This one raised an eyebrow! Back in October 1929, Sam Perry was working in the gas field when his right leg became badly crushed. The circumstances of how this happened were not given in the papers. Doctors tried to save his leg, but it was no use. The decision was made to amputate it. On January 20, 1930, doctors at St. Francis Hospital took his leg. I think nowadays, the hospital will take care of getting rid of it for you, but whether that was the rule back then too I’m not sure. Mr. Perry’s wife was given the amputated leg. She then had to find a place to bury it.
I don’t know what caused Mr. and Mrs. Perry to think of a cousin’s house on the Ouachita River in West Monroe. She was Mrs. R.M. Badgett who had a very nice garden behind her home at 417 South Riverfront Street in West Monroe. Mrs. Badgett said, “Yes.” so Mrs. Perry, a family friend named Grove Beck and the leg made their way to the home. A plot was selected 25 feet from the house, a rude coffin was made and a three foot (no pun intended) deep hole was dug. With curious neighbors looking on, the leg was buried among Mrs. Badgett’s flowers. The problem was, no one bothered to check with Mr. Badgett.
Once Mr. Badgett got home from work and heard about what had happened, he was furious. He called the Perry family and demanded they come and retrieve the leg out of his garden. Mrs. Perry refused, saying the family liked the spot and Mrs. Badgett had given permission. Mr. Badgett went to the authorities and swore out a warrant against Mrs. Perry and Mr. Beck. City Judges and the director of the Ouachita Parish Health Unit were called, but they were baffled too. There just was no law against burying a body part in the yard as long as it was buried sufficiently deep enough! Mr. Badgett was basically told, “You are on your own with this one.”
Now I have no idea if the leg stayed or was eventually moved. The site of the home is now under the levee and the Antique Alley marina is there. What a saga!
- Come join us next Tuesday night at the new Main Branch on Oliver Road, 5:30 pm for a program called “Celebrating Revolutionary War Soldiers of the Ouachita Valley”. Three of the Genealogy department staff will be portraying three of the area’s Revolutionary War veterans and what they experienced.
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