Secrets of the Dead (2000–…): Season 14, Episode 1 - Ben Franklin's Bones - full transcript

NARRATOR: Coming up on
"Secrets of the Dead"...

I saw what I believed to be the
remains of more than one person.

NARRATOR: Hundreds of bones
found in a London basement.

MAN: Here was a house

that had been occupied
by Benjamin Franklin.

NARRATOR: But was
Franklin himself

responsible for these
grisly remains?

Scientists dig into the truth

and reveal the dark underbelly
of early medicine.

Body snatchers could bring in
bodies from the docks,

from the graveyards, and into
his anatomy school.



NARRATOR: "Ben Franklin's Bones"
on "Secrets of the Dead."

"Secrets of the Dead"
was made possible in part

by the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting

and by contributions
to your PBS station from...

NARRATOR: A builder digging
in a basement in London

makes a grisly discovery.

The bones of not one
but dozens of bodies.

I was very aware that it could
be a major crime scene.

NARRATOR: Benjamin Franklin
called this townhouse home

for more than 15 years.

What went on at
36 Craven Street,

the home of a founding father?

Could it be that
Benjamin Franklin

was involved with murder?



I mean, we didn't know,
and we had to find out.

NARRATOR: Benjamin Franklin
lived in London

at a time when
the pursuit of science

and the activities of the
criminal underworld collided.

They can literally make
a killing off the dead.

It was just absolute disgusting.

All that mattered was
that the body was dead.

NARRATOR: What does one of
America's most iconic figures

have to do with the bones
in the basement?

In December 1997,
work was underway

at an elegant Georgian townhouse
in the heart of London.

36 Craven Street, where
Benjamin Franklin lived

while representing
the American colonies.

In the intervening centuries,

countless others
have lived there,

but now it was undergoing
extensive renovation

to transform it into a museum
dedicated to Franklin's life.

But as one of the builders dug
into the basement foundation,

he made a gruesome discovery.

He unearthed what
appeared to be a pit

filled with human bones.

He found first one bone,
then another and another.

It appeared there were
bones belonging

not just to one person
but several.

Had he unearthed the work
of a serial killer?

The police were called.

When I actually looked
at the bones, which were

in the back of the property,

my initial reaction was,
"What have we got here?"

I've never seen bones
in a house like this before.

I saw what I believed to be the
remains of more than one person.

Certainly one skull and a number
of major bones of the body.

I spoke to the builders.
They were a little bit shocked.

A little bit apprehensive,
one of them was with us.

I would say in my 30 years
in the police services,

the first private address
I've been to

where there have been
bones found actually

concealed in the property,
and I thought,

"I need to get some
expert advice here,"

and that's what we did...
We called on a local coroner

to come and give us
some assistance.

NARRATOR: It would be
the coroner's job

to determine if foul play had
taken place at Craven Street,

and if so, when.

Building work was
immediately halted

and the site shut down.

Coroner Dr. Paul Knapman
was called to the house.

[Knocking on door]

KNAPMAN: It's the duty
of a coroner

to investigate all violent,
unnatural, suspicious deaths

and also where the cause of
death is unknown.

And this is the actual basement.

Of course, now, I mean,
it's all nice and clean,

but at the time,
you must imagine

that this is a building site.

We had debris, we had
mud and stones

and everything like that.

And here's the pit.
This is the actual pit.

NARRATOR: Dr. Knapman noticed
something intriguing

about this macabre
collection of bones.

KNAPMAN: These are
some of the bones

that were actually found.

Here, for example, is a femur,

but the curious thing here,
it's been cut across.

Why is that?
That is not usual.

Similarly, here is a skull,

and the skull's been
cut across there.

I mean, absolutely sawn.

So, it's perfectly clear
that these have been

interfered with.

NARRATOR: The sight of these
bones rang alarm bells.

A few years earlier,
the story of serial killers

Fred and Rosemary West

shocked the British public.

The bodies of several
women were found buried

in the basement and grounds of
their home in Gloucestershire.

Between them, the couple
was charged with

22 counts of murder.

So, where were we here?

Was this a similar sort of case?

Were we dealing with murder?

NARRATOR: Against this
dark backdrop,

it was vital to establish
the age of the bones.

Test results completely changed
the nature of the investigation.

The bones were more than
a century old.

Now, if they're
100 years old or more,

then there's no possibility
of any living person

being charged with
a murder or anything like that.

So, to that extent, the coroner
isn't so involved,

and neither are the police.

But these were very
unusual circumstances.

I mean, it was a possibility
that there had been a murder

several hundred
years previously.

We didn't know, so, we continued

to actually try and find out
what had happened here.

NARRATOR: Whatever had
happened in the basement,

it was now a historical case.

And the finger of suspicion
pointed to those

who lived in the home
more than a century ago.

The task of dating the bones
more specifically

fell to archaeologist
Simon Hillson.

He's a specialist in the biology
and history of human remains.

To perform the tests,
he had to go

to the basement
of Craven Street himself.

It really was quite poorly lit.
There was no lighting, really,

in the house, and when
I got down there,

I saw this hole.

