The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-07-03
How the Cholera Dead are Buried at the New
York Quarantine.

The New York World gives the following
graphic, CHASTITY description of the manner of
the burial OF the bodies of those who die of
cholera at the New York quarantine
At nine o'clock every morning the sloop
bearing the cholera corpse departs from the
Falcon ten miles southwestward. to the quar-
antlne burylng ground on Staten Island
The black outline of the Falcon, which with
out her masts and freed from cargo, rises alb
ruptly forty feet high out of depths, presents
a strong contrast to the meagre-siZed bowl
shaped, slug1shly -moved dead ship that hugs
the water and drinks the waves as if to seek
obscurity and publication for her loathsome
load. They are well mated-the gigantic
Falcon is the huge monster that daily belcll-
es out the victims whom the disease it nur-
ses is continually killing, while the small, re-
pulsive sloop plays lackey and tender, carry
ing of the nauseating remains of those that
its bigger brother refuses longer to hold.
The two men who now manage the sloop,
and convey as well as inter the bodies are
stalwart Russians, of unusual strength But
recently serts in their own country, they I'M
derstand but enough English, and possess
but sufficient personality, literally to obey
their sad orders and solidly to perform their
disgusting, though necessary work. What
nature gave them in muscle she has with
held in sensibility. The corpses, say six, are
laid in PARALLEL lengths ON the deck, partial
Choir weighs down one end of the only shroud
which the poor dead but temporarily pos
sess. To keep the other end from Tapping
an unappreciated requiem, Joseph runs be-
low, leaving Nicholas whistling at the wheel,
and brings up the bread box to place upon
the cloth, and hinder its wind made mo-
ton. But that is not sufficient, though no
other means are resorted to, screen the dis
colored corpses. The breeze is inquisitive,
he nft bo
the sun on whom he is shining. A man of
middle age woman in her fourth decade,
between them is an infant whose prattling
on earth is hushed forever beyond these a
young wife, near her gray haired man, and
at distance youth, the vigor of early life
visible even in death-lie side by side, while
distorted features the last swamp which ag-
ony impressed, and fetid, indscribable od0r
that offends the air and sickness. the senses,
tell the dreadful story and show the more
horrid effects of the terrible pestilence-
Flaxen hair, rounded features, compact frame
the now pallid blue of the staring eyes that
will not shut, suggest their German BIRTH
Indeed, the fatality is almost universally
among this class. Hundreds have left the
grandeur and the gayety of the Rhine, only
to breathe their death gurgle at the mouth
of the Hudson, on the portals of the land
whittier freedom, safety and abundant OPP
portunity wooed them.
The sloop forces alanguid passage through
the waves, that dashes with monotonous
thud, against her sides, while the stillnes
of the air and the silence of the dead are
rudely marred by the Indifferent Jokes of the
dual crew, than which the occasional creak-
ing of the restless mainsail is not less grating
to the scene.
The ground reached, and open grave gapes
ready for the dead yet death breathing bod
les. More than five deep and two and half
feet wide, it seems spacious, but when it is
remembered that six distorted shapes that
once were human beings are to be damned
in that hole, disgust is felt at its shameful
shallowness. 1t was dug the night before
by men who never attend the burial, but
their part of preparation done, averse or fear
| full of experimenting the conclusion of the
horrid work. The corpses are taken hurri-
edly graveyard, and thrown in their order
of size, which brings the young wife next to
the top and the infant upon her breast
| Neither coffin, shroud, nor even box is
there. Strong hands shovel in the waiting
earth on the almost bare bodies. Six so
nearly fill up the cavity that but few spades
full of earth suffice, and those descend not
| with the ringing sound that salutes the con-
fined dead, but with dull, heavy echoeless
sound of dirt against flesh. Perhaps nine
final inches of clay cover the upmost corpse,
perhaps less. No prayer, no mourners, no
priest, no shroud, no coffin, no friends, with
one-sixth of one grave, and a meagre morsel
of earth for their cover, the daily augmented
cholera dead sleep on by the side of the
ocean, and at the door of a land in Which,
coming to seek home, they were not able
| to obtain decent tomb