The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1848-07-17
DEALINGS with the Dead.

/ been
in the excavation; and for hundreds of wears tbe
material had been Withdrawn, until the danger be-
/ came manifest There was sort Of vagne popr
lar impression, that these quarries extended under
large part of the city. In l774 the notice of the
authorities was called TO some accidents connected
with the subject. The quarries were then careful
ly examined, by skillul engineers and the startling
fact clearly established, that the southern parts Of
| Paris were actually undermined and in danger OF
| destruction In I777 special commission was ap-
pointed, to direct such works. might be necessa-
! ry. On the very day of its appointment the neces-
sIty became manifest-a house, IN the Rue d Enter
/ sunk ninety-two feet The alam-the fear of
| sudden engulfment was terrible. Operatives Were
set at work to prop the streets, roads, palaces, and
churches The supports left by the quarries, with
out any method or Judgment, were lnsu1icient-in
some instances they had given way and the roof had
| settled. Great fear was felt for the aqueduct of
Arcuei which supplied the fountains Of Paris and
which passed over this ground, tor-it had already
| suffered some severe shocks and it was appre
| hended not simply that the fountains would be cut
off, but that the torrent would pour itself into these
immense caverns. And now the reader will en-
quire, what relation has this statement to the cata-
combs Let Us reply:
For hundreds of years Paris had but one place
of inierment, the Cemetery daS IRRoceaS. This
was once n, part of the royal domains it lay
| without the walls of Paris and was given bV one
! Of the earlier kings TO the citizens for burying-
! place. 1t is well known thar this gift TO the people
was intended TO prevent the continuance of the
4 practice, then common in Paris, OF buryng the
dead in cellars, courts gardens, streets and public
fields within the city proper In ] lS6 this ceTne-
terry was surrounded with high wall by Philip
! Augustus, the forty-second King of France. 1t
was soon found Insufficient for its purpose and in
l2lS, il enlarged by Pierre de NeInOUrs, Bishop
OF Paris. Generation after generation were depos-
! lied there, stratum SupeT-StrGtUR until the sur
rounding Parishes in the fifteenth century, began to
| complain of the evil as an insRiferable nuisance.
| such colossal mass OF putresence produced dis
| comfort and disease. Hichnesse speaks of several
holes about Paris. of great SIZE and depth. in which
dead bodies We're deposited, and left uncovered till
! one tier was filed, and then covered with layer
Of earth, and TO the top. He says these holes
We're cleared once in thirty or forty years. and the
bones deposited in what was called g te grand
chGrRieL DIES IanOceES; this arched gallery,
surrounding the great cemetery.
| With what affeCtOnate respect we cherish the
venerated name Of Francois Pontraci Magnum
ri UenerdbIle ROmen He was the last-the last of
the grave diggers of e grand charnier deS Lnocens
In the days ofmy noviciate, believed in the math
emaucal dlctum, which teaches, that two things
! cannot occupy the same place, at the same time.
But that dictum appears incredible, while contem-
| plating the operations of Pontraci. He was most
| accomplished stevedore in his department-the Ma
poleon of the Chanel house, the very king of
spades. All difficulties vanished before his magic
power Nothing reused his Indignation so much,
as the suggestion, that a cemetery was tuH-c'est
| oRpOSsibLei was his eternal reply. To use the
| tract was irresistible-his handling mastery-his
grouping unsurpassed-and his foreShOrtening alto
gether his own. COndense that word alone ex-
| planned the mystery OF his great success KNAPP
sacks are often thrown aside en- route, in the execu
ton of rapid movements. In the grand march of
death, POntraci considered collins encumbrance.
Those wooden surtouts he thought well enough for
PARADE but worse than useless on a march. lie
had poor opinion of an artist who could not find
| room for twenty citizens, heads and heels. in
common grave. Madame Pontraci now and then
| complained, that the fuel communicated problem
/ atcal flavor to the meat, while roasting" c'eSt
OdeltF quI a rapport profession partlcuLlere,
| mdddme,' was the reply of Pontraci The register
| kept by this eminent man, shows that in thirty
years he had deposited, in this cemetery, ninety
thousand bodies. 1t was calculated, that twelve
hundred thousand had been buried there since the
time of Philip Augustus In 1885, the Archbishop
of Paris, under resolve of the Council OF State,
issued decree, that the great cemetery should be
suppressed and evacuated. II was resolved to con-
vert it into market place. The happy thought of
converting the guarries into catacOmbs, fortunately
occurred al that period, to Nj. Lenoie, lieutenant
general of police. Thus receptacle was at once
provided for the immense mass of human remains,
to be removed from the cemetery DIES Innocens. A
portion of the quarries lying under the Plane de
Mont S0urjS, was assigned for this purpose. A
house was purchased, with the ground adjoining
on the old road to Orleans. It had at one time be-
longed TO Isouard, robber, who had infested that
neighbOrhOOd. A flight of seVenty-seyen steps was
made from the house down into the quarries, and
a well sunk to the bottom, down which the bones
were to be thrown. WOrkmen were employed in
constructing pillars to sustain the roof, and in wall
ing round the part designated for Le caTnter. The
Catacombs were then consecrated with all lmagina-
| BILE pomp.
In the meantime, the vast work of removing the
remains went forward, night and day, suspended
only when the hot weather rendered it unsafe 10
proceed. A strange resurrection, to be sure! Bon
fires burnt brightly amid the gloom. Torches threw
an unearthly glare around, and illuminated these
dealings with the dead. The operatives, moving
about in silence bearing broken crosses and collins,
and the bones of the long buried resembled the
agents Of an Internal master All concerned had
been publicly admonshed to reclaim the crosses,
tombsones and monuments Of their respective dead.
Such as were not reclaimed were placed IN the
field belonging to the house of lsouard. Many
leaden collins were buried there, one containing
the remains of Madame de Pompadour. During
the revolution, the house and grounds of Isouard
were sold as national domain, the collins melted,
and the monuments destroyed. The catacOrnbs re-
4 ceived the dead from other cemeteries and those
who fell in periods of ConmnoiOn, were cast there.
When converts were suppressed; the dead found
therein, were transferred to this vast omnibus.
+ During the revolution The works were neglected
the soil fell in water found It's way 10 the interior
the roof began to crumble and the homes lay in i'm
mense heaps, mixed with the rubbish and impeding
the way.-Bostoa EUeaing Transcript
!
LOVE AND DEBT.-There is very little difference
between the man in love and the man in debt.
n IL. IL i Il. ii