Who Buried the Babies in the Church Cellar?

Modern apartments now stand along Christian Street in Philadelphia, just south of Sixth Street, where a church used to stand more than a century ago. This church, Mount Zion Christian Church, would have seemed unremarkable from the outside; for it was just one of numerous houses of worship in the City of Brotherly Love. However, a gruesome discovery took place in the spring of 1898 when seven little bodies were found in the church cellar, hidden beneath heaps of rubbish, thus making this simple church the center of one of the most intriguing mysteries in Philadelphia history.

After the discovery in the cellar, further investigations uncovered the improper burial of three infants in other places- including an abandoned well on church cemetery property. The general belief was that an unscrupulous gravedigger had pocketed the money for burying the dead and haphazardly discarded the corpses to cover his misdeed. But who was the fiend responsible for such a dastardly deed?

Suspicion immediately fell upon Henry Kalehoff, a 78-year-old former groundskeeper who had recently quit his job as sexton after a heated disagreement with church leaders. However, Kalehoff adamantly denied having anything to do with the crime, and evidence seemed to support his claim. He argued that he had been framed by his enemies within the church, and it would seem strange that such an elderly man would have the strength and energy needed to secretly dispose of not one, but ten, corpses.


From the March 7, 1898 edition of the Philadelphia Times:

An infant burial ground in a cellar. Seven bodies already unearthed, no one to tell how they got there, no one to tell how many more are yet concealed in the dark, musty place. That in brief is the revelation that was made in Mount Zion Christian Church, Christian street, below Sixth, Saturday afternoon.

It looks like a modern instance of money-changers in the temple. The charge for burying in the adjacent graveyard the remains of such tiny waifs of humanity- born but to die- is a dollar or so. That amount could be pocketed if they were smuggled into the cellar and interred. For there is no one to bring flowers or tears to such unmarked graves as these.

Ghastly Find Among Rubbish

Spring house cleaning- or, rather, cellar cleaning- was responsible for the ghastly revelation. For many years, no one seems to agree as to just how long, ashes have been accumulating in the damp, old cellar and lately the dust has made its way through the floor to the church above. So it was decided by the congregation after lengthy consideration to set aside a sufficient portion of recent collections to have the place rid of rubbish.
In consequence of which, Charles Roddy and his brother, William, of 436 Cross street, started in at the job Saturday morning and by the time they were about to knock off work in the afternoon they had taken twenty-six loads of ashes and other rubbish away. The stuff was in pretty much every part of the cellar, particularly in the middle, on each side of which stood a heater, until last year, when they were moved upstairs. As the two men were taking shovelfuls out from this portion one foot of the younger brother went into the soft ground, and in getting it out he struck a piece of wood. Shoveling the earth away a little for curiosity, he saw a box half a foot high, half a foot wide and a foot and a half long.

"What's this- a Klondike?" he asked, half jokingly, with visions of a lucky find before him. His brother, who was taking a basketful of ashes upstairs, didn't stop. William broke open the box and found to his disappointment, as well as his astonishment, the mouldy remains of a newborn child, little more than a skeleton.

Seven Little Bodies Unearthed

When Charles came back, he showed him his find, and began to dig away at the surrounding earth. Four more boxes with similar contents were unearthed there and two in the northwest corner. All the boxes except one, which was shaped like a coffin, were simply straight. Having dug up the boxes, the brothers left them where they were, and after dumping their last lead of refuse, went to see Pastor David McAllister, who lives at 781 North 27th street.

He was visibly shocked at the astonishing revelation and at once betook himself to the church and sent down to 241 Dickinson street for the former sexton, Henry Kalehoff, who, after twenty-eight years of duty, resigned last Monday. Although Kalehoff has reached the good old age of 78, he does not consider himself too advanced in years to work, and it was only after disagreement with the controlling members of the church that he relinquished his office. He got $8 a month for his services, and the excuse was made that the congregation could not afford to pay a sexton.

It was, therefore, not with entire friendliness that the old man responded to the request of Mr. McAllister to go at once to the church. When he got there he found the pastor and most of the small congregation gathered as if to hold an inquest upon the bodies of the unearthed infants. The pastor demanded of the former sexton an explanation of how the bodies got there. The old man, who professed great surprise at the discovery, said he could in no way account for the cellar having been thus turned into a graveyard, except that they might have been put there while he was out of town for a week or so during the summer.

The Authorities Take Charge

It was then that the police of the Second district were notified, the pastor, the former sexton and the two Roddys going to the station house, at Second and Christian streets. Acting Lieutenant Wills and Special Policeman Carey went up to the church and looked at the ghastly remains, after which a message was sent to the Board of Health and the Coroner's office. The fumigators of the former came down and saturated the cellar and contents with disinfectants that rendered a visit there anything but pleasant to the senses.