The builders wanted to
finish off in the basement

in a week's time, so, initially,

we were given one week
to do this

small but very
complicated excavation.

I was very clear all the time

this was an important building,

but at that point, I was
keeping an open mind

just to try and understand
what the assemblage was.

NARRATOR: Professor Hillson
excavated the site

layer by layer,

unearthing hundreds of bones.

He also discovered numerous
pieces of pottery and glass.

These artifacts
would be pivotal.

Carbon dating isn't
accurate enough

for bones that are just
a few hundred years old,

so, the key was
to date these objects.

Tests revealed the fragments
were from the mid-1700s,

the very time Benjamin Franklin
lived at Craven Street.

Could the unthinkable be true?

Could a founding father have had

something to do with
the pit of bones?

Between 1757 and 1775,

Benjamin Franklin
lived and worked

in the very heart
of Georgian London.

He was the first person
to represent Pennsylvania

and, later, the British colonies

of Massachusetts,
Georgia, and New Jersey

at British Parliament.

Benjamin Franklin was
certainly the most famous

colonial of his day,

and his role here
in London was strategic.

NARRATOR: By day,
he attended to politics,

meeting with the leading
figures of the age.

He worked tirelessly
during this period

to try and effect reconciliation

between the interests
of the crown

and the interests
of the colonies.

NARRATOR: But what did
Benjamin Franklin do at night?

He threw himself
into his other passions

of philosophy, science,
and invention.

Benjamin Franklin was
curious about the world

and he operated in it as
a gentlemanly scientist.

NARRATOR: After he finally
left London in 1775,

Franklin went on to become
one of the most

important figures in history,

a founding father of a newly
independent America.

But now, almost 250 years
after his departure,

the discovery of the bones
in the basement

threatened to sully
the great man's reputation.

The press began to speculate

about crimes carried out
at the house.

KNAPMAN: The whole thing
was bizarre.

Here was a house that
had been occupied

by Benjamin Franklin,

one of the founding fathers
of America,

and we've got bones
that have been

cut across and everything
like that.

Could it be that Benjamin
Franklin was involved with murder?

I mean, we didn't know,
and we had to find out.

NARRATOR: But surely a man
of Franklin's stature

could not be implicated.

His early career was
spent in Philadelphia,

where he established
a successful printing business.

In his forties,
he turned his attention

to his passion for politics
and scientific research...

and by 1757, had moved
to London as a diplomat.

At that time,
England was the epicenter

of scientific
and philosophical advances

which captured
Franklin's imagination.

In 1752, he'd won worldwide fame

when he proved that lightning
was not an act of God

but in fact electricity.

BALISCIANO: Franklin was
passionate about science.

He was intellectually
curious and

there was no subject that
didn't pass his attention.

He was here in London pursuing

experiments related
to electricity.

He looked at better
ways to make clocks

and improve bifocal lenses.

He even created a flexible
steel catheter for his brother.

NARRATOR: And he tried to find
a cure for the common cold.

He believed that you needed
to let out the stale air

and let in the fresh air.

Here in his rooms
at Craven Street,

he supposedly took an air bath

where he sat around
without his clothes on

for a time each day,

and had the windows wide open

so that he could
take in the fresh air.

Franklin thought that science
could really help people,

and he was always looking
at ways to improve life

for himself and for others.

NARRATOR: But what possible
connection could Franklin have

to the bones?

Could he have been experimenting
on corpses for some reason?

Or trying to link the properties
of electricity with medicine?

Perhaps the bones themselves
could provide clues.

Professor Hillson
uncovered more bones

which bore the same cut marks
the coroner observed.

HILLSON: So, these are some of
the leg bones from the site.

There are lots of parts
of the limbs.

Most of them have
cut marks on them.

These are saw cuts.

You can see the marks of
the teeth running across it.

It seems to have been
done in one go.

This is the top of
an adult skull,

and it's been cut off
using a saw.

We can tell it's
a saw because of

the scratch marks on the teeth,

and also it was a straight saw.

It came... they took several cuts.

NARRATOR: One fact was clear...

These bodies had been
cut up after death.

HILLSON: All these
must be post-mortem,

because they haven't healed.

If a bone is cut or broken
and then heals,

then new bone grows over,

and so, we can certainly tell

if a break took place
sometime before death.

NARRATOR: There was
an even more unsettling

discovery among the bones...

The remains of a newborn baby.

HILLSON: This is from
the back of the head,

and in a little baby, it's
made up of 4 different pieces.

NARRATOR: The tiny bones
he uncovered

made up an almost complete
skeleton of an infant.

HILLSON: We really don't know
who the child was,

why it ended up in there.

NARRATOR: Hillson made
another discovery...

The human bones were mixed in
with animal and bird remains.

This was something different.
This was a jumbled collection,

what we call
commingled assemblage,

and it was clearly different
to a regular cemetery.

NARRATOR: The mixture
of animal bones included

some exotic creatures,

like those of
a green sea turtle.

HILLSON: These, for example,
are the arm bones, the humerus,

which are very,
very distinctive.

I recognized what
I was dealing with

the moment I saw them
in the ground.

The exciting thing was to find
not only the turtle

but also mercury sitting
in association with it.

