Regarding the Ghost Guard, it was a name applied to us by Neil Morgan,  
editor of the San Diego Union and Evening Tribune newspapers.  Following news 
stories about the investigation of the 1782 chapel and  inadvertent discovery of 
graves chopped through the tile floor, vandals  hopped the chainlink fence and 
stomped the contents of at least one grave,  crushing human bones and 
disturbing the provenience of buttons and plant  remains. Of course, in retrospect, it 
was pretty stupid to allow newspapers  to cover the exposure of the graves, 
but at the time the San Diego  Historical Society only saw good publicity. While 
they scrambled for money to  pay for electrified alarms and lighting, a dozen 
students volunteered to stand  guard over the chapel and cemetery from dusk 
to dawn. I worked the midnight to  daybreak shift, as I had school during the 
day and a night job that lasted until  11:30 pm. We worked in pairs and my 
counterpart was an Air Force veteran  from the Viet Nam War who has all sorts of 
tricks to scare the vandals. At one  point when a gang of thugs tried to climb 
over the fence, he lighted off a  firecracker behind a megaphone and then 
yelled, "The next shot goes for  yer innards!" All the thugs dropped to the garden 
like stones and vanished  into the bushes. Another guy put a car horn and 
battery down in one of the  graves and, so we understood, the vandal was so 
stunned, the police  arrived in time to arrest him. I drew a cartoon of the Ghost 
Guard  that still exists in my field notebook that San Diego State University 
archives  for scholarly research. So goes the tale of the Ghost Guard.
 
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc. 
 
 
In a message dated 6/23/2008 1:43:59 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

Thanks  Ron, we'll check this out. Ghost guard sounds like quite  something!

best,
Nan
Quoting Ron May  <[log in to unmask]>:

> Nan,
>
> There was a  1968-1975 excavation of a Spanish and Mexican cemetery at the
> Royal  Presidio de San Diego de Cosoy (San Diego, California). Paul H. Ezell
>  wrote a brief article in the Journal of San Diego History but there is   no
> archaeology report. I recall Lois Lippold examined the  skeletal   
> material, but  I
> never saw a copy  of her report. There are some minor articles on baby
> interrments in a  side chapel of the 1782 church. I also think Ezell   
>  published  something
> on the 1849 grave of Henry Delano Fitch  (related to Franklin Delano
> Roosevelt), which might also be in the  Journal of San Diego History.  
>  I  worked as
>  field crew during the cemetery investigation between 1968 and 1971 and   
even
> served as a "Ghost Guard" in 1969, when vandals jumped the  security   
>  fences and a
> 24-hour guard was  needed to protect the cemetery. You might contact  Lynn
> Gamble at  San Diego State University, Department of Anthropology for   
>   articles and
> reports. She can be found at  [log in to unmask]
> (mailto:[log in to unmask])  . I was  present in  1975 when Ezell   
> repatriated all the  skeletons back
> in the cemetery in  approximately the same  locations from which they were
> removed.
>
> Ron  May
> Legacy 106, Inc.
>
>
> In a message dated  6/23/2008 12:52:58 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
> [log in to unmask]  writes:
>
> Hi  all,
>
> First I want to thank  the many respondants who answered my (and  Diana
> Wall's) query  last year about urban site reports. We are  working our
> way thru  the material you sent and it has been very  helpful.
>
> We  have another question: does anyone know of excavations in  white  or
> Euro-american cemeteries? We have information from   African-American
> cemeteries, and there are gravestone studies  from  Euro-American
> cemeteries but we cannot find examples of  excavation  in the latter
> (which is interesting, of  course).
>
> Thansk again  for any information you  have,
>
> best,
> Nan
>
> Nan A.   Rothschild
>
> Research Professor
> Barnard College
>  212  854-4315
>
> Director of Museum Studies
> Columbia  University
> 212   854-4977
>
>
>
>
>
> **************Gas  prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for
> fuel-efficient used  cars.        
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>



Nan  A. Rothschild

Research Professor
Barnard College
212  854-4315

Director of Museum Studies
Columbia University
212  854-4977





**************Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for 
fuel-efficient used cars.      (http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007)