The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1857-01-24
From the New YORK Messenger, January 3.
transportation Of Dead Bodies.

!AulOsi5 I've tHOuSJIU SeFVIccdOIc Things
done by the express companies is the con-
veyance of corpses. Prior to the establish.
ment Of expresses, Eve wonder, now, how
the world ever got along without them j if
a husband or son died upon journey. or
while temporarily residing for health or bus
mess at distance from his kindred, and it
was decided by his friends to have his body
brought home, it was usually done at hea-
Wy expense, if the distance exceeded one or
two hundred mics.
1t was the custom, if the way lay over
land, to employ an undertaken, wlo would
start out in a covered wagon, establish re-
lays and travel night and day until the task
was done. What is now accomplished in
eight hours by the express, would then oc-
cupy the undertaken at least week and
his pay, if he travelled at night, was rarely
less than ten dollars day, every expense en-
route in ;luded.
At present, tie price for conveying a
corpse by Express, in charge of Messen-
ger, distance of 200 or $50 miles upon a
regular route, does not exceed thirty dollars.
That we believe to be the price between New
York and Boston, for instance.
The work, however, is not at all popular
with expressmen, and the messengers never
meet among their freight with one Of those
wooden cases i'll which collins are generally
enclosed, without wish that they were rid
Of it, Some of them are very notional upon
this subject; not from superstition, but from
that instructive fear Of the pr gress Of de-
cay which all lear in the presence of a corpse;
especially when there is any suspicion that
It has been kept too long.
nj :! hot hor Il
occurred IN this city one morning last week.
An Express Messenger having among ms
reight, in the Express G mpany's car. one
of those ominously oblong boxes, declare
confidently to the conductor Of the train,
that the body inside "must be far gone in,
deed, and I" the smell of it made him sick as
salubrify the odor by sno'siny magni-
c. mt cigar. The smell became more Often
sve to him every moment, during the long
night that he was whizzing away with il
over the rail track and before the train ar
rived New York, it affected him so much
! that he vomited.
When the drivers, with the wagons Of the
New York Office, went to the depot for the
express freight, the illness of the unfortun-
ate messenger was obvious, and in answer
to inquiries, he explained the cause, and all
eyes fell on the ohio" g box, and every man
held his nose. 1t was decided unanimously
that it was too far gone to be taken to the
office, and as the railroad men swore Through
their compressed ollactories THAT they would
mot suffer it to remain in the depot. the
strongest nerved and most accommodating
drivers took it to the dead house" up
town.
| No one knew who the obnoxious box came
from. 1t was usual to make a special bal
gain in such cases, but no allusion was made
TO it on the way bill. In the course of the
LAY, however, the mystery was solved. A
gentleman came into the express flee, ir
Broadway, and called for the box.
| at has been taken to the dead house,
was the reply of the clerk.
"The dead house q" exclaimed the appli.
cant.
eyes, sir" rejoined the clerk, firmly ''we
couldn't stand it, sir. Too far gone, SIR"
"Too far gone! !" was the angry retort.-
81 should think SO, if you have sent it up to
10th street. Explain yourself. What dc
you mean?"
81 mean that the body smelt too bad, sir!'
iterated the clerk.
"Smelt bad !" cried the visitor, {: I have
handled it for ten years past, and ! never
smelt anything but the varnish, and that no,
unpleasantly. Hank it, sir, that box con-
tains my Manikin, an artificial anatomy OF
model of the human body. am DR.. Vie
ting, the lecturer opon physiology"
he ridiculous embarrassment produced ar
explosion of laughter throughout the Office
and it is still the best joke of the season
1t is capital illustration of the power of thu
,mapinatiOn