It's quite strange in
an excavation to find something

that moves when you're
trying to dig it up,

and I actually had to
chase it through the ground

with a plastic spoon.

Very strange
to see free-flowing,

running mercury in the ground
during an excavation.

I've never seen it
before or since.

NARRATOR: The mercury and the
turtle were tantalizing finds.

But for the moment,
their significance

would remain unresolved.

In total, Professor Hillson
unearthed 1,700 animal bones

and 2,000 fragments of
human bone and teeth.

The remains of
an estimated 28 people.

But who was responsible for
this grim stash of bones?

Could Ben Franklin have
really been involved?

To solve the mystery,
the investigation

had to eliminate
all the occupants

of the house at that time.

BALISCIANO: In a sense,
the house here at Craven Street

functioned as the first
de facto American embassy,

because Franklin was visited by

anyone and everyone calling in
from the colonies.

Franklin officially rented
4 rooms in the house,

although he was said
to be less a lodger

than the head of
a household living in

serene comfort and affection.

He kind of overran the place.
He even had a cat.

NARRATOR: The house
belonged to a widow

named Margaret Stevenson

and her daughter Polly.

With Franklin's
wife and daughter

remaining in Pennsylvania,

36 Craven Street became
Franklin's home

for almost 16 years.

When Franklin came to this house,
he was very warmly received

and kind of found
a surrogate family,

similar to what he had
left behind in Philadelphia.

His wife Deborah was afraid
of crossing the ocean,

so it was said,
and his daughter Sally

remained as well, so,
by coming into this house,

he was able to have the best
of everything, really,

because he was in
such an exciting place

but also had this kind of
important private life.

NARRATOR: But it appeared
there was

another notable resident
of 36 Craven Street...

A young doctor
named William Hewson

also lived at the house.

Was there a connection between
him and the pit of bones?

William Hewson had moved from
the north of England to London

to further his medical career.

10 years after his arrival,
while visiting

friends on the English coast,

he met a woman who
would change his life.

William Hewson met a young woman
named Polly Stevenson,

and she was the daughter
of Margaret Stevenson.

Polly was always
described as being

an unusually intelligent woman,

so, Franklin and Polly had
a very close relationship.

She was a dear friend of his.

He considered her somewhat of
a second daughter.

BALISCIANO: Polly writes
a letter to him

letting know him that

she's met someone quite special,

and Franklin writes back
feigning jealousy,

but then goes on to say
that he must be

someone rather extraordinary

if she's taken
an interest in him.

William and Polly were married
at St. Mary Abbots Church

on July 17 of 1770,

and Franklin actually
played a very large role

in the ceremony.

He was given the honor of
walking Polly down the aisle,

and he, at the end, signed their

wedding certificate
for their marriage.

NARRATOR: Franklin and Hewson
were kindred spirits,

both swept up by the powerful
intellectual principles

of the Age of Enlightenment.

The Enlightenment was
an age of reason,

and trying to be rational
about man's affairs

and understanding the universe,
and it celebrated

the individual.

NARRATOR: At the heart
of this movement

was the Royal Society,

an influential organization
that dated back to the 1600s.

It aimed to develop science
for the benefit of humanity.

The great thinkers of the day
gathered to demonstrate their work.

This group would provide
another tangible link

between Franklin and Hewson.

MOORE: We have here the greatest
autograph book in the world.

This is the Royal Society's
charter book.

It contains the founding document
of the organization from 1662

and the signatures of all of
the Royal Society's fellows,

the greatest scientists
in the world.

You'll see here we have
the greatest of them all.

This is Sir Isaac Newton.

He was elected in the 1670s

and he signed the volume
right there.

This page, we have
the discoverer of oxygen...

Joseph Priestley.

Very important figure for
Enlightenment chemistry.

Here we have the astronomer
William Herschel,

the man who discovered
the planet Uranus

and ushered in a whole new era
of planetary science.

Most importantly here,
we have Benjamin Franklin,

the greatest experimental
scientist of this period.

These all individuals
who made significant impacts

on late-18th-century science.

NARRATOR: Then, in 1769,

Franklin was one of
a group of fellows

who proposed a new member
should join the society.

On this page, we have the
signature of William Hewson.

And it's not just
Benjamin Franklin

who supports him
into the fellowship,

but it's a range of his peers,

and really what
they're saying is

here was a man who was
a great scientist.

He deserved to be in this book
with the rest of science.

And really, when
you think about it,

this is between these two boards

a history of science
over 350 years.

NARRATOR: But Hewson
was no ordinary physician.

He practiced an art
that aimed to investigate

the inner workings
of the human body

by peeling it back,
layer by layer.

Hewson was an anatomist.

HEWSON: Hewson entered
the scene of anatomy

at a really ideal crossroads.

This was a time that
they were looking at

practical dissections
as an art of teaching.

And instead of just
researching these things

and reading about them,
there was much more of

a hands-on approach
to medicine and science.

NARRATOR: So, did
the activities of William Hewson

hold the key to the gruesome
discovery at Craven Street?

Perhaps the bones were
not the result of murders

but were in fact
anatomy specimens.

The pit of bones
held a vital clue.

