The Portland daily press., 1867-08-12
Miscellany.



The Tribune gives graphic description o.
the New York Dead-house or "Morgue."
We quote the following: 9saial#
"On the upper side Of Twenty sixth street,
and very near the edge of Eass River, is an
unpretending apartment, situated on the
ground. floor OF the Bellevue Hospital, bear
ing in severe gilt letters over the door. name
which instantly gives rise to many mourntul
reflections; but which irresisibly att acts the
attention OF the passer-by. 1t is The Nor
que" The room devoted to this use is small
scarcely 20 feet square. Immediately upon
entering, you are struck by the general applo-
priateness OF the interior. The floor is made
Of small bricks, the alternate red and white of
which form curious checker-work. There
is prevailing dampness in the air, but ii ia
cool and pleasant. The room is DIVIDED into
Two compartments OF about equal size. the
separation being a glass partition, commence
ing at the street door and running the length
OF the apartment. The right hand side of this
Partition is utterly devoid Of furniture. The
only object upon the bare, white wall is
walnut-framed copy of the printed ru;es
and regulations OF the Morgue They are
simple and few. They describe the disro-
sition made of the unknown dead bodies
which are brought to the institution. and
the time they are preserved for identifica
eiOhs 1bO s5ittoo tOOh, do tuc OLuef cOlnOart-
ment may be called, is devoted to the expos-
ure of the bodies. 1t contains four tables
with iron frames and heavy marble slabs for
tops. Upon these marble tables the bod es
after being stripped naked. with the excep.
ton OF a covering about the loins, are laid on
their backs. India rubber tubes are s,lspend
ed from heceiling, and from these constant
dripping of water falls upon the forehead of
the dead to keep it fresh and cool until inden-
titication shall have taken place, or the time
expires for the exposure OF the BODY. Twen.
ty-four hours is the usual time If the re-
mains are identified, they are given into the
hands OF the friends, together with the cloth
ing and other property may have been found
upon the body; if no Identification takes
place, the corpse, after the usual inouest of
the coroner, is inferred, and the effects which
came with it are kept a number OF months
for whomsoever may call for and identify
them. g8tlf,s 1atlt
This dead house of the metropolis is not so
thickly and necessarily peopled as the Parisi-
an institution from which it borrows its
name. Certainly, in all conscience, we have
victims enough OF crime and selfnurder:
but the ephemeral temperament which gives
10 the Seine an additional number of suicides
in cloudy weather is seldom a Characteristic
OF our population, and g found drowL ed.n as
general thing, form comparatively small
portion OF those wretched unknowns which
are brought to the glass-exhibition of the Bel
levue dead-house.
Frequently the tables are found entirely
empty. AT such times the visitors are few.
being mostly confined to philanthropic old
gentlemen, strangers in the city, who move
observantly about the cool, mosaicked hall. or
curiously study the rules and regulations, with
their chinss supported meditatively by Their
goid-headed canes. But scarcely week pas
showing one or more sad candidates for rec
onition. o.lr