“A rumor crept out last Thursday that the body of a person, packed in sawdust, had been discovered at the freight depot of the M&C Railroad in this city, and a Times reporter sharpened his pencil, fathered up nearly a quire of blank paper, hurried down stairs three steps at a time and took a bee line on double quick time for the depot.”
“He reasoned, en-route, that there had been a murder most foul and most unnatural. The box containing the remains had been in the depot for months and no one had applied for it. Someone had in all probability committed a dark deed, and carving the victim had packed it in sawdust and shipped it to a fictitious person at Portsmouth, to remove the remains to s distant point that identification would be rendered less possible. Arriving at the depot it was found closed. But a great mystery must be solved, and the reporter addressed himself to the task. Of course an entrance was had in a short time, and the box was soon presented to view.”
“A small piece of the lid had been broken off, and sure enough the report was confirmed, for half-hidden by the sawdust was the thumb of a hand, while a human skull was by its side. The nail of the thumb was as natural as in life, but the skull had been sawn in twain. The box was marked on a piece of cardboard tacked on the lid. The address was:”
“A.B. Richardson1, Portsmouth, Ohio. Care D.M. Richardson.”
Inquiry developed the fact that it had been in the depot for a year or more, and that its contents were known only very recently. It had been knocked about so much that a portion of the lid becoming detached, some boys had discovered the fingers and skull illy concealed by the sawdust in which the skeleton was packed. It is said that it came freight-paid from New York, and Richardson, who was then a medical student, said it contained some ‘Christmas fixings,’ and he would call soon and get it. When last heard from Richardson was at Athens, and rumor now places him at or near Wheelersburg in this county. We believe he studied medicine at one time with Dr. Cotton on Third street.”
“Quite a scandal has been raised by the discovery of Richardson’s connection with the skeleton, and he should either give it decent interment, or at least take it away, as the town talk of a dean man being packed in the box is not at all pleasant. If it is a case of bodylifting the young man ought to hasten to get his skeleton in the grave, where it belongs, or surreptitiously in his closet. There seems to be no real necessity for a post-mortem examination by the coroner, the body having no doubt undergone a post-mortem examination in the dissecting room. Hence, hencely.”2
- Dr. Alexander B. Richardson
- A mystery explained. (1877, March 17). Portsmouth Times, p. 3.