Hewson conducted
extensive research

into the human lymphatic system,

and his detailed findings
were recorded

by leading anatomical
artists of the day.

But to earn his place
in the charter book,

he'd gone a step further,

giving a groundbreaking lecture
at the Royal Society.

HEWSON: Now, up until this
point, it was believed

that humans had
a lymphatic system.

But Hewson really
set out to prove

that this existed
in other species as well.

NARRATOR: His test subject
took everyone by surprise.

It wasn't human at all.
It was a green sea turtle.

And one of his most ingenious
experiments took place

with a dead turtle,
and Hewson basically injected

mercury into the turtle
and watched how it

went through
the lymphatic system.

NARRATOR: Could the turtle
in Hewson's experiment

be the very same one
Professor Hillson discovered

in the pit of bones?

HILLSON: This is some of the
bones of the shell of the turtle,

and one of the fascinating
things was

there was a little
bead of mercury

actually resting inside
the bone of the shell,

and it's exciting because

it's a very clear association
with Hewson,

the find of mercury
in association

with the bones of a turtle.

NARRATOR: This was
a dramatic turning point

in Professor Hillson's mission

to find the source of the bones
at Craven Street.

He now had compelling proof
they were the result

of William Hewson's work.

Could Benjamin Franklin
be ruled out as a suspect?

As an anatomist, Hewson was
breaking new ground

in medical research.

And his work required
a vital component...

Human corpses to dissect.

But where did they come from?

To answer this question, we must
delve into a disturbing world.

A world where those
at the very forefront

of scientific endeavor
in the mid-18th-century

rubbed shoulders with London's
criminal underworld.

Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris
is an expert

in mid-18th-century
medicine and surgery.

People died from all kinds
of things in the 18th century

that we just don't
die from today,

like smallpox,
consumption, typhus,

and of course, you could die
from really simple things,

like a broken leg
or a broken arm.

If that leg or arm
had to be amputated,

you could die of blood loss,
you could die of shock,

or post-surgical infection.

So, it was a really dangerous
time to live.

Medicine wasn't hugely advanced,

and of course, the understanding
of the body was very different

than how we understand
the body today.

So, for instance,
people believed that

sickness was caused by
an imbalance in humors.

So, you were often bloodlet
to cure yourself.

Some of the stranger treatments
were electric shock therapy,

mesmerism or hypnosis,
mercury treatments.

You could be purged, which was
very unpleasant as well.

Of course, we know today that
probably those treatments

did more harm than good.

HEWSON: Hewson was a man
of the age, and he was

very much involved in
pushing the boundaries

of modern science and medicine.

This was a time that
medicine was becoming

much more of
a professional science,

and it was moving away from
more of the medieval quackery

that had been
previously established.

NARRATOR: But to advance
the science of medicine,

Hewson had to enter a world

that was illegal and unsavory.

Historically, surgery was
regarded by physicians

as a lowly activity,
little more than manual labor.

Its practitioners, unlike
physicians who studied medicine,

had no formal qualifications.

They were known as
barber-surgeons.

So, when you enter
a barber shop today,

you go in for a shave,
you go in for a haircut,

but of course, there was a time

when barbers did
a lot more than that.

They used to pull teeth, they
used to pick lice from the hair,

they'd lance boils,
and they'd do some

minor surgical procedures.

This really started because
monks in the medieval period

weren't allowed to spill blood,
and so the barbers

sort of took over from that,

and they'd go into
the monasteries

and they'd
give the monks haircuts

and they'd also perform these
minor surgical procedures.

NARRATOR: If men like Hewson
were to elevate surgery

from these primitive methods,

then they would
have to understand

the inner workings of the body.

But there was a problem.

Dating back to the era
of Henry VIII,

only universities
and the barber-surgeons

were legally sanctioned
to dissect bodies.

But in 1745,
the barber-surgeons disbanded,

providing a new opportunity

for ambitions young physicians
like Hewson.

At that point, surgery starts
to become more professionalized,

and the surgeons themselves
separate from the barbers

and the barbers start
to just deal with hair,

fingernails, those
kinds of things.

NARRATOR: In this new climate,

as many as 20
private anatomy schools

were set up across London.

And so, what happens is, all
these private anatomy schools

pop up to give medical students
the opportunity to learn anatomy

by dissecting their own cadaver.

NARRATOR: However,
up until this time,

the only bodies legally
available to the barber-surgeons

had been those of
hanged murderers.

FITZHARRIS: People really feared
dissection in the 18th century

because they had
a real literal vision

of the resurrection, of
the body rising after death,

and everything had
to be in its place.

So, the idea of being anatomized
was really horrible, because

your body was dispersed
or kept in containers,

and it wasn't kept all together.

And in fact, you get these
really poignant letters

of criminals before they
die on the scaffold,

and they're writing
letters to their family

begging them to come to their
execution to claim their bodies

lest they fall into
the hands of the surgeons

and be mangled and torn apart.

And it's really awful.
I mean, they actually feared

the dissection almost more than
they feared the death itself.

NARRATOR: But anatomists
needed many more bodies

than the gallows could provide.

With no legal means
of acquiring them,

they were forced to turn
to the criminal underworld.

