Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1847-12-03
From the Foreign Correspondence 9fthe Boston
alias.
Frankfort on The Maine.

The city Of Frankfort has been visited and
described so many times, that it is useless to
dwell upon it. Yet, after so many descrip-
tons, it still preserves a subject full of inter-
est-the chamber oil the dead, in the cemetery
of Frankfort. Much has been said Of this
cemetry, in connection with precipitate in
terIuents. So much has been said about il,
that even the French Minister, who is not
easily moved, has sent thither an agent, char
ged with making an investigation into the
matter. They give the name of the chamber
Of the Dead in the cemetery Of Frankfort,
to a range Of buildings, in which six cells,
consecrated to the dead, are arranged around
a small hall, occupied by a watcher. They
leave the dead in their winding sheets, and
place them on an iron frame. Above, attach
ed to slender threads, hang ten copper thin.
bles. They insert into these thimbles the
thumbs and fingers of each hand of The
corpse. The threads are each connected with
a small bell in the chamber Of the watcher.
At the least movement that agitates the
thread, the bell emits a clear peal, a signal Of
resurrection which the watcher cannot fail to
hear. This watcher is not allowed to sleep
during the night, and in order to be sure that
he religiously keeps his watch, there is in his
room a clock, very ingeniously constructed.
At tlt lilUulent tdCH nOuT Is ABOUT 10 8LTlhe,
the watcher must press on the face of that
clock a needle or indicis, like that which the
drivers of our Partisan omnibusses press
every time a traveller enters their CARRIAGE
This needle, obedient to a secret mechanism,
cannot be moved after the hour has struck,
or before the exact moment; the watcher is,
therefore, obliged TO watch with care for this
moment, and to thus keep himself in a state
of constant vigilance. Each Of these cells is
warmed by a small furnace, and ventilated
from above, where are four small windows,
opening to the four cardinal points. The
salubrity of the air is kept up by a small
stream of chlorined water, constantly flowing
under the coffin. A thermometer indicates
whether the temperature of the cell is main
tanned at a proper elevation. If the person
be only in a lethargy, and awakens, he is
transported into an apartment, where every
thing is arranged 10 receive him; there is a
good bed, a bathing tub, warm clothes, a phar-
macopeIa, and a physician. The chamber
OF the dead is for the sake Of poor persons,
and for strangers who die there aiar from their
family. For the rich, these precautions are
useless; for, among these classes, it is re,
quiied that the dead shall be kept in theiI
houses until decomposition has taken place,
the only certain guarantee Of the reality o.
the death. In this way the dead are KEEP
three, five. and even seven or eight days.
But among the poor, who often have only
one room for a whole family, the dead canno
thus be kept. They are Immediately trans
ported to these rooms. The same is done Il
strangers, not only because they cannot re
quire without great inconvenience, the keep
ing a corpse in a furnished hotel, but also be
cause, no person being interested in the dead
they would be but poorly watched, and
might escape notice if there were any sign
of lethargy, or a return to life, which the mos
prompt and enlightened attentions alone ca
render durable.