On another occasion, he and two of his helpers were apprehended on Reading Road near Walnut Hills with their booty which consisted of two bodies which they had just exhumed from a cemetery near Hartley and were concealed in gunny sacks. The three were immediately placed under arrest and taken to the Ninth Street police station and the bodies were delivered to a near-by funeral establishment for subsequent identification.
The following morning the suspects were released on bail, and that afternoon two unassuming individuals, unknown to the attendant in charge, called at the undertaker’s establishment and claiming they were from the coroner’s office, demanded the bodies for the purpose of holding an inquest on them. The two bodies were released without hesitation. Upon the arrival of the proprietor, when told of the incident he contacted the coroner’s office only to learn that the bodies in question had not been sent for or been seen. Inasmuch as there were no corpi delicti as evidence, no case could be made out against Old Cunny, and he and his confederates were released.[3]
In the CINCINNATI DAILY GAZETTE, under date of November 22, 1870, is a news item to the effect that a body delivered to one of the medical colleges of that city “was stolen by the enterprising sawbones of a rival establishment during the night. Old Cunny was therefore compelled to make another midnight expedition last night much to his disgust—not that he dislikes the business, but that he is now getting old, and that which was once pleasant recreation has now become somewhat of a burden.” Wonder if it ever occurred to that reporter that there is a strong likelihood that Old Cunny himself might have been the guilty one who “stole” the body and re-sold it to a rival institution? Such episodes were known to occur.
Evidently not all of Old Cunny’s contraband was destined for the anatomy laboratories in Cincinnati, as judged from a news item in the CINCINNATI DAILY GAZETTE, dated January 20, 1870. According to this news report “Cunningham, the resurrectionist, deposited a box at the U. S. express office marked ‘Glass with care, C. O. D. Dr. M. P. Hayden, Leavenworth, Kan.’ Suspicions of the company’s agents were excited, and when they opened the box it contained the body of a negro woman prepared for the dissecting knife and served up in a sack. The freight was returned to Mr. Cunningham.”
A GHASTLY REVENGE
Old Cunny’s villainous nature is well illustrated in a story told of him when he took ghastly revenge on some frolicking medical students who had played some sort of a joke on him. According to the story, he became so enraged with the students that he knowingly dug up the body of a smallpox victim which he delivered to the dissecting room, as a result of which the unprotected students promptly became infected with the disease.[4]
Although Cunningham probably was booked in the police records of Cincinnati more often than any other of its citizens during his time, not all of the charges brought against him were based on his resurrection activities. As mentioned previously, he was addicted to strong liquor, and because of that weakness he was occasionally booked on charges of drunkenness and disturbance of the peace. Thus, for example, in the CINCINNATI DAILY GAZETTE on January 13, 1870, we read that “William Cunningham, an express driver, who will be remembered by all who have attended the medical colleges in this city, managed to get arrested last night. He first fired his brain with whisky then fired off an enormous revolver on Central Avenue.” The report goes on to say that he had on his person more than seventy dollars in greenbacks, a sum according to the write-up slightly larger than usual for station-house visitors.
... fired off an enormous revolver....
Evidence that Old Cunny enjoyed a lucrative income from his nefarious business is furnished by an editorial in the CINCINNATI DAILY ENQUIRER on February 21, 1871. It comments upon the poor conditions of the Wesleyan Cemetery in that city, pointing out that “several of the graves look as though they had been robbed by a professional body-snatcher. The heads of the graves about two feet square in area are sunken lower than the rest.... Indeed, after a consideration of the ease with which any one can get into the grounds, it is not a matter of surprise if Cunny or some other professional has often paid nocturnal visits to the Wesleyan and obtained subjects for the various medical colleges.” It then goes on to say that “When men of small means, and endowed with a bare living, can afford to purchase fine residences and building sites, can drive home four-hundred dollar carriages right from the manufacturer, things do begin to look somewhat suspicious.” It may be assumed that, by inference, the editorial writer refers to none other than William Cunningham.