Their pursuit of knowledge

would fuel a dark
and clandestine profession...

body snatching.

Grave robbers assumed
a twisted name

stolen from
the Christian church.

They became known
as resurrectionists.

Operating under
the cover of night

and armed with
crowbars and shovels,

they scoured graveyards,
plundering bodies

from freshly dug graves
to supply the eager anatomists.

Dr. Simon Chaplin is an expert

in the resurrectionists'
grisly activities.

CHAPLIN: This is Bunhill Field
in the center of London,

one of the last surviving
18th-century burial grounds.

Today, it's surrounded by the
hustle and bustle of the city.

In the 18th century, it was
far more peaceful and quiet.

It also had the other thing
that resurrectionists wanted...

Bodies, and lots of them.

Paupers' graves, where bodies
were laid out in rows...

Easy picking for
the resurrectionists.

NARRATOR: But the
resurrectionists needed

to move swiftly.

People really hated dissection.
They hated the idea of it,

and they certainly hated
the idea of their loved ones

being dug up
without them knowing

and being brought
to the dissection table.

Quite often, family members
would gather round a graveyard

they knew to have
been desecrated

and if the resurrectionists
were caught,

they could expect to be
hounded by the mob.

FITZHARRIS: You get stories
from towns and villages where

it would be discovered
that a body had been stolen,

and all of the relatives
would come to the cemetery

and dig up the graves
of their loved ones

and take the coffins
home with them

until the cemetery
could be made secured.

NARRATOR: To make the process
as quick as possible,

the grave robbers developed
specific techniques

to get the bodies
out of the ground.

Historian Dr. John Troyer
has studied their activities.

Using this representation
of a grave,

he explains the
resurrectionists' methods.

The grave robbers had
a very good system.

It's very efficient,
it's very fast.

They'd take a shovel,
sort of like a spade,

and they would cut the grave
in half this way, mark it out,

and they'd dig the dirt out
from the top half of the grave

just to get to the top
of the actual coffin.

This part here would be
the head of the deceased person.

They were so fast, some of them,
they talked about

being able to do it
in about 8 minutes.

And then they'd put down
the shovel and they'd pick up

some kind of blunt instrument
like this, like a pickaxe,

and what they would do is
they would crack into it.

And then once that was opened,

they'd grab something
like this rope.

Sometimes, the rope
had a hook on it,

but oftentimes they
would just loop it,

put the rope down in the grave,

around the neck of the deceased,

and they'd pull it tight
to pull the person out.

NARRATOR: The practice
was repugnant,

but the law actually governing
the stealing of a body

was surprising.

CHAPLIN: The truth was
in the 18th century,

you couldn't own a body,

and therefore, stealing a body
wasn't a crime.

Stealing the shroud that
the body was wrapped in,

stealing the coffin,
taking grave goods,

trespassing in a graveyard,

they were all crimes.

What they wanted was
the body itself,

so, that's what they took.

So, they'd take off the rings,
they'd take the jewelry,

put it back in,
cover it with dirt,

and they'd be on their way.

Quite often, no one
would be any the wiser

as to whether a body
had been removed.

The grave would be filled in,
smoothed over,

made to look good, so, a lot of
the body snatching went on

without anyone ever
knowing about it.

TROYER: You did
have to be tough.

You had to be
willing to deal with

rather gruesome situations,

particularly if you
cracked open a coffin

and the person had been
dead for too long,

so, it could've been a real...
A decomposing body

or a body who died of smallpox.

There could be any number
of reasons that it was just

absolute disgusting.

NARRATOR: The early anatomists'
need for bodies

drove this underground industry,

and it soon became
highly profitable.

CHAPLIN: All that mattered
to a resurrectionist

was that the body was dead.

Child, adult, old, young,
diseased, or healthy,

it made no difference.

They could sell every body
they got to the anatomists.

FITZHARRIS: The body snatchers
could literally make

a killing off the dead.

They could make as much
as 10 guineas per body,

which was 20 times
the weekly wage

of a silk weaver in
East End of London.

Certainly there were bodies that
were worth more than others.

For instance, if it showed
an interesting pathology,

if there was a deformity
that was very obvious

to the body snatchers.

A pregnant woman would
fetch a huge amount.

So, body snatchers
would be very excited

if they came across
something that was unusual.

NARRATOR: The industry
was as cutthroat

as it was lucrative.

I like to think of
the body snatchers

as the gangs of New York.

They're always
fighting each other

and trying to come up with ways
of undermining each other.

If a body snatcher
knew that a surgeon

was buying from somebody else,

he might deliberately try and

bring down the authorities
on that surgeon

rather than the body snatchers.

Dumping a body outside
his house, for example,

so that it might be
discovered by his neighbors

and cause a hue and cry.

These were the kinds of tactics

that resurrectionists
engaged in.

NARRATOR: But as
skilled as they were,

sometimes the law did
catch up with them.

FITZHARRIS: Well, people
were certainly prosecuted,

but the punishment
was relatively low

in comparison to how much
money could be made.

So, you might end up in jail
for a couple months,

but during that time,
a lot of anatomists

also contained
to pay the families

that the body snatchers
left behind.

