Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1860-07-07
From Vanity Fair.
"FOUND DROWNED.

In certain places, where the tides Of our bays
and rivers are obstructed-be it by bla1kened and
worm-eaten piers, under which floats the rubbish
of long ccumulasion- soft and podgy mass ; OF
be it by tangled sedge or w~ater.weeds, slimily
dangling amcng green scummy net stakes by the
shOre-there lie certain dark bodies, CHASTITY in the
moonlight and loathesome in the sun.
Bodies with shreds of garments clinging to themj
with hair floating upon the surface of the waves
with white bloated limbs; faces half visible through
the translucent water ; bodies of men, of women,
and of children.
In every newspaper, every morning, we read
the words Found Drowned at the head of para,
graphs. A freshet, or a wind, disturbing the rub
bish of the piers and shores permits these pool
remnants of humanity to drift out into the stream
whore they are seen by boatmen and taken to the
land to lie unrecognized in the Dead House for q
few days, and then to DO inferred in Potter't
Field.
And every newspaper, every morning, contain:
advertisements Of persons who have 'Mysteriously
Disappeared men, women, and children-the
strength, the sweetness, or the hope of homes
somewhere in city or in country. They 90 out
from their thresholds in the morning for business
or for enjoyment, and never come back again
Rewards may be offered, but no one claims them
Information may be advertised, but no one furn
ishes it. In truth, no one seems to care any thing
about it.
Meanwhile, the stars look down silently upor
the dark, distorted mass that lies among the wee
dy net stakes, and the great Babylon city goes OF
as ever, with its roar of wheels aud clatter of fee
the whirl and hun of it's machinery-the smok,
Of its thousand c~himneys blackening the sky
each man seeking his own beaten path, and car
ing nothing for what befalls his ~neighbor.
The horid tales that might be told by the long
silent docks Of the city, and the wide, dreary fat
of the country no one knows. The fearful episode
of crime that lie between the announcement o
'MysteriOusly Disappeared, and Found Drowned,
in the morning papers, remains all unrevealed
The dead CRASH Of the t~ludgeon and the stiaed or
Of the victim, sound alike unheard on the air @
night.
But can nothing be done to lessen this terribl
mortality, that seems almost an epidemic ? MI.
these occurrences be every day affairs, to increas
with the growth and age of the metropolis ? Hav
We really then no guardians, no protectors to pei
citrate these mysteries and prevent their constar
recurrence Or shall we always 90 on thus, wit
name corOners and Ignorant juriOs, who can onl
decide that tho corpse is dead,and that death wa
caused by some means to the jury unknown
viii our useless detective police force, too, AWAY
be satisfied with such verdicts, and let the matte
rest there r.
The coroner is satisfied with his fees, the office
with his salary, and the authorities with their re
ports, but who shall satisfy those who sit by darl
ened fires, weeping YEARLY, and waiting for tn
coming Of dear ones that will never come--wbos
bodies drift slowly, submerged and weed entang
ed. down, the river to tie sOa, with only a chanc
even of ever being Found Drowned