Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-10-27
THE oFFIeE Of coRoNeR.
A Description OF what Has Been Done
I'm b Way Of Scientific
Inquesting.
A Few secrets OF the Profession brought
20 light.
An Instructive Chapter on the VaFiOuA
Usages of CrOwner's 'Quests."

Our evening paper says that 1t is q moral
calamity that Coroner Moftatt is 80 long
sick. The 'squires, 1t says, are fighting
like g flock Of vultures over every corpse
that happens to be found within the limits
Of b county. The fee in each case is the
great bone land body OF contention. We
have no notion that the case Is half "a bad
as 1t is represented; but whether it be or
not, we have reason to be gratifed that
things are conducted so well among Us.
In New Orleans they manage things diff
ferently. When a corpse Is discovered,
an inquest Is properly held, an order for
burial issued, q everything done &C
cording to 'form /" in order to insure fees
The cold corpus is hen done up in differ
ent style, and carried of to another part
of the city, is found again, and again is
inquested. The process is thus continued
as long as the subject 'holds out" Some
times il becomes necessary to lop off an
arm or q leg, put an additional bullet hole
In the head, or stab with 6 knife, In order
to remove any suspicion of 1t being the
same '%stiff." In cold weather, when the
corpse lasts q long time without showing
dissgreeable signs of dissolution, 1t is
made to duty twenty. or thirty times be-
fore it is finally put away. At the last
official inquest, the nearest relation or
most intimate acquaintance of the dead
person would fall to recognize him or her.
At first it might be a very nice, decent
corpse, dressed in black, with youthful,
unshaven face, and smooth brow. In the
course of half dozen msnipulations, the
corpse becomes an old man, with wrlnkled
brow, hosry locks, its teeth out, and a
general appearance of ancient ruin about
1t, melancholy to contemplate. 1t might
even be found necessary to perforate the
forehesd with a bullet-hole; take a hitch
around the neck with a good stout piece
Of rope and suspend the corpse in some
u%noccupied room, and find it there mex
morning with a letter addressed to its
wife in some distant city. The next con-
ditiou in which it would offer g fee to the
coroner is hard to coDjecture; 1t might be
dragged up out of the river, wearing a
different appearance, of course, with an
old flannel shirt and a struggling
beard; then, again. it would presen
Itself as a misanthrope found lying
beside a discharged pistol or by the side of
3 half-empty bottle of strychnine. The
limits of its service only are prescribed
by the way a corpse holds q The last
duty which It Is usually made to perform
Is to crafty the anatomical and physio-
logical curiosity of some iucipient and en-
thusisstic Esculapius upon whom IL Is
pslmed OF as a very marvellous subject
for a few dollsrs. ITO what bsse uses
must we come at lssti"
In New YORK coroners nave not attained
the hight of professional skill in this re.
spect. They do things differently. The
subject there is cut up, and the members
of the once proud frame are dispersed
about the city in the night time. Next
dsv the coroner inquests them all, SeTiG-
tenn. he investigates. for instance, a leg
at ths Battery Ia the morning. In an hour
he interviews the head in Fifth Rve
nue.; a band is found at Washington mar
ket, and the trunk, hitched to a fishing
line, Is hauled out of the North river In
the evening. In this way the coroner and
his deputies are kept going; end the Office
is made TO pay. Now our magistrates, as
the Ledger man would insinuate, are not
so voracious after fees as to resort to these
extreme measures during the sickness or
absence of the coroner. When a person is
found dead it becomes the duty Of a mag
istrate to inquest the body wnen called
on. The coroner has not been in q condi-
ton to perform the duties of his Office for
some months back, and we believe the
law does not, as in other cities, empower
him to appoint q deputy, hence it Is not
astonishing that three or four magistrates
not unfrequently assemble over one
corpse to hold an inquest. 1.-THE early
bird catches the worm" Of the dust, of