Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1853-08-24
The Pestilende at New orleans--Down
among the Dead Men.

From the Crescent, Aug. IL.
To verify the many horrible reports of the doings
among the dead, we the other dayyisted the ceme-
teries In every street were long professions,
tramping to the solem music of funeral marches.
/ In the countenanCes of Flooding passengers were
the lines of anxiety and grief, and many door
was festooned with black and white hanging, the
voiceless witnesses of wailing and of sorrow. On
the one hand slowly swept the long corteges of
the wealthy, nodding with plumes and dawn by
prancing horses, rejoicing in their funeral vanities
on another, the hearse of the citizen soldier, pre-
ceded by measured music, enveloped in warlike
panopy, and followed by the noisy tread of men
und.r arms; while there again the pauper was
rundled 10 his long homs on. rickety cart, witha
boy for driver, who whistled as he went, and
swore careless oatha as heurged his mule orspavin-
ed horse to trot, making haste with another NOR
sci contributed to the grand banquet of DEATH
| Now among the steeples was heard the Ginning
of the bells, as of GhouleS up there, mingling
their hoaTse voice. as in q chorus of graduation
over the ranks Of fallen mortality. Anon from
some lowly tenement Stled the low wall OF a
mother for the child of her affections, while from
the corner opposite burst the song of some low
bacchanal, mingling ribaldry with sentiment, or
swearing a prayer or two, as the humor moved
| him. i15 a,.. ,..
The skies wore dslusive aspect Above was
all cloudleSs sunshine, but little in keeping with
the black melancholy that enveloped allbelow.-
Out along the highways that lead to the cities of
the dead, and still the tramp of funeral crowds
knew no cessation. Up rolled the volumes OF dust
from the busy roads. and the plpmeS of the death
carriages Nodded in seeming sympathy to the sway
ing cypress of the swamp, enveloped in their dun
appareling Of weeping moSs-ftgarniture for such
| q scene. ~ ~ E.- sl-fE
At the gathering points carriages accumulated,
and vulgar teamsters, as they iostled each other
in the press, mingled the coarse jest with the rbad
oath; no sound but of pro(ane malediction and Of
riotous mirth, the clang of whip thongs and the
rattle Of wheels. AT the gates, the winds brought
Not puff but was laden with the rank atmos-
phere from otting corpses. Inside they were piled
by fftieS, exposed to the heat of the SUM- swollen
with corruption, bursting their coffin lids, and
sundering, as if by physical effort, the lgamentS
| that bound their hands and leetI and extending
| their rigid limbs in every curte attitude. What
feast Of horrors! Inside, corpSeS piled in pyra-
mids, and without the gates, old and withered
crones and fat huckster women, fretting in their
own grease, dispensing ice creams and conIecuonS,
| and brushing away, with broonlS made Of bushes,
the green bottle-fieS that lowered on their mer-
chandise, and that anon buzzed away to drink
dainty Limitations from the green and teSterlrg
| cornSeS. Mammon at the gates was making Thrift
outside by the hands of his black and sweating
miuions, that teEdered Sweet-meatS aud COOLING
| beverages TO the tkrongS of mournerS or oil idle
spectators, who, inhaling the fumes OF rottlng
bodies, already t'heaved the gorge;' while within
the 'sKing of Terrors' held his Saturnalia, with
a crowd OF stod laborers, who, as they tumbled
| the dead into bitches, knocked them "about the
nazzard," and Swore dreaded oathS, intermlngled
with the more dreadful sounds of denonac,l olllty
Long bitches were dug ACROSS the great human
charnal. Wide enough were they TO entonib
! legion, but only fourteen inches deep. Collins
laid in hem showed their tops above tie surface
| of the earth. On these was piled dirt TO the
depths of foot or more, but SO loosely that the
myrdS Of flies found entry between the loose clodS.
down to the cracked SeamS OF The collins, and
buzzsd aud blew their 0pGrir, creating each hour
their new hatcIed SwaEms.
But no sound was there OF sorrow within TINT
wide Gelauna. Men used TO the scent Of dssolu-
ton had forgotten all touch Of sympathy. I'm
couth IaborerS, with their bare shock heads, stood
rnder The broiling heat of the sun, digging in the
earth; and as anon they would encounter anob-
Structing root or stump. would swear hldeouS
4 OATH remove TO another spot, and go digging as
before. Now and then.the mattock OF the spade
would disturb the bones of some former tenant of
the mould, forgotten there amid the armies OF the
accumulated victims and the sturdy Iaborer with a
jerk would hur the broken fragments on the Sward,
growl forth an energetic d-n, and chuckle in the
excess of glee. Skull bones were dug up from
their long sepuchre, with ghastness staring out
: $50. "From each lnck-lustre, eyeless hole"
without eliciting an ALAS, poor Yorck,' and with
only exclamation from the digger. of room for
your betterSp
Economy of space was the source of cunning
calculation in beStowing away the dead men,. Side
by Se were laid two, of gigantic proportions, and
bloated by corruption to the size OF IItans. The
central projections of their collins left spaces be-
tween them at their heads and heels. This was
too much room TO be filled with earth. How should
the space lie saved? Opportunity the material is
: at hand, for cart comes numbering in with the
Il corpSeS of mother and her two little children
Chuck the children in the spaces at the heads and
heels of the TitanS, ndlay the mother by herself,
out there alone! A comIade for her will be found
anon, and herself and babes will sleep not the less
Soundiy from the unwonted contact!
The fumes Use up in deathly exhibitions from
the accommodating hecatombS of laS! coming corpSeS.
Men wear at their noses bagso; comphor and odor-
Gus spiceS-for there crowds there who have
no business but to Look on and contemplate the
vast congregation of the dead. They don't care
il they lie themselves-they have become SO used
10 the reek of corruption. They even laugh at the
rotings of the skeleton Death, and crack Jokes in
the horrd atmosphere where scarcely they can draw
breath for utterance.
Il The Stoica negroes, too, who are hired at FIVE
dollars per hour to assist i'll the work of interment
stagger under the sitting fumes. and can only be
kept at their work by deep and continued pota-
tons of 'fre-water.' They gnlp deep draughts of
the stimulating fluid, and Keeling theirt task, hold
their noses with one hand, while with the other
they grasp the spade, heave tie mould, and rush
back 10 the bottle TO gulp again. 1t is jolly time
with these ebon laborerS, andtheir white CO. work
ers-aS thoughtleSS aid as jolly, and as much in
toxicated as themselves.
8, And thus, what with the songs and obscene jeStS
of the grave dggerS, the buzzing of the flies, the
Sing-song criuS of the huckSter women with their
CONNECTIONS, the hoarse oaths of the no drive
TIE dead carts, the merry whistle OF the boys, and
the sitting reek from scores of bIackened corpses,
the day wears apace, the work of sepulture is done
and night draws the curtain. 10.
4 3iz -.-S~--
SOUND DocTRrNE.-The Baltimore American,
speaking of the alleged dealcation of Mr. Collier,
late Collector Of the of San Francisco, says,
that it will be time 10 discuss that point when the
Responsibility of the suretes of Mr. Collier shall
be questioned;" and that "in the meantime il is
scarcely while for the public toget idgety on
the subject. Perhaps they will think it not I'M
reasonable TO wait until 1t be ascertained whether
anything is due" e-tt4
Upon these views the Richmond Wing has the