Human bones dug up during office renovation

By DAVE ACHONDO
Desk Editor

A LAWYER has revealed a chilling find while construction workers were renovating his office on Archbishop Hayes St. near Corrales St.: skeletal remains of a person believed to have been beheaded.

Lawyer James Judith said the bone fragments were discovered by workers this Oct. 18 during the renovation of his law office.

Judith said the workers dug a hole to lay down a foundation and were shocked to see more than soil and stone.

He said the workers also found a frayed leather belt and two broken beer bottles that had the  brands “Dai Nippon Brewery Ltd.” and the other “R& Co. 15.”

Dai Nippon Brewery Ltd. was a Japanese company that was founded in 1906, said Judith.

Judith said the bone fragments were brought to Dr. Erlinda Burton of Xavier University for examination. He quoted Burton as telling him: “In my line of work, I have come across so many of these things to be certain that these are indeed human bone fragments.”

Burton inspected the site and theorized that the bones could date back as early 1898 to 1945.

Judith speculated that it could belong to a Spaniard, an American, Japanese or a native Kagay-anon.

He said he even suspected the area is a “secret grave site” used by Japanese soldiers to bury their headless enemies. The lawyer noted that his office is a spitting distance from Xavier’s Lucas Hall, believed to have been used by the Japanese in torturing prisoners.

“Whatever the holes might yield, one thing for sure is that I am on hallowed grounds,” said Judith.