The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1866-07-10
# II ON NEW YO RK.
The Cholera COrpses--HOyy and
by Whom They are Buried :
Scenes ON Board the Dead Ship.

The persons who convey the cholera
dead from the Falcon to the graveyard at
Staten Island are continually dying of the
disease themselves. Last Friday another
was taken Of, making six in all. A de-
scription of the way in which the conta-
Igion is acquired by them may be had
when the public are informed of how the
bodies are treated and buried, of which
a correct idea can be secured from an un-
exaggerated description of
A TRIP OF THE DEAD SHIP.
Anime o'clock every morning the sloop
bearing the cholera corpses departs from
the Falcon ten miles southwestward, to the
Quarantine burying ground on Staten Is
land. The long Black outline of the Fal-
[con, which without her masts, and freed
from cargo, rises abruptly forty feet high
out of the depths, presents strong con-
trast to the meager sized, bowl shaped,
sluggishly moved dead ship that hugs the
water and drinks the waves as if to seek
lobscurity and publication for her loathe.
some load They are well mated-the
Gigantic Falcon is the huge monster that
daily belches out the victims whom the
disease it nurses is constantly killing,
while the small repulsive .sloop plays lack )
ley and tender, carrying off 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 serfs in their own
country, they understand but enough En-
1 glish, and possess but sufficient personal
Iity, literally to obey their sad orders and
stolidly to perform their disgusting though
necessary work. What nature gave them
| in muscle she has withheld in sensibility.
The corpses, say six, are laid in parallel
lengths on the deck partially covered with
sail cloth. The unused anchor weighs
down one end of the only shroud which
the poor dead but temporarily possess. -
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
tplace upon the cloth, and hinder its wind
made motion. But that is not sufficient
though no other means are resorted to, to
screen the discolored corpses. The breeze
lis inquisitiye, and lifts the side of the
covering to show the sun on whom he is
shining. A man of middle age, woman
in her fourth decade, between them an in
fant whose prattling on earth is hushed
forever, beyond these young wife, near
her gray haired man, and at a distance
a youth, the vigor Of early life visible
even in death,-lie side by side, while
distorted features, the last stamp which
agony impressed, and fetid, indescriba-
Bile odor that offends the air. and sickens
the senses, tell the dreadful story and
show the more horrid effects of the terri
Bile pestilence. FIaxen hair rounded fea
lures, compact frame, the now paflid blue
of the staring eyes that will not shut, ,sug-
gest their German birth. Indeed, the ia.
tality is almost universally among this
class. Hundreds have left the grandeur
land the gayety of the Rhine. only tc
breathe their deaths -gurgle at the mouth
| of the Hudson, on the portals of the lant
whittier freedom, safety and abundant op
portunity wooed them.
| The, sloop forces a languid passag'
through the waves, that dash. with mo
notonous thud, thud, against her sides
while the stiffness of the air and the 81
lence Of the dead are rudely marked b,
the Indifferent jokes of the dual crew ,thal
, which the occasional creaking of the rest
!, less mainsail is not less grating to th
scene.
D THE BURIAL GROUND.
The ground reached, an open grav
! gapes ready for the dead yet death breath
9 ing bodies. More than FIVE feet deep an
! two and half feet wide it seems spacious
}, but when it is remembered that six dis
J torted shapes that once were human be
ings are to be jammed in that hole, dis
e gust is felt at its shameful shallowness.-
1t was dug the night before, by men VIII
never attend the burial, but their part {
preparation done, averse or fearful of su
!, perintending the conclusion Of the hol
q rid work. The corpses are carried hui
riedly graveyard, and thrown in in the
g order of size, which brings the youn
J, wife next the top, and the infant upon ht
g breast. Neither coffin, shroud, nor eve
J a box is there. Strong hands shovel
the waiting earth on the almost bare boz
e les. Six SO nearly fill up the cavity thi
:. but few spadesful Of earth suffice, an
: those descend not with the ringing soun
that salutes the cofined dead, but Wit
1t the dull, heavy, echoless sound of di
4 against flesh. Perhaps nine final inch'
. of clay cover the upmost corpse, perhal
less. No prayer, no mourners, no prizes
ls no shroud, DO coffin, no friends, with on
< sixth of one grave, and meagre mors
at of earth for their cover, the daily au
to mented cholera dead sleep on by the si'
o. of the ocean, and at the door Of land
1t which, coming to seek a home, they we
t. not able to obtain decent tomb.
ur From this state of facts it IS ne wond
I'd that the boat force is constantly thinn
it by death; nor is the horridly-hasty ma
e; ner in which the dead are treated cred
n, able to those who permit such things. I
an virulency of contagion from the des
it more certain and fatal than taae infecti
as from living subjects, seem to be oyt
'e- looked or ignored, and the fright and !
puguance of the adjacent island farme
ut having such lily filled and badly CO
~ l 80 ...4 Al A,.. - -.