NARRATOR: These activities
seemed far removed

from the high ideals of the men
of the Enlightenment,

like Benjamin Franklin.

So, how did his friend and
fellow scientist William Hewson

become embroiled in this dark,
clandestine world,

and what involvement did
Franklin himself have?

Hewson came to London to study
at the renowned anatomy school

of William and John Hunter.

He moved into lodgings
at the school

and became their apprentice.

His job was to prepare
the specimens

that would be used for lectures
given by William Hunter,

one of the most progressive
surgeons of the day.

Barts Pathology Museum in London

houses some of these
18th-century specimens.

These specimens
were typical of what

Hewson would've been
making as an anatomist,

and you have all kinds
of wonderful examples

of diseases in here.

For instance, you have
a human heart,

and chances are this person
died of a heart attack.

And again, the surgeon
wouldn't have been

able to do anything to prevent
this heart attack, necessarily,

because they couldn't have
done internal surgery,

but by studying this specimen,

they'd understand the causes
of the heart attack.

You also have examples
of diseases that people

just don't die from today.

So, for instance,
here you have gallstones.

And of course, people
still get gallstones,

they get kidney stones,
they get urinary stones,

but we can remove them
a lot more effectively.

But in the past, people died
from this all the time,

and if you note, the stones
are quite large,

and that had a lot to do
with the 18th-century diet.

NARRATOR: Hewson created
thousands of specimens like this

for anatomy lectures
and lessons.

By stripping away the layers
of flesh and muscle

to reveal organs,
blood vessels, and bones,

anatomists came to understand
how the body worked.

Hewson wouldn't have just had
wet specimens in his collection.

He would've had
dry specimens as well,

and quite a few
skeletal remains.

This is a great example
of rickets,

which was caused by
a Vitamin D deficiency,

and you can really see the
curvature of the bone here.

And having a specimen like this
would've taught anatomists

about the condition,
about the consequences

of the Vitamin D deficiency,

and it was a very
common condition

in the 18th and 19th centuries.

NARRATOR: But there
was no escaping

the unsavory nature of this
kind of medical investigation.

This is an example
of a dry specimen,

and as you can see, the body's
been shellacked,

and it's a great teaching tool
for the vascular system,

but it's also the body
of a child.

For me, this is a very
poignant specimen,

because we don't know
where the child came from.

The child was likely
body-snatched.

Of course, the anatomists
needed specimens like this

to learn about anatomy,

but also this was a real person,

this was a real child who died,

and medicine owes a huge debt

to these people
who were dissected

in the 18th and 19th centuries.

NARRATOR: By 1771, Hewson was
making a name for himself

as an anatomist.

He was now a fellow
of the Royal Society,

married to Polly, and a great
friend of Benjamin Franklin.

But after 10 years of working
alongside William Hunter,

the two men had a very public
falling-out,

forcing Benjamin Franklin
to intervene.

He even mediated in a dispute

over who owned the preparations,

the preserved body parts

that Hewson and Hunter
had made together.

NARRATOR: Franklin was
busy as a diplomat

for the American colonies,

but he still felt
compelled to help his friend

resolve this issue.

He wrote many letters
back and forth to the two,

trying to understand
their sides of view.

He ultimately wrote an agreement
with the purpose of,

you know, preventing
this quarrel,

but ultimately, it didn't work,
and the two continued to fight.

NARRATOR: Hewson
had had enough,

and he and Hunter
parted company.

[Ringing]

He moved with
Polly and their young son

into her family home,
36 Craven Street.

Now, without a job,
Hewson decided to build

his own anatomy theater.

He found the perfect location...
The back of 36 Craven Street.

The house was ideally situated.

Tyburn, the infamous gallows

where public hangings
were conducted,

was just half a mile away.

Hungerford Dock, where dead bodies
from ships could be acquired,

was just at the end
of the street,

and a graveyard was
located behind the house.

It meant that body snatchers
could bring in bodies

from the docks,
from the workhouses,

from the graveyards
very efficiently.

[Knocking on door]

Could bring them
through the back door

and into his anatomy school.

NARRATOR: Hewson would
give lectures

and conduct anatomy classes
with the students,

but conditions were far
from the clinical standards

we expect today.

18th-century medical schools
were noisome, smelly,

messy places.

FITZHARRIS: These bodies
would have been in advanced

states of decomposition
in some cases.

A body literally
begins to decompose

the moment it dies,

and gases build up in the gut.

Things start to liquefy
quite quickly.

The other thing is that if
a corpse was on the table,

until you open up that corpse,
you might not realize

how advanced the decomposition
was until that point.

So, for instance, the anatomist
Hewson might open up a body

and find that the internal
organs had already liquefied

and that there's really no
purpose on going any further

with the dissection.

CHAPLIN: The anatomist
and his students

had to inure themselves
to the smell

and to the experience of working
on these decomposing bodies.

FITZHARRIS: Well, it was
William Hunter who said that

a person had to have
a necessary inhumanity

in order to perform dissections
and to perform surgeries.

And I think that
that really captures

exactly what was going on
with these medical students.

You did have to overcome
something in yourself

when you first saw
that dead body laid out

and you had to cut into it.

