“What are you talking about?,” asked a perplexed Physick.
“Doctor (Benjamin) Rush has died".
”Yes,” said the stranger.”For $20 I can get his body for you.”
Maybe it was this incident (or maybe the story is a myth) that made Physick totally paranoid that his body might be dug up and sold to surgeons for dissection.
More likely it was watching stolen bodies being cut up as a medical student in England and then doing the same himself as a great surgeon that sparked the paranoia.
Physick’s will reveals the obsession. A section of his will, dealing with his own burial, is reproduced and displayed at the Physick House on 4th street near Pine.
It says he wants his body wrapped in flannel and left in a warm room for six days. In other words, until his cadaver starts to stink. Then, he wants his body placed in a lead casket that would be soldered shut, and then placed in a wood coffin.
Finally, he wanted a guard on his grave for a full month.
Physick died in 1836. It’s unlikely all his conditions were met. He was buried at Christ Church Burial Grounds, 5th and Arch. We assume no one has ever tried to steal his body.