The Skeleton at Constant Street

​By M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
On Halloween, 1900, Sanitary Chief George Walker made a startling discovery while conducting a house to house inspection. He came upon the skeleton of a woman. It was in the rear of a vacant house at 817 Constant Street, Tampa. This neighborhood was known as the Scrub.

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D.W. Culp (Source - FindaGrave)

The bones were not white and polished such as the one ones used by physicians or medical students. They were dark and a little charred, as if the flesh had been recently burned from them. Wisps of wavy, fine reddish brown hair still clung to the skull.

​It appeared the skeleton had been buried in the trash pile and disturbed by prowlers.

The house was built on the plan of a store and had been unoccupied for several months.

The last steady occupants had been Dr. Daniel W. Culp (1852-1918), and an undertaker with the last name of Green. Dr. Culp had suddenly left Tampa in June, 1899 after the mysterious death of M.J. Christopher, and he could not be located in order to shed some light on the mystery. It was believed that his "intimacy with Christopher would lead to evil results to himself", thus the reason why he made himself scarce in Tampa.

After the undertaker, there was a grocery story, and another unnamed business.

The premises adjoined one of Tampa's most notorious brothels known as Madame Hilda Raymond.

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Sheriff T.K. Spencer (Source - FindaGrave)

​A report of the discovery was made to Chief Robert of the police department and to Sheriff T.K. Spencer (1846-1901).

Visitors came to the courthouse to view the remains, but none could identify who the bones belonged to.

An examination of the skeleton confirmed the theory of foul play, since it seemed the flesh had been eaten from the bones by the use of some acid. There was also a rancid odor suggesting that death had not been that long before. It was judged she could not have been dead no more than 3 or 4 months.

Dave Bradley who lived in the area, was the only one who could offer information on the subject. He said that Green the undertaker had once spoken to him about a skeleton which Dr. Culp possessed, and which the doctor had left on the premises when he moved from the city.

There were two theories held by the police. Sheriff Spencer believed the skeleton was left behind by Dr. Culp, and was thrown into the yard when he left

Deputy Sheriff Jack Stephens thought the hair clinging to the skull, had been pasted on as a questionable decoration, and wasn't the person's original hair.

They did not believe it was proof of foul play.

Chief of Police Roberts believed the skeleton was that of a murder victim. He said the hair and smell of recent decomposition meant it was not left behind by Dr. Culp, and also the fact that it was stained and not polished like anatomical bones.

There was no clothing found at the scene to lend a clue. Also there was no fractures or other evidence of injury on the skeleton.

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Story of the skeleton found in the Scrub c.1900 (Source - The Daily Tribune)

There had been no mysterious disappearances of women in the city in recent times; at least none reported.

Chief Walker said the trash heap had been removed and another one substituted during the seven days prior to the discovery. He said that the alley had been thoroughly cleared of rubbish on the Monday previous.

It was believed the skeleton had been burned, but no one could verify where it was burned at. Now there was a question if the rubbish heap had originated at another place, and had been brought there.

Despite there being evidence that the woman had not died from natural causes, and her remains were burned by acid to probably disguise her identity, the investigation never went beyond the initial discovery of her bones.

It also appeared to be pointedly overlooked that she was found right next to a brothel.

In 1903, a 20-year-old prostitute named Mamie Foster killed herself by drinking three ounces of carbolic acid. When her family refused to pay for her funeral, Hilda Raymond footed the bill.

Perhaps the skeleton was a woman who had died, not by her own hand but by another's. It could have been murder, or even the result of a botched abortion. Either way, Hilda might have been a soft touch with her "girls", but the last thing she needed was the law in her establishment poking around about a dead prostitute.

Hilda Raymond, one of the most infamous madams in Tampa, outlived all of those involved in the short-lived investigation of the skeleton in the Scrub. By 1914, she identified her self as Mrs. G.D. Bryan and had moved to Baltimore.

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