NARRATOR: All the remains
uncovered by Hillson in the pit

bear the marks of dissection,

consistent with the work
being conducted

by Hewson and his students
at the Craven Street school.

HILLSON: Taking the top
of the skull off

is one of the classic things
that's done at the postmortem.

What happens is they
cut straight down

through the rest of the skull
so the skull is in two halves

and students can
see the arrangement

of all the different
bones inside.

The brain would literally
have been lifted out,

presumably in their hands.

We don't have the rest
of this particular skull.

I don't think we've got
any other pieces that match up,

so, we don't really know

whether this was
the first thing they did

when they made the dissection.

They were supplied with different
parts at different times,

and it's perfectly possible
this was just a head.

NARRATOR: But what
of Benjamin Franklin?

Did he know the extent
of what was happening

at Hewson's anatomy school?

I think it would be very
unlikely that he'd be unaware.

I mean, just considering
the smells alone

of being so close
to a dissection room.

BALISCIANO: He certainly
knew about the anatomy school

that was here.

Franklin knew everything that
was going on on Craven Street,

and he would've been
very interested

in Hewson's experiments.

It must be the case that
he knew what was going on.

He was a fellow of
the Royal Society.

There were doctors there,
there were surgeons there.

He... and he was a man who...
He asked a lot of questions.

He was a polymath, so,
he was bound to know.

NARRATOR: But why would
such an important figure

have condoned not just
the gruesome activities

but also the lengths to which
men like Hewson went

to acquire bodies?

It wasn't particularly pleasant
but it was necessary,

and if you wanted to
understand people's bodies

and help in improving
the human condition,

which is one of the great
missions of science,

you have to understand things
before you can make them better.

CHAPLIN: What comes out
in the 18th century

are advances in
the understanding of anatomy,

the structure of the body,

understanding physiology,

how the body works,

and understanding pathology...

What disease looks like
in the body.

All of these things contribute
to a better understanding

of how the body works.

The big difference
it makes, of course,

is to surgery.

It leads to advances
in the practice of surgery,

specific operations,
but more generally,

it breeds a group of surgeons

who are confident when it comes
to wielding the scalpel,

because they've practiced
on dead bodies.

When it comes to operating
on live patients,

they know exactly
what they're doing.

FITZHARRIS: These are
instruments from Hewson's period.

They would've been
used both for surgery

as well as for dissection.

Here you have various
amputation knives.

It was really important for
them to learn how to do this

on dead people, on cadavers
in the dissection theater

while they're not struggling
or screaming out in agony

or bleeding.

So, you have an example there.

You also have the bone saw.

And one of my favorite
instruments in this collection

is this tiny, little bone saw,

and this would've been used
to amputate fingers or toes.

We know that when a surgeon
operates on us,

when doctor sees us,
they've been taught anatomy.

That wasn't always true.

It was through the work of
people like William Hewson

that anatomy as we
understand it today

came to become part
of medical education.

Someone like Franklin
would have been appreciative

of the kind of knowledge
that was being created

through dissection
and through experiment.

NARRATOR: Hewson himself made
significant medical advances.

He discovered
the lymphatic system

existed not just in humans but
also in amphibious creatures

and birds.

He isolated fibrinogen
as a key protein

in the coagulation of blood,

and he identified the true shape
of red blood cells.

Before this, they had
been known as globules,

and they were thought to be
spherical in nature.

But Hewson used the microscope
to look at them

and said, "Why, no,
they're flat and skinny."

So, for all of these
amazing accomplishments,

Hewson is currently known today
as the father of hematology.

NARRATOR: Hewson's school
provided him

with a thriving business
to support his growing family.

His classes were very popular,

and pupils paid up to 10 guineas
for a series of courses.

By 1774, two years after
establishing his venture,

Franklin's friend and protege
was considered a great success.

But then tragedy struck.

While dissecting a body,
Hewson cut himself.

He developed a fever
and fell gravely ill.

5 days later, he called
his wife to his bedside

and he said, "Take care
of our children."

I must bid you farewell."

And then he actually ended up
developing septicemia

and he passed away
on the first of May.

NARRATOR: Hewson was
just 34 years old.

It doesn't surprise me that
Hewson dies this way because

there are other examples
of anatomists or students

dying of septicemia
when they cut their hand

accidentally during
a dissection.

Of course, there's no real
concept of bacteria or germs

at this time.

NARRATOR: Franklin
was devastated

by the death of this young man,
his close friend.

One of the saddest letters that

Franklin writes
from Craven Street

is about the death
of William Hewson

to his wife Deborah.

MAN AS FRANKLIN: Our family here
is in great distress.

Poor Mrs. Hewson
lost her husband

and Mrs. Stevenson
her son-in-law.

He was an excellent man...

Ingenious, industrious, useful,

and beloved by all
that knew him.

She's left with
two young children

and a third soon expected.

He was just established in
a profitable, growing business

with the best prospects
of bringing up

his young family advantageously.

They were a happy couple.

All their schemes of life
are now overthrown.

I just love this letter
because in the first line,

it talks about "our family
here is in great distress,"

and this just goes
to show how close

Franklin was with the Hewsons.

