ANTRHOPLOGIST HELPS TO MOVE THOUSANDS OF GRAVES IN ST. LOUIS

Cape Girardeau anthropologist Scott Grantham has seen his share of graves in recent months.

From last August through January, Grantham was involved in moving the skeletal remains from some 2,500 graves in an abandoned, predominately black St. Louis cemetery to make way for completion of the MetroLink route to Lambert Airport.

Grantham was one of three anthropologists who worked with crews on the project at Washington Park Cemetery -- a site of tilting headstones, tall grass and sinkholes along Interstate 70, just east of the airport.

The project actually started in July, although Grantham didn't become involved until Aug. 18.

Grantham said the anthropologists helped identify the skeletal remains to see that they matched the cemetery records.

Not all the remains have been identified. In some cases, there are just not adequate records, he said. "We have right now approximately 70 John Does and Jane Does."

Grantham said he'll soon be returning to St. Louis to continue efforts to identify those remains. Grantham will work out of a laboratory being set up at the St. Louis airport.

Although the MetroLink route has been cleared, there's still more grave moving to be done. "There are a grand total of 12,000 bodies that have to be removed," he said.

The graves must be moved to allow for airport expansion, he explained. But now that the MetroLink work has been done, the pace will be slower, said Grantham.

"At least temporarily, the plans are to work exhuming bodies during the warmer part of the year," he said, adding that it could take several years to complete the job.

Over the years, Grantham, who is one of only two forensic anthropologists in the state, has handled lots of skeletal remains.

A native of northern Mississippi with an accent to match, Grantham taught anthropology at Southeast Missouri State University from 1963 to 1987. Since leaving teaching, he has worked as a private anthropologist, often assisting law enforcement agencies.

Grantham said he actually began assisting in criminal investigations in the mid-1970s, helping out the regional crime lab.

He aided Cape Girardeau police in identifying the skeletal remains of murder victim Margaret Smith in 1981.

Grantham compares the work of an anthropologist to a detective, conceding he has a fondness for mystery and puzzles. Bones offer up numerous clues to a person's identity and often even to how they died, he said.

While his current work doesn't involve a criminal investigation, Grantham said it's equally interesting.

Grantham said the moving of skeletal remains from the path of the MetroLink route generally went on five days a week. He returned to Cape Girardeau on the weekends.

The removal work continued even in bad weather. "We have worked in ankle-deep mud, and in temperatures in the 20s and the wind chill down around zero."

With all the graves to be moved, the inspection of skeletal remains was done rather quickly.

The anthropologists looked over the remains as they were taken from the coffins and matched them to the cemetery records. The remains were then placed in metal coffins for reburial in other cemeteries.

Grantham said it took about 15 to 20 minutes to inspect one grave. "You don't have to examine the whole skeleton," he noted.

"If it is supposed to have been a 60-year-old female, I examined the remains to see if what we have is consistent with that," he said.

Of the 2,500 graves moved, the vast majority involved persons who died over the age of 50. Most of the graves were 25 to 50 years old. The cemetery was last used in the late 1970s.

"For the most part, what you wind up with is a skeleton," he said.

Two of the skeletons he examined had bullet holes in them. In one case, there was a bullet hole in the skull and in another, the skull had been broken by the impact of a bullet.

Not surprisingly, the removal of the graves has been a sensitive matter to the relatives of those buried there. "It has been a political hot potato up there," said Grantham.

The Urban League had representatives at the site to help monitor the grave removal work.

St. Louis area funeral home operators helped direct the removal of skeletal remains and their reburial in other cemeteries. They notified families as to when relatives' remains would be exhumed.

In many cases, family members would come out to observe the work. "Almost every day, particularly in the warmer parts of the year, there were family members there."

In many cases, the family members were simply curious about the whole process, he said. "Some of them videotaped the whole thing."

Grantham said he always treated the remains with respect. "You always remember that person was important to somebody when they were alive."