The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-08-19
from nn, the New Orleans Crescent, Angus. II
DOWN AMONG THE DEAD Mrr

/ To verify the many h1rTible r,s,or.- . n,
among the dead we the other day visited -, LIZ
tramping to the solemn music ~ p.1osessiops
In the couutenancesof ploddina s
the lines of anxiety and grief and yna,,s 80 go
was festooned with black and white hang;ng. ~
| yoieeess witnesses OF, waing and of sorrow. On
the hand slowly swept the long corteres ns ~ =
wealthy nodding with plumes and drawn bv nr.ns'
| ing horses rejoicing in their funeral yanftes. -
another the hearse of the ctizensoldier, precede5
by measured music, enveloped in warlixe papoplx,
and followed by the noisy tread of men under arns
while there again the pauper was trundlcd to his
long home on ricketty cart, with boy for dri.
YER who whistied as he went, and swore careless
oath as he urged his mule or spawned horse to a
trot making haste with another morse contributed
| TO the grand banquet of death. Now among the
steeples was heard the Ginning of the bells, as Of
Ghoues up there, Iningling their hoarse voices as
in chorus OF graduation over the ranks Of fallen
mortality. Anon from some lowly tenement trill-
ed the low wall of mother for the child of her af
fections, while from the opposite burst the
song of some low bacchanal minglingr ribaldry
with sentiment, or swearing prayer or two as the
hun1or moved him. - 3sa 21s
The skies wore delusiye aspect. Above was all
cloudess sunshine but little in keeping with the
black melancholy that enveloped all below. Out
along the highways that led to the cities of the dead
and still the tramp offunera crowds knew no cessa
ton. Up relied the volumes Of dust from the busy
roads, and the plumes ofthe death carriages nod
III sctullng syIpdLEy 10 Inc SWaylHg expresses
ofthe swamp, enveloped in their dun appareing of
weeping moss-it garnitare for such a scene
| AT the gathering points carriages accumulated,
and vulgar teamsters they jostled each other in
the press mingled the coarse jest with the Tibald
oath; no sound but of profane nialediction and OF
rotous nirth the clang of whip thongs and the rat
tie of wheels At the gates the winds brought init
nation OF the corruption working Within Not
puff but was laden with the rank atmosphere from
rotting corpses. Inside they were piled by ftties
exposed to the heat of the sum- swollen with cor
ruption, bursting their coffin lids and sunderins as
ifby physical effort the ligaments that bound their
hands and feet, and extending their rigid limbs in
every outre attitude What a feast of horrors
Inside, corpses piled in npyramids, and without the
gates. old and withered crones and fat huxter wo-
men, fretting IN their own grease, dispensing ice
creams and CONNECTIONS, and brushing away, with
broons made of bushes, the green bottle-1ies that
hoyered on their merchandise, and that anon buzz
zed away to drink dainty inhalations from the
green and fostering corpses. Mammon at the gates
was making thrift outside by the handsof his black
and sweating mlniOns, that rendered sweetmeats
and cooling beverages to the throngs of mourners
or Of idle spectators, who inhaling the fumes of
rbtting bodies, already ''heaved the gorge; while
within the "King of trerrors" held his Saturnalia.
with crowd of stolid laborers, who as they tum-
bed the.dead into bitches knocked them ''about the
mazzard," and swore dread oaths, intermineled
with the more dreadful sounds of denoniac jollity
Long bitches were dug across the great human
charnel. Wide enough were they to entomb le-
eion, but only fourteen inches deep. Collins laid in
them showed their tops above the surface of the
earth. On these was piled dirt to the depth of a
foot or more, but so loosely, that the myriads of
flies found entry between the loose cods, down to
Che cracked seams of the collins and buzzed and
blew there their 0uarid, creating each hour their
new Matched swarms. .. ...-ars.s. "a
But no sound was there of sorrow within that
wide Gehenna Men used to the scent of dissolu
tion, had forgotten all touch OF sympathy. Uncouth
laborers, with their bare shock heads, stood under
tno hpaf of tho irt
and as anon they would encounter an obstructing
root or stump, would swear hideous oath, remove
to another spot, and go ON digging as before Now
and then the mattock or spade would disturb the
bones OF some former tenant of the mould, forgot
ten there amid the armies of the accumulated vic.
tins, and the sturdy laborer with yibe, would
hurl the broken fragments On the sward, growl
forth an energetic d. and chuckle in his excess
of gee. Skull bones were dug up from their long
sepulture, with ghastliness starting out
From each lack-lustre eyeless hole"
without eliciting "Alas, poor Yorick" and with
only an exclamation from the digger of f'room for
your betters!"