At the request of the Board of Health a policeman was stationed there and Superintendent Linden gave orders yesterday morning that no reporters be allowed to go down to the cellar. He countermanded this in the afternoon by order of Director Ritter, and a party of newspaper men were then conducted through the underground burial place by Acting Lieutenant Wills and Special Policemen Baker and Carey.  The seven little boxes lay open amid the mud in which they had so long been hidden. The contents for the most part were nothing but mouldy clay, but here and there stuck out a tiny rib or arm bone. The boxes, although earth stained, were well preserved, looking certainly not much over ten years or so old.

There was nothing on them as far as could be seen to indicate whence they came or to whom the little bodies had belonged. Nothing but these silent witnesses to laziness, greed or maybe blacker crime.

Congregation Worships Above Tomb

Above, the small congregation were inhaling the fumes of disinfectant that crept up stronger than ashes as they sang and prayed and listened to their pastor, who is by occupation during the rest of the week a clerk in a railroad office. He works on Sunday without pay. The church was organized in 1809 in a blacksmith shop at the southeast corner of Sixth and Christian streets. Ten years later they sold the corner property and moved halfway down the block to the east, building the church that has been used ever since. Its days of prosperity were short and for the most part the congregation has had a rough road to travel. Of late it has been arguing over the question of becoming a Congregational Church and adopting the name Bethany.

A Talk With the Sexton: Old Kalehoff Thinks it is All the Work of His Enemies

The aged sexton of the Mount Zion Christian Church, Henry Kalehoff, was found at his home, 241 Dickinson street. He talked unreservedly of the incidents in connection with the ghastly find, but from his statement very little light could be thrown on the affair, in addition to the story already told.
The old man said: "I know nothing about the bodies found in the church. My belief is that it was a put-up job on me, which I will explain. I was sexton of the church for twenty-eight years and have also been president of the Board of Trustees. Of late years I have been unable to attend to the digging of graves and whitewashing. I always employed men for that purpose.

"I have had Charles Roddy and George Smith. These men received the bodies when brought there of children, and interred them if they were accompanied by the proper death certificate from the Board of Health. In all my experience I have never buried a body unless properly authorized to do so, although I have often been approached by persons who wished their children put away quietly. I can relate several cases which have occurred downtown, and one in particular involving a prominent family. These men employed by me performed the work of burying bodies under my direction.

"During the summer months my family go to the country, and occasionally I am with them for a week at a time. It may be that during one of these absences the burying was done by them for the sake of a few dollars. I seldom go into the cellar, and have not for several months. When I was there I did not see any coffins."

Old Kalehoff has a grievance against the church. He said that they owed him $168 back salary and that his pay was only $8 per month. "They have been fighting around there ever since the church was built," he said. "I had to leave there once and go to the Third Baptist Church, to avoid the constant squabbles going on."

He said that he didn't know of any so-called "baby farms" in the neighborhood of the Mount Zion Church, which might suggest crime in connection with the mysterious case.

Several discrepancies were noticeable in the tale told by the old sexton and the facts as revealed by an examination of the interior of the cellar. The old man said that the boxes were lying loose on the floor, although he also said that he did not observe them. The cellar floor, however, shows a deep hole dug in it, and in this the police say the bodies were found. The police are divided themselves in their opinion, but in general they seem to favor the theory that the burying was done possibly many years ago, which present condition of the little bodies seems to bear out. The fact that twenty-six loads of ashes were removed from the cellar floor before the discovery was made also adds support to this view of the case.

The former sexton made no mention of Peter Murphy, who was employed as a helper several years ago. But Roddy and Smith both suggest that it may have been him, which is safe enough- Murphy being dead.


That same day, Chief Inspector of Nuisances Charles F. Kennedy and Colonel J. Lewis Good from the Board of Health launched their investigation. They went to the church and interviewed Charles Roddy, who discovered the first body. After their visit, Inspector Kennedy made the following announcement:

"We will, when the board authorizes it, make a more detailed investigation and will see that the cellar is properly gone over, with a view of finding other bodies. We have not reached a stage of our inquiry where we can charge anyone with having violated the rules of the Board of Health by burying bodies without permits, but the rules having been violated, it remains for us to find the guilty person or persons. I do not think that any of the bodies have been in the cellar less than two years."

Colonel J. Lewis Good made the following statements: "The finding of the bodies in this neighborhood should not surprise anyone. It is a locality peopled by a great many poor. Furthermore, it is a custom for many who cannot afford an elaborate funeral in disposing of their dead to place them in the hands of some undertaker, who, for a fee just covering expenses, arranges to have a quiet burial. This is entirely regular. The body is put in a cheap box and then given over to the sexton of a burial ground for interment. It is no doubt so in this case. The thing to be found out is how the bodies of these infants came to be buried in the cellar instead of the churchyard. A burial in the former would obviate the necessity of digging a six-foot grave in the burial ground, which would mean just so much more money for the pocket of the one undertaking the interment."

