THE ANATOMY RIOT OF 1788: "IT ALL BEGAN AS A JOKE"
WHEN NEW YORK’S POOR REVOLTED AGAINST THE CITY’S GRAVE-ROBBING MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENT. America’s first anatomy riot started with a crass joke. One afternoon in April 1788 a medical student was dissecting a woman’s body in a lab at New York Hospital. Suddenly, he realized he wasn’t alone. A gang of street urchins had gathered at the window outside—gaping wide-eyed at a real-life dead person. This annoyed the student, who wanted to work in peace. So to spook the boys, he reportedly grabbed the cadaver’s arm and waved it at them, hollering, “This is your mother’s arm. I just dug it up!” Har har. Unfortunately, one of the boys had indeed just lost his mother, and he ran home to his father bawling. The father in turn grabbed a shovel and marched out to his late wife’s grave. He found exactly what he expected inside it—nothing—and he was furious. He wasn’t the only one. Hundreds of other New Yorkers were every bit as angry with the hospital’s doctors. Folks were sick and tired of abuse at the