The Nevada Democrat., 1862-09-11
The Mails Ofthe GOieleR Cate--the Last
Rites Of the Dead

.na Rites Of the Dead.
Mr.. Morrell, U, s. Consul at Manzanillo,
writes as follows, under dale of August is,
to The San Francisco Postmaster:
Sm-Yonr communication of the 10Th
instant, IN relation 10 the u. S mails which
were on board the Golden Gate at the time
OF her burning, was received yesterday per
Golden Age. regret to inform you that
but small portion Of that mail matter has
been recovered. 1t has been mostly stolen
or wantonly destroyed by thieves and ma
randers, who tiocked 10 the wreck day or
two after the disaster, aud were busy with
the work Of plunder for some days. had
no reason to suppose that any mails had
been washed ashore. Capt. Hudson reported
that when he left the beach In front Of the
wreck, on the morning after the disaster,
none bad been seen up TO that time; and
the inference was, that the mails bad been
burned along with the baggage. But few
days afterwards, when he visited the wreck,
he says be saw seven mail bags, or rather
the remains of them, which had been cut
open, and the beach was covered with let
lerS all open, and most of them torn.
About the same time learned that bills Of
which | saw, were being brought here by
various persons. who in their ignorance,
expected TO gain some profit from them.
Among the drst lot which was shown To me,
were two or three Treasury notes, for small
amounts. | Immediately communicated
with the Captain Of the Port, and requested
him to take possession of all letters and
papers of every kind. whatever, that might
be brought here, ard also 10 send word 10
bic men, who, for the time being, had su-
pervison of the wreck, to secure all papers
that might be found there, and TO deliver
them to me, in sealed packages. for trans-
mission to San Francisco. lie acceded
readily to my request, aud on the 9th in-
slant delivered me a sack, sealed as reques-
ted, the contents Of which am unacquain-
ted with; aud on the same day delivered
II TO Cspt. Hudson, who forwarded il. per
Orizaba, to the Agents of the z. NJ. S. S.
Company in San Francisco. II seems that
greater portion of the whole letter mail
was robbed. | have already represented
this. as well as all other facts connected
with The loss Of the III fated stsamer, to the
Secretary OF State of the U. s. A., and !
have included them all in Capt. HudsOn's
protest. returned from the wreck on the
10th inst, having been there for the purpose
OF burying the remainder Of The dead; and
there were then only few fragments Of
letters scattered about. Should any more
letters or papers make their way here,
will cause them 10 be secured and forward
ed to you.
In a private letter to another party the
consul says;
1t was not I'LL The morning OF the 15lh
that reached the beach. at point miles
from The wreck. The fret object that met
my sight was IA body which bad been thrown
up by the sea, along with portions Of the
wreck and other drift wood. 1t was entire
iy destitute Of clothing, lying on the face,
and the attitude was that Of one In the act
Of trying to scramble up the beach
while the undertow was dragging him back.
Close by was another, also lying on the
face, the arms reaching forward and the
legs Strengthened out, as ia the act Of swim
ming. The several remains were In various
stages OF decay, aud 10 all possible attitudes
and with two or three exceptions, destitute
Of clothing. / saw none that had reason
to suppose we're females, though it was
wholly impossible to distinguish either sex
or age. Some few we're underneath massive
pieces Of timber and spare, 20 filed np
above and around them that II was impos-
sible to get at them for interment. knew
not what TO do, except to leave them as
they were. One of the persons with me
suggested burning that, as is well known,
being the invarable method in this country
OF dis2osng of those killed in battle, friends
and foes alike. Shocking as was the alter
native. thought It preferable to leaving
them thus to rot above ground; and there
fore, after taking away the skulls, which
were more or less detached. for inteTment,
The fires were kindled. God forgive me il
did wrong.
Without going into further particnlars.
suffice il to say that the earthly remains OF
those rs victims lie buried on the bank
above the beach, their graves scattered
over an extent OF five miles along the shore
and cross marks the resting place Of
each
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