New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-11-12
CROWNERS QUEST.

IL 10 were not upon 30 grave ouoJO0'' ~
would be amusing to watch the zeal with
which our coroners work the rich diggings al
forded in this teeming city. Cofin-makers
and grave-diggers are indeed necessary mem
bers of society. and there is no reason why
they should not have the same ambition to
thrive as the physician and the apOthecary.
Still they are not usually among the most
convivial and hilarious Of men not, as gen.
era. rule, boisterously jolly. But coroner,
that sleek and well-kept officer OF PaIhdG
Mors, has a scent for fresh corpse as keen
as that of hyena, and his delight at finding
one is hardly less controlled. dead body Is
worth ten dollars at least, perhaps more, to
him his bank account may be told by the
number of corpses viewed, and whenever
Death is most active he is most busy.
Now this would be all well enough (for coroners
per Sc are Indispensable except for a peculiar
blindness in the matter of causes OF death
and the necessity for inquests. We judge from
the reports coming to us that at least five in
quests are held where in strict propriety there
would he not more than one. A sudden death
is q joyful surprise to that officer; there
must be an inquest to show why
a man has taken the liberty of so dying. A
still-born infant is godsend, easily under
stood and quickly disposed of. The case OF
the man who falls from roof must be care
fully inquired into; for who knows but there
may have been a secret foe in the chimney to
push him off. Old chronic diseases are good
property, and it ia interesting to see how that
lynx-eyed official watches the down-hill jour
ney of his friend and neighbor calculating to
1. IL - -1,aY fhn -fan
property cbargeable to the county Death
himself follows his victim not more closely or
relentlessly.
Of the legal value of these inquests we have
just had notable instance-the killing OF
Douglas by Thomas Jackson-where the breadth
and depth of the political whitewash was so
conspicuously manifest that public indignation
was on the verge of breaking out against the
actors. OF the mass of inquests, it may safely
be said they are in most instances unnecessary,
and many of them are ridiculous. The true
purpose of an inquest is TO guard against
crime; to make sure that the victim has met
with no foul play. To hold an inquest in
case of natural death-such rs heart disease,
falling from roof, drowning. being run over,
premature birth, natural decay, and score of
other causes-is clear violation of the real intent
of the law, and the charge made for them is a
clear robbery of the public treasury. Yet
probably four-fifths of the inquests held in
New-York City are of this sort-cases in which
there is not the slightest probability of wrong
and wherein there is no more need OF coro-
ner's services than upon the body of the last
murderer strung up by the sheriff. Perhaps
there is no remedy for this abuse but
surely there is no good reason why all the
policemen and reporters and half the
doctors in the city should be playing
the jackal to these ayaricious coroners, and
fastening to report every death that seems to
offer the least possible excuse for helding an
inquest A iovial fat sexton-BrOwn. for in
stance-is an institution to be admired; and
there is no reason why coroner should not
be rs merry as Hamlets grave digger; but
when we come 20 add up his little bill, rang
ing from twenty to thirty thousand dollars n
year, we naturally start ut the evidence OF
such fearful mortality from suspicious causes,
and wonder how long our city can remain in
labtable 10y peaceabe people.