Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1847-03-12
MOrgue, or DCld-lI0lSC Of Paris.

M0rgue, or DCld-ll0lSC OF Paris.
The foreign correspondent of the Newark
Observer gives the following account of that
philantliropic structure in Paris called the
Morgue, to which are conveyed the bodies Of
all unknown persons, who meet with acct
dental or violent deaths. If not claimed by
any friend, they remain there three days, and
then are inferred at the public expense. The
number thus annually brought is about three
hundred, of which one-siAih only are female.
DR.. A. X. Gardner of New York, is the cor
respondent, and writes as below:
Near the Pont st. Michael is situated a
| structure, which attracts the notice of every
stranger visiting the city, in consequence of
the publications of travellers; and yet is a
J building, possessing no interest in ITSELF
Composed of stone, but without pretension,
plain, and even insignificant, without a sign
or flag, or any thing else TO distinguish it,
every body would be in danger Of overlook
ing one of the most extraordinary rlaces in
Paris, were it not for the numbers of people
seen constantly entering and soon returning
from the enclosure. Following the multitude
to-day, | entered Il small room divided into
two parts by q glass partition, from which
the company is prevented from making too
near an approach by an iron railing. The
crowd of dirty blouses, charcoal-men, wash
er-women, market-wonen, and hucksters of
all sorts, is SO great that we are kept for some
time at a little distance. \ quantity of clothes
is hanging on nails around this apartment;
such as are near, are Of poor quality-an Old
cap, and the well-worn garments Of a man,
having the appearance of being rough dried,
full of wrinkles and much soiled. Beyond
these, in the middle, hangs the apparel of a
woman; a pretty o~pen-worked straw bonnet
with a neat riband, u Grape shawl, a dress of
white cambria, and body linen of fine tex
ture from all Of which the water is dripping.
Still farther on, are the garments of a man,
of costly materials, but dabbled with blood.
Iron frames, supporting inclined boards to the
number of eight or ten, We're arranged round
the room, into which we had looked. On
these, directly underneath the collection Of
clothes, were outstretched the bodies of their
wearers, stripped naked with the exception of
a slight covering Of small size about the
loins. Of these unfortunates, after inquiry,I
obtained the following account:
The character Of the first might be read
without much difficulty in his red and bIoated
| face, bearing indelible traces of the ravaCes
of strong drink. lie had been drawn from. the
Seine, ,nto which he had thrown himself, or
unintentionally fallen. The body had evil
IDENTIFY remained some days in the river, end
becoming thus putrescent, a constant shower
of water was projected upon it from a cock,
which was fixed over it, as well as all the
other inclined frames. The owner of the
feminine apparel was a young girl of about
twenty-five years, and more than commonly
handsome. Her delicate features were as
white as marble, contrasting strongly with
her hair of jetty black, which fell in deranged
but most luXuriant masses upon her beauti-
full shoulders and naked breasts. She had
just been taken from the water, and there she
lay in such beautiful repose, that, but for the
associations OF the place, one might have inn
agined her a nereid in placid slumber. The
morning papers gave her name and history.
She was not a goddess, but only a poor gri-
settle, who earned a meagre subsistence by
daily labor. She was employed in a shop ia
sell goods, and had lived in pleasant harmo-
ny with a young clerk in the same establish.
ment many years. But ~lat:erly, it seemed,
he felt her charms to be less attractive, and
growing tired of her society, he had foment-
ed a dispute on purpose to effect a separation
and so lie left her to seek another companion.
The poor girl, however, being not gifted with
the same selfish facility, or heartless infdeli-
ty, found herself unable 10 support the es.
arrangement, and sought a reconciliation
But in vain. Her false lover had accom-.
plished his object, and, thus abandoned, she
felt that the only way
"To bring repentance to her lover,
And wiring his heart-strings, was 10 die
A leap from the Pont Neuf, where the swift
Seine runs most rapidly, and all was over.
The other body was a Spaniard from tn,
West Indies. A long purse in Paris very
shortly exhibits to view the terrible epitaph
"Mene, tekel, upharsin,'
but when the gambler puts his fingers int,
it, the catastrophe is too sudden to admitany
premonilion. Constant losses had nearly ex
hausied the ample funds of this unhappy
young man, when one day in the privat
apartment of a cafe, the report Of a pistol wa
heard, and he was instantly found dead, hav
ing his head shockingly nangled by this aw
full act of self-destruction
COZ SUCH is THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN