Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1871-08-16
From the Herald.
AT THE MORGUE.


the great mass of timbers that fell into
the water.
From the Herald.
AT THE MORGUE.
Into the NIorgue went the Wi of
old and young, gray headed and /
aged women, men in the prime of life
and girls scarce past their teens. As g
friend would be recognized among the
bodies loud wailings would break forth:
muttered ordinations of grief and
terms of endearment would fall from
the lips of d father, who eXGrted all his
powers of manhood to hide his grief;
broken-hearted wife or mother would
give loud vent to her grief and call in
agonized terms for one word i'll re-
sponse from her darling one, now cold
and stiff i'll the embrace of death.
As soon as the bodies were recog
nized they were removed TO the dead
house and yard and enclosed in the
rude pine COtfins, now stained with the
blood which had dropped from the
gaping wounds of more than one pre-
vious tenant. In this yard the scene
was narrowing IN the extreme. Friends
and relatives who had not yet seen the
remains, recognized already by some
member of the family, sought eagerly
among the coffins piled up there for
the remains of some relative or friend.
When their tremulOus hands, remOv-
ing the cover, disclosed to view the IA
miliar features of the one they bad
last seenin the full possession of health
and vigor, the sObs Of hardy men and
the shrieks of women filed the air and
/
become hardened by SUGGESTIONS of
sad sights to turn their heads away and
wipe off the unaccustomed moisture
from their cheeks.
Some of the bodies were calm and
placid looking, seemingly sleeping,
save for the death foam unW1ped from
.their lips, while others were fearfully
SCARED and burned, some almost past
recognition.
As the two bodies of Louisa Elsasaer,
aged four years; and her brother George,
aged fifteen years, were picked out
from among the others their uncle and
several other relatives hung tenderly
over their bodies, particularly that of
the baby, which was sadly burned, and
in loving accents called upon them,
''Louisa, mein Gott O, Louisa" and
then the utterance became choked with
tears, and as their frames shook with
anguish the silent, deep-seated grief, so
strongly marked upon their honest
German faces, will not SO soon be for
gotten by those present.
Next came az old Irishwoman, ac-
companied by policeman and one OF
two others, looking for family of four
g. L Ii+LIn
several coffin lids being raised. At
length they found the objects of their
search, OF, rather two Of them-Mrs.
Smith and Annie Smith, child ofnine
years or thereabOutS. Pen cannot de-
pict or convey an idea of the uncer-
tainty SO plainly to be seen upon their
countenances as, under the direction
OF some kind-hearted employe, they
hurriedly sought the hospital wards,
trusting that they might there find the
other two.
In one OF the wards, tossing upon the
bed, swathed in cooling bandages, they
found the little infant of nine months,
but the father, Bernard Smith, could
not be found. Then their uncertainty
gave way to dread despair, and with
E'hearts bowed down by weight of
woe" they left to seek tidings Of HIM
elsewhere.
The heavy, death like smell prevail
ing around the dead-house and yard,
where so many bodies were, was almost
overpowering, and to many who had
looked frequently upon death before,
/ 1t became almost more than they could
/ bear, particularly when was added to
] tb4 other Influences Tho o4I+c,,oI-aD
grief and passionate outbursts of be-
reaved friends.
/ Professor James r. Wood, so well
known at Bellevue Hospital College
and throughout this city, said to the
writer of this article-'In all my expe
rience here, and it embraces some
thirty years, I have never seen any
thing like this it has moved me as
nothing of the kind has ever moved me
before"