He had a great deal
of respect for Hewson

and was deeply affected
by his death.

NARRATOR: This personal
tragedy coincided

with a crisis in Franklin's
political career.

It became clear that
reconciliation between

Britain and the colonies
was not possible.

As he began to understand
his countrymen's

desire for independence,

Franklin decided he
needed to leave London

and return to Philadelphia.

BALISCIANO: I think
he does leave London

with a very heavy heart.

This was such an exciting
place for him to be.

He had great friendships here

and he had worked so long
to achieve something

that, in the end,
he couldn't make happen.

NARRATOR: Franklin's time
in London came to an end,

but not his relationship with
the Craven Street residence.

He left Britain to make history,

dedicating his life
to establishing America

as an independent nation,

first as a diplomat in France

and later when he returned
to Philadelphia.

But despite this crucial work,

he didn't completely
leave Craven Street

or the Hewsons behind.

A new chapter began.

After Polly's mother
passed away in 1783,

Benjamin Franklin
wrote her a letter

and invited her to come
to Philadelphia

to be his neighbor.

In 1786, Polly decided to move
her family to Philadelphia,

and there they remained.

Polly became a kind
of daughter to him,

and so, it's only natural that

he would want her to be
with him in Philadelphia

after the end of hostilities.

When Franklin dies in 1790,

Polly is in Philadelphia

and supposedly comes
to his bedside,

and all her descendants become
American because of Franklin.

NARRATOR: But Franklin's
legacy went further.

He encouraged
Polly and William's son

to follow in his
father's footsteps.

Thomas Hewson became
a prominent physician.

Now, since William Hewson,
there have been

5 more generations
of Hewson physicians,

and I'm very proud to say
that I am a direct descendant

of William and Polly.

I'm currently in my last year
of studying medicine

and I'm very excited
to be continuing this legacy

within the Hewson family.

NARRATOR: Melissa Hewson
and her father Ted

have collected information
related to

the Hewson family history

dating back to
William and Polly.

TED HEWSON: This marriage
certificate between

William Hewson and Polly,

signed by Benjamin Franklin.

MELISSA HEWSON:
Isn't that incredible?

And I think that
just goes to show

how close he was with them
during their marriage.

And then these are multiple
letters that were written.

This is actually
an original letter

written in William
Hewson's writing.

This is an original
that was written

to Mr. William Hewson.

It says, "Teacher of
anatomy at Craven Street."

Now, this was the first edition

of Hewson's research
to be published.

It talks about his research on the
blood, the lymphatics.

We were just talking about
how he injected mercury

into the dead turtle,

and this is an
illustration of that.

As far as physicians,
he was just one of many

in the Hewson lineage,
from certainly William

to Thomas.

Anno. Anno, Jr.
William.

And James.

And Melissa's as well, right?
[Laughs]

In one year.
And coming... Melissa.

[Laughs]
First female.

We'll have to expand that frame.

Second redhead.
[Laughs]

MELISSA HEWSON: As a small
child, I grew up hearing

stories from my grandfather
about these amazing

men of medicine.

Hearing these stories
certainly created in me

a desire to study
in the field of medicine.

And I have to say,
when I get married,

I don't think I'll ever be able
to change my professional name.

Being called Dr. Hewson
on a daily basis

will continue to remind me
of how truly amazing it is

to bear the Hewson name.

NARRATOR: The bones
at Craven Street

are symbolic of a remarkable
chapter in medical history.

The macabre activities
of the body snatchers

belie the important
work that was done

to create a profession based on
science, logic, and evidence.

The Hewson family
just loves the story

of the Craven Street bones,

and I have to say
it's the type of story

that we tell again and again around
the dinner table with friends.

So, it's a very unique story
to have attached to our name

and we just love it.

NARRATOR: But it's
also provided insight

into the life and character
of Benjamin Franklin.

MOORE: I think that
the Craven Street bone pits

are part of Franklin's
story, yes.

I do think that
the material there

is a window on a particular
time and place

and it really says that
science was important

and necessary.

I think the discovery of
the Craven Street bones

reveals just how tightly
Franklin was enmeshed

in the medical and scientific
world of 18th-century London.

And it was through that
cross-fertilization of ideas,

bringing together someone
who was an entrepreneur,

a philosopher, together with
physicians and surgeons

that led to such great advances
in human knowledge.

We get a kind of 3-for-one deal
with Benjamin Franklin House.

We get the incredible character
of Benjamin Franklin.

We get a beautiful Grade One
simple Georgian building,

and we also get the roots
of medical history

with the Craven Street bones.

NARRATOR: But this is a deeply
personal story, too.

It shines a light
on the relationship

Benjamin Franklin had
with the people he considered

a second family.

By bringing Polly
and her children

to live near him
in Pennsylvania,

Franklin started
the Hewson family

on a new path in a new country.

MELISSA HEWSON: So, I have
to say that every time

the Hewson family comes
to see Franklin's grave,

it's a very special
moment for us.

Our family is just filled
with deep emotion of gratitude.

We look at Ben Franklin
and we see

someone who's responsible
for bringing us

where we are today,
and I think that's just

an incredible history.