Hannibal journal. (Hannibal, Mo.) 1852-1853, 1853-08-25
THE UNRURIED DEAD.

The .Ncw Orleans Crescent Of Tuesday, the
9th inst, brings u the following account of the
frightlul state of things in that city, growing out
Of the great mortality from the Yellow Fever:
On Sunday afternoon information was sent to
the Mayor that numerous dead bodies were ly-
ing on the ground in the Lafayette Cemetery,
Iunburied, for the want Of force to perform the
work of seputure. The Chairman of the Com
mittee on Cemeteries, Mr.. Kurshedt, appointed
by the Board Of Health, repaired TO the spot a.
bout dark. Near there he found the ''chain
gang" which had been employed from early in
the afternoon in the work Of burial, coming a.
way having been unable to inter ell the bodies.
He prevailed on them, by promises OF extra pay
and supper, 10 go back and resume the work.
On arriving at the Cemetery, he found seventy
one bodies laying piled on the ground, swollen
and bursting their cofins, and enveloped in
swarms of flies. The chain gang was set TO
work buryng them, and by half-past three
o'clock yesterday they were all inferred. Or
Iders were given, we have been Informed, by
the competent authority, that no more bodies
should be sent TO the Cemetery yesterday. One
cause of the pressure on this Cemetery was, as
we have been informed, the impossible state Of
Louisa street. leading TO the burying ground of
St. Vincent de Paul, where there are sixty
graves dug, and left unemployed, in consequence
of the difficulty of getting 10 them. 1t is also
reported that the reason why burial could not
be procured in the Lafayette Cemetery, was be-
cause the Sexton refused to pay more than
twenty cents each for digging the graves. This
official gets a dollar from the Corporation for
each body buried and if from a niggard motive
he failed 10 have the graves dug to meet the re-
Iquirements Of the times, he deserves the most
unreserved censure of the community.
The burals have heretofore been made in this
Cemetery in such a careless manner as alone to
produce pestlence. The tops of the collins
have been sunk no lower than TO level with
the surface of the ground, and then covered over
. in the manner Of potato ridges. In this situa-
= ton they were subject to be exposed TO the
Iwashings g. fludvy Tains, and the sun acting OF
= the putrid corpSeS within, they were liable t,
S swell and burst the coifns, thus tainting the at
e mosphere with putrescence sufficient alone Il
10 generate plague.
This was the state of things when Severa
persons in the neighborhood, lnhalinG the fanl
a ehluvia, Informed the Mayor of the fact, wh
. Immediately took active measures for havin
the graves covered with eighteen inches Of ad
&c ditional earth. Orders have also been issue
D. 10 the Street Commissioner 20 send bodies t
10 Poter's field, or to St. Vincent de Paul, an
ID the gates of the Lafayette Cemetery No. , hav
been closed for the present, except 10 bodie
10 coming from the Fourth District,
Is The Mayor, we understand has taken III
ID responsibility of applying remedies to meet tn
~ exigencies of the times
-, The City Council has done nothing commemsl
y rate with its power to alleviate the present pre
SO sing necessities brought about by the epidemic
be but have left al to be done by private Chart,
This, however, is attributable more 10 iynoranC