Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1854-02-23
How iheY ! Bury the Dead in Naples.

N, p. Willis in an account of h
visit to, ITALY, speaks of the buri
VAULTS in the following manner:
An old man q pened the iro
door, and we entered a clean, spaciou
and well paved area, with long row
of iro n rings in the heavy slabs {
the pave ement. Without asking
question,It the old mhn walked acros
to the faiI Ither corner, where stood
movable ever, and fastening tn
= chain info the FIXTURE raised th,
massiye stone cover Of pit. II,
requested US to staniI back for a few
minutes 10 give the cfIluvia time tC
escape, aud then, shdlfdring our eyes
with our bats we I$oled in You
have read, of course, { bat there are
three hun phred and sIxty-fre pits in
this placH, one Of which is opened
every day for the dead of tie @ty.
They are thrown in vii thout shroud
OF cof1ini and the pit sealed up at
night for d year. They are thirty or
forty feetIdeep, and each would CON
tain, perhaps, two hundred bodies
Lime is throw D upon The daily heap,
and it so9h md dlts into mass Of garb-
age, and ! J the end Of the year the
bottom il covered with dry white
bones.
1t was sometil he before we could
distinguiHh anything in the darkness
Of the abEss. Fixing my eyes on
one spot, however, the outlines Of a
body bec#me defined gradually, and
in a few minutes, shelte ring my eyes
completely from the sun above, |
could see ALI the horrors Of the scene
but too distinctly. Eight eorpses,
all grown IH6rsons, laY iii a confused
heat tog4tLer, as they had been
thrd wn in one after another in the
coqt tse Of The day. The last was a
pow erfully made gray Old man, who
had fallenI Ilat en- his back, with his
right hanl lying across, and half
covering thc f lcc of a woman BY
bis full l1Ihbs and chest, and the
dark coldr of his lees below the
knee, hq was probably one of the
Ind had met with a sudden
leath.
His right heel lay on the forehead
IF a yeupg man, emaclated to the
ast degree, his chest thrown up rs
he lay, a4l his ribs showing like
skeleton covered with skin. The !
lose black hair of the latter, as his I
lead rested on another body, were in |
uch strong relief that l could h'fye t
ii hdm. Off to the right, a
uite dist5n nct from The heap, lay ina il
Attitude, girl, as far as | $
ould Judge. of not more than nine Ii
cen or TIVE enty. Her l lair was very a
1ng,and covered her left shoulder ana p
osom; her arm was across her body, /,
nd if he4 mother had laid her down il
0 sleep, She could not have disposed il
er limbs more decently. The head 4
ad falleH a little to the right, and Il
he feet, which were small. even for q
lady. wdre pressed one against the d
ther as ifIshe was about turning on {,
er side. THE sexton said d young d,
ian had chine with the body and 81
as yery i'll for some Il me after it e,
as thrown in. We asked him if
people were buried here. N
Yes" h4 sad, ''many. None but the ii
ch would 90 to the expense of a
,parate grave for their relations. =
eople we're often brought in hand 81
me grd We clothes, but they were at
ripped before they were left. The w
lroud whenever there was one, was the 81
,rquisite Of the undertakers." And AL
us, are flung into this noisomc pits tn
70 beas IS, the greater part Of the ca
,pulatiqn Of this dity--the young Ia
ID old, the vicious ;ind the virtuods
gether, without even the decency IoI
a distinction of lifel Can human reI
ings b4 thus thrown away? men Ct
,e OURSELVES women and children, ceI
,e our sisters and brothers? | III
yer was 50 Inundated in my life as I
this Rorrid specta acle. | did not |
ink a Ilan-felon even, or leper- I'll,
what You will. that is guilty or de- )
sed Il did not think anything that af'
d been human, could be so reck- pf
sly abandoned. PohI 1t makes
e sick at heart God grant | may en-
yer die at Naples We
The Mississippi penite entiary yields be