Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1871-10-20

The sickening sensation Of Thursday Wss the
establishment Of a morgue f1r the e1humed re-
mains Of the mighty FIRE. This shocking reposi-
tory is the heGrse and carriage room of lover
elias. undertaken, on Hubbard street, near
HAlsted, a feE blocks from the freight depot Of
the Pittsburg Cincinnati and st louis Railway.
1t is little better than barn, and yet is in-
corporatei with the dwelling Of the proprietor
and the stable for his horses The place was
guarded by armed policemen, who found it diff
cult to keep ct constantly renewed crowd Of
people, with horror and anxiety depicted in
every pale and pitlful face. 1t the far end Of
this room was a psrtitiored space, lighted by
dirty, cob-webbed windows, and on the floor. ar
ranged in rows, first all round the three sides
and then down the middle, were the charrel re-
mains of seventy human beings The first nc
ticeable object Of this dreadful company was the
form Of Sister of some Romsn Catholic Order.
completely shrouiei in her brown habit, with
the cross and 1. H. 5. in white letters stitched
upon the bosom. The face was thickly yelled.
and even the feet was carefully COW
cred "She was smothered, but not
burned" observed the grim master of ceremo.
Next was the body Of young man, partly clad.
The hair was completely burned of his head
and body The features we're blackened and
distorted with pain. Inc swollen lips we're
wide apart, disclosing the glistening teeth and
imparting horrid grin, Iuch only as sgoniz
ing death stamps upon the face the flesh was
blosted 10 an astonishing size The Door
wretch was roasted alive. There was one char
red form Of woman IN the attitude Of PRAYER.
but every feature Of the face was gone. The
head was nothing but black lump the BODY
of hideous, blsckenei shape Some bodies Of
men could be distinguished by the remnants of
clothing and boots, but nearly sill traces of
humanity were gone. Then there we're remains
of children and young people, but they, with
the majority, were nothing more than mere
blsckened, charred corpses. Those whose limbs
or arms remained exhibited a suplicatorv atti-
tude, a. if begging mercy of the destroyer. To
this ghsstly, hideous and melancholy spectacle
were admitted, in little parties of four or five at
a time, those who had friends or relatives miss
ing. No language can describe the scenes of
hesrt-rending agony those grim visits elected
A family of little children led by an elder sis
ter comes in and, after the first sickeaing shock,
tries TO distinguish the lost mother a frantic
wife, attended by friend, comes in search of
her unreturning husband. Brothers seek sisters
lost and sisters their brothers gone but who
can tell in that undstinguishable chsrnal Whist
home the living beings once made hsppyl All
personal identification is gone with the obliterat-
ing fire, and nothing is left but ashes WORE.
perhaps, than Identification is the whitening dis
appointment in not finding the missing The |
Tretched beings go away wringing their hands,
tearing their hair and rending the very sir |
With pitsous cries and unutterable wailings. |
Besides these burned bodies the Morgue yester- |
lay contained five newly coffined corpses. One
Was Of man caught in the act OF firing a
house and shot dead, another of q man hanged
% lamp-post by mob for the same crime
Another Of German tailor who lost all, and
tut bis thrUat from ear to ear with razor. The
ourth Of = woman who died in premature
childbirth, brough on by fright The fifth.
hat Of . young woman found in a house in the
'urnt district, either sttired fer the grave hav-
ng died natural death. or else Of bride
partially undressed. who was sufocated with
moke. The work of exuming the remains as
ully under way. and the humber Of charred
emaius recovered up to I o'clock last night
Fas reported 125. Several Of these we're mere