The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-25 00:00:00

CHOLERA AND CEMETERIES.

Nowadays, with that dreadful scourge of the
Cholera lurking in the bye-lanes of the metropolis,
it may not be inadvisable to recal a few startling
facts about Deaths and Burials to the popular re-
collection. Trite many of them are—but even the
tritest of them seem to be forgotten.
It was observed in a recent number of the
Builder—" The cholera is proceedino. in London in
its fatal course; death appears in the old spots,
and under the usual sanitary conditions, and the
measures adopted are not yet equal to the emer-
gency. Foremost amongst the steps urgently re-
quired, we would place the removal and avoidance
of cesspools, the closing of graveyards, and arrange-
ments for the speedy and proper burial of the dead."
In testimony of the necessity for the latter course
of proceeding just now, the subjoined incident was
thereupon recounted by our contemporary :
A FOUL ABOMINATION.
" A fatal case of cholera occurred a few days since in
Ashby-street, close to the Paradise' of King's-cross—a
street without any drainage, and full of cesspools, alread
mentioned in the Builder. This death took place in the
back parlour on the ground floor abutting on the yard con-
taining a foul cesspool and entrapped drain, and where
the broken pavement, when pressed with the foot, yielded
a black, pitchy, half-liquid matter in all directions. The
inhabitants, although Irish, agreed to attend to all advice
given to them as far as they were able, and a coffin was
offered to them by the parish. They said that they would like
to wait until the next morning (it was on Thursday even-
ing that the woman died), as the son was anxious, if he
could raise the money, to bury his mother himself ; but they
agreed, conti ary to their custom on such occasions, to lock
up the corpse at twelve o'clock at night and allow no one
to be in the room. On Friday, the day after death, the
woman was buried, and so far it was creditable to
these poor people, since they gave up their own de-
sires and customs which bade them retain the body.
Is what followed equally creditable to the arrangements in
St. Pancras ? We think not. This corpse was brought to
Old St. Pancras graveyard, when, will it be believed, it
was actually placed near the top of a pit 20 feet deep, con-
taining two rows of full-grown coffins, which from time
to time had been placed there until the pile reached within
a few feet of the surface. The effluvium from this pit was
abominable ; children were packed into the corners, so
that not an inch of ground might be lost ; and here during
Saturday all this pitful of dead bodies, some of whom had,
perhaps, fallen by fever and small-pox, together with the
woman who had died of cholera, were left without a
sprinkling of earth upon them. n the Saturday after-
noon the hole remained uncovered, waiting for more. Pro-
bably on Sunday the complement was obtained and the
heap was made complete ; and then a few spadefuls of soil
would be thrown over this mass of corruption to hide it
from sight. Surely not a day should be lost in putting a
stop to such disgraceful and dangerous proceedings. Who
can, with justice, find fault with the improvidence and
obstinacy of the poor when we see such doings on the part
of those who are in authority and ought to be better in-
formed ?"

Does anybody feel amazement at this—regarding
it as scarcely credible ? Let them remember that
ten years ago—not in 1853, but in 1843—the same
kind of atrocities were inveighed against by one of
the most eloquent, and earnest, and practical of
living philanthropists. Listen to this letter to the
Lancet, written on the 28th of November, 1843
and which may not inaptly be headed