The New York herald., 1871-08-01
THE SCENE AT THE MoRGuE YESTERDAY.

THE SCENE Ar THE M0RGuE YESTERDAY.
All through Sunday night Bellevue Hospital was
alive with people hurrying TO ana FRO and the opening
and shutting or doors. The Morgue was kept open,
but only rarely did some anxious seeker after
missing near and dear one hurrledly enter lis
ghasty doors ana peer upon tho blood-staned faces
and mutilated forms OF the unknown dead. The
gas lamp in front Of the door nlckered with a dim
doubtful light upon these palid, grief-stricken
searchers as they passed inside the iron railing and
down the steps into the
HALL OF DEATH.
The night itself seemed In singular unison with
the awful event that had made the day which had
just closed so sadly memorable. The sky was over
hung with low CLOUDS; the DIR struck damp and
chilly upon the cheek. and every now aud then. in
passing from one block to another, the feet
Of the wayfarer sp!ashed suddenly into
puddle. Everything conspred to crowd the
mind with melancholy suggestions OF the misery
caused few hours before byselfsh careessness.
Abcut daybreak the clouds broke into torrents OF
rain and q light mist filed the streets. But the
weather was powerlcss TO Overmatch the curiosity
or the fears of the thousands who mad resolved to
gaze upon thc
HIDEOUS WITNESSES
OF Sundays disaster. by six O'Clock the streets
and avenues leading TO the Hospital were thronged
with people. When at last you reached First avenue
Gordon of police barred the way to all but adults.
This was necessary and wise precaulion for hun
dreds of street Arabs had wended their way thither
III hopes to feast their eyes upon horrors such as
they mad hitherto only read OF in the unwholesOme
reports OF the penny journals. Baked Of their ex.
pected treat the ragged little wrctchcs collected In
groups, ana now ana then luxnrated IN the COM
paratively mild sensation OF seeing woman, Wild
with dread pass by in an agony Of sObs and tears TO
the chamber OF the dead. All the
CORNER GRoGsHoPs
that face the hospital were crowded with lOafers,
who seemed TO enjoy the occasion as q gala day OF
morbid pleasure. The streets in the neighborhoOd
are dirty and illkept; the houses are largely The
poorest kind Of tenemcnts, and slatterny women
and unsnaven men and dirt-bespa,tered and ragged
children thronged every doorway and loungcd about
the sidewalks. IL is never cheerful neighDorhood,
but yesterday it put on Its grlmmest, saddest and
most revoltiag aspect.
Passing through the police line, you soon found
yourself In pretty dense crowd. IL was evidently
mostly made up OF sight-scers, but here and there
sorrow.stricken countchance marked out some be.
reaved relative OF a possible victim. IL to be
noticed also that there was a still and quiet air
about the crowd, and though 1t numbered
many recruits from among the dangerous
IL
VoIces that were ordinarily coarse and
harsh and vulgar were hished to Whispers that
seemed strangely significant. At an execution such
people frequently conduct themselves with levity
that Is horribly misplaced but yesterday showed
that there are limits even 10 what some observers
have deemed the
ILLIMITABLE BRUTALITY
OF that terrible understratum Of society which now
and then heaves uueasily beneath the respectable
structure OF Christian civilization. . And yet the
purpose for which most Of these miserable wretches
had come there was a shocking manifestation OF de-
pravity. IL was clear that majority or the crowd
simply intended regae their eyes with the hideous
results OF the worst forms Of physical suffering
Dead TO every liner mental excitement their nerves
could still bc thrilled by spectacle that brought up
10 y, ',,ss IN ~ this ncasre % 'nI
Is of course Impossible shut of these slaves OF
morbid appetite rom viewing the corpscs at the
Morgue; but II Is appalling that
SUCH GHOULs
can grow up In human form amid the Wanted and
iIlnuiueraoie agencies ior good of nineteenth CEN
AS soon as you reached the door OF the outdoor
,iDigy ana iaded red bricE, you were pressed into
.l 80 PRESIDING PoLrcgMAH.
Twas just as though you were waiting your turn
10 buy ticket Tor the theatre The thread vi sight
seers, however, rapidly passed on ana you soon
found yourself al the portal Of the dead house. You
passed under Skeleton iron arch, painted green
4 M surnlountcl right at the top with bright gilt
letters which You spelled into MSrguem Then sou
another door. and here st last you reached the
CHASTITY SHOW HOUSE
you had come to Al the left You enter there
Is glass PARTITION aud inside this disposed the
putrid cOrpscs OF the unidentified dead. The bodies
sometimes, IL there any special marks, part Of
the body was also uncovered. Generally, how.
wna e e we're Ie g eay o s
had been removed 1t was hung up at the head Oi
tlic slab. Where the mulilation had been greatest
which Jumps OF ice kept the flesh from pulreaction.
AS The Ice melted, drops Of water dripped from the
slabs upon the noor. and s!aineo It with
Thanks to the glass partition, there was, however,
bur slight smell OF death; but the air ia the room
seemed damp and earthly ike the air IN scpuchre.
The wall OF glass has also one very curious effect.
Slight as ~ the barrier that divides you from the
dead IL Is enough 10 soften down the most hldeous
| features OF the spectacle. II scarcely seems ~
| though you were looking upon putrefying flesh and
wax models. Perhaps the absence OF stencil con.
tributes greatly to ths impression, Dut there can be
As the crowd Ied past the corpscs it was instruc
tive 10 see how even the most Cailous sluidered
the disgusting mutlaton OF human forms inat they
Witnessed
| "Ihis ~
WORSE THAN TIE RIOT,
isn't ~ softly SAID one man, as, having slowly mas
tered the uctais OF the show, he turned round and
entered the line OF departing sgntseers. lie was
evidently an experienced sgbtseer IN inns class o
'WOrse,r was the reply; '1r ] had known 1t was
| so terrible wouldn't have come" q
| But the most characteristic and perhaps the mos
| common criticism upon the 'sh0w'' WAS tnat Of q
young work girl who followed the writer IN the line
| VI spectators .llat .fft
, my God my Godr cried she, clutching at the
| wall and turning pale. She had expected to SEE
something that would stir her blood, but she, Ike
| many others, had not bargaincd for the full mea
sure OF revolving reality that burst upon her.
| IL would be tedious to describe
THE CORrsEs
| st ieuOtb Yesterday we had from the lips OF Tho
| medical! attendants hearirending descriptions o
the injuries lnnictcd FIRST OF all, as YOU entered
| the dcaailouse You were confronted with mother
aud her Two children. The bodies were so still, anJ
| yet had stnened ia atlitudes so
uNEAsILY SUGGESTIVE
OF the rightfuy unnatural agony that characicrlzet
| their taking or" The skin was so marked with
huge red wounds or had been so htdc0usly god
dened alter death by the steam aud not water into
sucn sTrangc and sckly DalOr, that you felt your
self transnxed with horror. The dresses, too that
| torn aud dragged still hung aDOut the senscles'
| limbs. seemed muley eloquent OF the awful tragedy
| IN which their wearers had figured. After TINS
mournful trio of unf0rtuDates came some eight 0