By these statements it would seem evident that the seven unidentified bodies would have had to have passed through the hands of old Henry Kalehoff at some point, which, in turn, would have been assigned to the Roddy brothers or George Smith for burial. Yet all parties continued to cling to their assertion that they had no idea how to bodies wound up in the church cellar.

Crowds flocked to the Board of Health's boardroom on March 14 to hear the testimony of those involved in the gruesome discovery of seven children buried in the cellar of the Mount Zion Christian Church. Colonel J. Lewis Good presided over the affair and the first witness called was the pastor of the church, David McAllister.

Mr. McAllister said that the cellar of the church was very filthy and along with the ashes and coffins containing the forgotten children were found several beer and whiskey bottles. It was the pastor's opinion that the bodies were buried in the cellar to avoid the payment of fees to the church.

The next witness called was George W. Smith, an assistant grave digger who also happened to be the nephew of disgruntled former church sexton Henry Kalehoff. Smith testified that Kalehoff had given him a small box several months earlier containing the body of an infant. He said that his uncle told him that it had been passed into his hands by a man by the name of Buttonklepper. According to Smith, Kalehoff directed his nephew to bury the box in the church cellar and they split the $1 fee, which the law required to be paid to the Board of Health.

Kalehoff was furious when he took the stand and vehemently denied his nephew's accusations. Yet, in spite of his protests, he was unable to come up with an explanation for how the childrens' bodies got into the basement.

On March 16, authorities searched for additional bodies on the grounds of the Mount Zion Christian Church. Henry Kalehoff, looking even more old and feeble than he did at the Board of Health hearing just a few days earlier, watched the scene unfold as workmen unearthed an unmarked box from an abandoned well containing more children's bones. Kalehoff shook his head remorsefully but declared that he didn't know how they could have gotten there.

"That's what comes of having such a trusting disposition," he said to Chief Nuisance Inspector Kennedy. "People often told me I oughtn't to trust those men, and now I know I made a mistake."

During the search, Kalehoff displayed a remarkable memory. He was able to point out the first grave he had dug as sexton thirty years earlier, yet he was unable to help investigators locate any more bones of children. By the end of the day authorities would uncover the remains of two more infants, bringing the total to ten. By the end of the week, the troubled church- now plagued by extremely poor attendance- would be turned over to the Congregationalists and renamed the Bethany Congregational Church.

On March 29 the Board of Health announced it would institute proceedings against the superintendent of the cemetery of the Mount Zion Church. Nuisance Inspector Kennedy issued the following statement:

"There is the best evidence of the most flagrant violation of the rules of the Board of Health regulating interments in the city, and it is the opinion of the committee that measures should be taken looking to the punishment of persons who have violated the sanitary requirements of cemeteries and have been guilty of the inhuman practice of disposing of the bodies of little children in such manner as has been exposed by this investigation. The area of the cemetery grounds is 10,000 square feet, more or less, including avenues. Within five years 1,563 bodies have been buried therein. Prior to that we have no knowledge, but found a headstone dated back to the year 1817.

"It is the committee's opinion that the superintendent of the cemetery attached to the Mt. Zion Church is responsible for the maintenance of a nuisance in violation of the law and the rules of the Board of Health, and, therefore, we recommend that the Health Office be directed to take action against the superintendent for violation of health laws. And, further, that the cemetery be closed to further interments, it being a nuisance, prejudicial to public health by reason of the nearness to the surface of human remains interred therein and on account of its overcrowded condition."

Although Kennedy's recommendations were unanimously adopted by the committee, no charges were ever filed against Kalehoff, the Roddy brothers, or Kalehoff's nephew, George Smith. In all likelihood, one- or perhaps all- of these men were responsible for illegally burying the dead in the basement of the Mount Zion church and in the abandoned well of the churchyard. Perhaps Charles Roddy had volunteered for the job of cleaning the church cellar in order to make the discovery of the children's coffins himself, thereby dodging the finger of blame. Perhaps George Smith was telling the truth when he testified that he and his uncle split the burial fees among themselves. Perhaps they were all working together, or perhaps none of them had anything to do with it.

The only thing we know for sure is that if any of these men played a part in the burial of babies in the basement of Mount Zion Christian Church, they never admitted their guilt and they took their story to the grave.



Did you enjoy this article? If so, then pick up a paperback copy of Pennsylvania Oddities, which features even more true stories of the strange from around the Keystone State, as well as more in-depth versions of some of the more spectacular stories shown on this blog. Only $14.95 and free shipping is available!