The Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa) 1841-185?, 1854-02-09
How they Bury their Dead in Naples.

How they Bury their Dead in Naples.
N. p. Willis in an account of his visit to
Italy, speaks Of the burial vaults in Naples
IN the following manner:
An old man opened the iron door, and we
entered clean, spacious and well paved
area with long rows Of iron rings IL the
heayy slabs Of the pavement. Without
asking question, the old man walked across
to the farther corner, where stool "a moyea-
bic lever, and fastening the chain into the
fixture, raised the massive stone cover of
pit. He requested us to stand back for a
few minutes to give the effluvia time to es-
cape, and then shctering our eyes with our
hats, we locked in You have read, of
course, that there arc three hundred and
siXty-tve pits in this place, one Of which is
opened every day for the dead of the city.
They are thrown in without shroud or coffin,
and the pit is sealed up ut night for year.
They are thirty or forty feet deep, and each
would contain, perhaps, two hundred bodies
lime is thrown upon tie duly heap, and it
soon fnelts into mass of garbage, and by
the end Of the year the bottom of the pit is
covered with dry, white bones.
It was some time before we could dstin-
guisil any thing in the darkness Of the abyss
Fixing my eyes on one spot, however, the
outlines Of body became defined gradually,
and in ieW minutes, sheltering my eyes
completely from the sun above. could see
all the horrors Of the scene but too distinctly
Eight eorPses, all grown persons. lay in a
confused heap together, as they had been
thrown in one after another in the course
Of the dag. The last was powerful made
gray old man, who had fallen fiat ON his
back, with his right hand lying across, and
half covering the face of woman. BY his
full limbs and chest, and the darker color
OF his legs below the knees, he was probably
one of the lazZaroni, and had met with u
sudden death. His right heel lay on the
forehead oil il young man, emaciated to the
last degree, his chest thrown up as he lay,
and his ribs showing ike skeleton cover
ed with skin. Tue close black hair of the
latter as his head rested on another body,
were in such strong relief that counted
them. OFF to the right. quite distinct from
the heap, lay in beautiful attitude, a girl
us far as | could Judge, of not more than
nineteen or twenty. Her hair was very
long, and covered her left shoulder and bos-
ON. her arm was across her body, and il her
mother had laid her down to sleep she could
not have disposed of them more decently
The head had fallen little to the right, and
the feet. which were small, even for lady.
were pressed one against the other, as il
she was about turning on her side. The
sexton said that young man had come
with the body and was very i'll for some time
after it was thrown in. We asked him If
respectable people were brought here
Yes" he said, '.many. None but the rich
would 90 to the expense OF separate grave
for their relations. People were often
brought in handsome grave clothes, but they
were always stripped before they were left.
The .shroud when there was one, was the
nerquisite ot the .undortakers.' And thus
urc flung into this noisome pit, like beasts,
the greater part Of the population of this
vast ciiy-the young and the old, the vicious
and the yirtuous together, without the de-
ccney even 81 a rag TO keep up the ds.inc-
ton Of If. Can human beings be thus
thrown away! Men like ourselves-vo-
men. children. ike our sisters and brothers!
| never was so Inundated in my life as by
this horrid spectacle. did not think man
---fclon even, or leper-or what you will.
that is guilty or debased--I did not think
ANYTHING that had been human, could be SO
recklcSsIy abandoned. Pdh! ltmakes one
sick at heart! God grant | may never die
at Naples!
PExALrY OF 4 BROKEN PLEDGE.-On
Thursday last, a man BY the name OF SAT
ford was killed by being thrown from his
wagon. The accident occurred mile out,
on the plankroad, Mr. Stafford being intoxca-
ted at the time and unable to manage his
horses or himself.
He was Son of Temperance, and had