Economy of space was the source of cunning cal.
cuation IN bestowing away the dead men. Side by
side were laid two of gigantic proportions blOated
by corruption to the size of Iitans. The central
projections of their collins left spaces between them
at their heads and heels This was too much room
to be filled with earth. How should the space be
savedl Opportunely the material is at hand. for a
cart comes numbering in with the corpses of a mo-
ther and her two little children Chuck the chill
dren in the spaces at the heads and heels of the
Titans, and lay the mother by herself out there
alone. comrade for her will be found anon, and
herself and babes will sleep not the less soundly
from the unwOnted contact!
The fumes rise up in deathly exhaations from
the accumulating hecatombs of fast coming corpses
Men wear at their noses bags of camphor and odo-
rous spces--for there are crowds there who have
no business but to look and contemplate the vast
congregation of the dead. They don't care if they
die ethemselves-they have become so used to the
reek of corruption They even laugh at the riot
ings of the skeleton Death, and crack jokes in the
horrid atmosphere where scarcely they can draw
breath tor utterance.
The stoical negroes, too who are hired at five
dollars per hour to assist in the work of interment
stagger under the sitting fumes, and can only be
kept their work by deep and continued potations
of the fire water.'| They gulp deep draughts of
the stimulating uid and reelne to their tasks hold
their noses with one hand, while with the other
they grasp the spade, heave ON the mould and rush
back to the bottle to gulp again II is jolly time
with these ebon laborers and with their white CO.
workers. as thoughtless and jolly, and full as
much intoxicated as themselves
And thus, what with the songs and obscene tests
OF the grave diggers, the buzZing of the flies the
sing-song cries of the huxter-women vending their
confectiOns the hoarse oaths of the men who drive
the dcadcarts the merry whistle OF the BOYS and
the sitting reek from scores of blackened corpses
the day wears apace the work OF sepulture is done
and night draws the curtain 1a
AN OMNIBUS lNcIDENr.--Mr Willis relates the
following anecdote OF young lady. who came from
the country to New York city to attend the late eel
ebration:
Let us tell little instance of GOODNESS in one of
these country ladies which we witness sed the other
day IN an omnibus. She was excessively pretty.
and IN her mouth the dimples at the corners of
which were SO deep, and so turned in like inverted
commas, that her lips looked quotation she car
RED the lated sIxpenee, doomed to pass from the
warm hps oil that rosy pressure to the cold change
box ON top Arriving opposite the Tabernacle, she
pulled the string took the piece OF silver from her
mouth, and gave it TO young man sitting opposite
lie received 1t politely, but as the omnibus was
minute or SO III coming TO stand-still she had time
to observe that he admiringy placed the moist six
pence within his own lips, and took a less nlagne-
izen one from his own pocket to throw away on the
driver segE -
lhere was suppressed smile among the other
passengers. but the lady was not to be compliment
eu SO pfoniscuously. I'll trouble you Tor my six-
pence, slr she said holding out her hand with It's
sfeen nnt, and receiving the money Detween
auihD ana hnger, she would take a cockroacn
from rom pot OF marmalade she passed it up hersen,
s iliu looked round rebukingly as she Went our on
.nose oi us who had the impertinencc 70 sillie
NOW, we commend this young lady 70 me noiaina. ma
llng committee of the Ohio Convention LOT lhe
flights OF Woman and if fshc VIII send Us ntf naii'e
we VIII see that it Is opportnnciy -. oA so.,e
tenth wave of the present rising Hood Oh tne sose
relsnty OF woman /"
r..