Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-05-18
Paris Correspondence London Times.l
CHASTITY Scenes at the Paris Morgue.

Yesterday paid visit TO the Morgue,
where the bodies of the victims of the 4th
whose identity had not been proved had
been placed. I experienced. first of all,
some difficulty in getting into the build
ing on account of the crowd, consisting
principally of women with children in
their arma assembled outside md who
hang about the doorway from morning to
night, notwithstanding that they have
been told that all the bodies are now
claimed. After some trouble found the
guardian, man about forty years
Of age "Impossible to let you in,
sir" said the man. "Why, look at
the crowd; they will be bowling all
day if they see you go in and are
obliged to remain outside" OF course
knew perfectly well that things of this
nature are never impossible in this
world. so l slipped coin into his hand
and obtained the following answer:-
"Well, sir, you come around again at five
o'clock, and I'll see what I can do for
YOU" At five o'clock returned. Fol
low me in negligent sort of manner as
if you were merely strolling about" said
the man, and I'll let you in" The crowd
had considerably diminished. l followed
the guardian up flight of stone steps on
the left hand side of the hospital until
we REACHED wooden doorway on the
left. As soon as this was opened, three
or four people managed to thrust them
selves in, among them, and the door was
then slammed to and locked on the inside.
We mounted another flight OF stone steps,
eight or ten in number, passed through
second doorway, and found ourselves
in bare wall room, nine yards broad by
sixteen yards long, which il, L am told,
the ordinary amputation ball of the
Ecole de Medicine, for Marseilles has no
regular Morgue. At the end of the room
on the left was a cabinet, through the
glass doors of which one perceived skel.
etons, skulls, human bones, humaE brains
preserved in glass bottles, works on an
atomy, and all manner of surgic i instru-
ments. Before me was a wide passage,
on either side of which were four marble
slabs; that is to say, the hall contained
eight slabs, with wide passage passing
from side to side, and another from end
to end. There were now only three
bodies in the room out of the nine which
had originally been placed there, the
others having been claimed and taken
away. The whole of the corpses were
lying on the slabs in deal boxes-they
could hardly be called cofius-made OF
wood quarter of an inch thick. In the
box on my left was an artillaryman still
in uniform. removed the handkerchief
that covered his face His features were
those of young man scarcely % years
of age and were perfectly quiet and COM
II. II L
his nostrils, and had trickled down on to
a slight downy moustache. How was
he killed ?" said l, turning to the guard
ian. "He is shot through the breast,
was the answer. Beside him was an 1t4l-
ian in blue wooden shirt he was a man
over thirty. He had been killed in the
same manner as the other, but in his case
the blood had rushed to his mead, and
flowed from his ears and nose over his
face and neck, completely disfguring him
On one of his fingers was plain gold
ring-perhaps his mothers wedding
ring. The third body was that of child
scarcely nine years Old. He was
dressed in pair of blue cotton
trousers and blue check pinafore or
blouse His little hands were open, and
were soft and clean, like those of child
who had never worked He was not
street boy. His plump little face was
slightly bronzed by the Southern sun, but
looked as pretty and innocent as if he had
been alive save that he was deadly pale.
A ball had entered at the top of his fore
head Just where the hair commences, and
knocking away large piece of the skull,
had come cut at the top of the head. on
the right-hand side. A piece of white
paper was pinned to his breast, on which
was written, "Une victime des partisaps
d Pordro ~