From the Richmond Whig, 3/28/1864, p. 1, c. 2
ROBBING A GRAVE YARD. - The
Assistant Keeper of the Hollywood Cemetery, yesterday morning, about 12 o’clock,
detected a man named R. L. Saunders in the act of breaking off and stealing the
locks from the enclosures in the cemetery. He had broken off and pocketed eight
locks, mostly brass, when discovered, and was in the act of wrenching off
another. He was operating with a long screw driver. When arrested, he said he
was getting the brass to make cannon. - Saunders is a well but not favorably
known blacksmith, who for many years had a shop on 2d street, between Clay and
Leigh streets. He has been once tried for stealing and once for forgery, and in
the latter case escaped conviction by adroitly slipping the forged paper into
his mouth and swallowing it whilst his trial was going on. It was, no doubt, his
intention to fix those locks and sell them. He is believed to have been engaged
in stealing locks from the cemetery for some time past, as great numbers have
been missed from the different enclosures.
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