilated the body in a horrible manner. He left behind him his rubbers, his overalls and a shovel.

The rays of a flashlight, believed to have been held by the vandal, were seen in St. Marys Cemetery in Baldwinsville several nights before the grave of Mrs. O'Brien was opened. The same night the "peeper" was active in the village.

—Syracuse Herald, Syracuse, NY, April 15, 1928, p. 1, second section.

Famous Composer Found His Bride in a Tomb

1915

Romance in Life of a Famous Venetian Composer — Sister Substituted Herself in Coffin

Benedetto Marcello, one of the most famous Venetian composers, fell in love with a beautiful girl named Leonora Manfritto, who married Paolo Seranzo, a Venetian noble. She died in a short time after her marriage, a victim of the harsh and jealous treatment of her husband.

Her body was laid out in state in one of the churches, and her lover actually succeeded in stealing the corpse and conveying it to a ruined crypt in one of the islands, and here he sat day and night by his lost love, singing and playing to her, as though by the force of his art he could recall her to life, says the London Telegraph.

Leonora had a twin sister, Eliade, who was so like her that her closest friends could scarcely distinguish them. One day Eliade heard a singer in a gondola singing so exquisitely that she traced the gondola to the deserted island, and then she learned later the fate of her sister's corpse and the identity of Marcello. Aided by a servant, Eliade substituted herself for her sister's body, and when Marcello returned and called Leonora to awake he did not ask in vain, for apparently she rose alive from her coffin. Marcello, when he found out the delusion, was quite satisfied and married Eliade, but his happiness was short lived, as he died a few years afterward.

—New Smyrna Daily News, New Smyrna Beach, Florida, October 29, 1915, page 4.