Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1873-10-22
FROM MEMPHIS.
Horrible state of .AfTairs-Dead Bodies
Decomposc Unburied.


The appeal of the 18th presents the fol-
lowing frightful condition of affairs in
that city;
The figures furnished by the mortuary
report this morning are discouraging.
There is an increase of four in the total
of deaths as compared with the returns of
the day before. The figures are forty one
by yellow fever, ten from other causes /;
total, fifty-oue. The report of the day
before was total, forty-seven, yellow-fever>
thirty-eight, and nine from other causes.
Still our people must not be discouraged.
The increase is to be accounted for by the
cool nights, rather than from any increase
in the number of cases. So far as we can
learn, new cases have decreased in num-
bers in the last two or three days, and
those best posted are sanguine that an
abatement of the disease has set in.
THEY CANNOT BURY THEIR DEAD.
The undertakes are prevented from
burying persons without first receiving
the attending physiciaR's certificate as to
the cause of death. Many physicians
make it convenient to absent themselves
from their Office to avoid signing death
certificate. Some object to signing certifi-
Gates through fear of having their names
published in connection with the names
OF their dead patients. The undertakers
are necessarily annoyed in securing these
| certificates, and rs consequence unreua-
| BILE reports are given the health officer.
| and dead bodies, reekins with infectious
| malaria and poisonous gases, are allowed
| to decompose. In this manner the disease
is kept alive, and in countless homes OF
the poor there are dead victims lying, with
| the gases escaping to the surrounding
houses. Shall the dead be buried without
| a certificate of doctor or shall we endure
| the horrid consequences OF permitting
dead bodies to be exposed and unattended
hours after life has fled? Chief Athy is
constantly called upon to have the decom-
| posing bodies removed to the cemetery,
| and is unable to grant such requests how
ever urgent and necessary, us the under
| takers very properly refuses to take charge
| of bodies for sepulchre without first re-
| ceiving the required certificate. Yester-
| day poor man pawned his daughter
| watch in order TO secure sufficient money
| for purchasing a coffin in which the re
mains ,of a member of his family were
placed for burial. All day, but in vain ,Ihe
hunted for the attending physician, who
| could not be found, and therefore the body
could not be buried.
Another sickening case is reported from
! Center alley, where corpse was necessa-
| rily permitted to remain, and finally burst
open, the foul gases escaping in every di-
rection and giving death breathing vapors
W every DdSSluB DlGtES. -lIS' w bhCloOl
died Sunday evening on Clay street, be-
tween LaRose and DeSoto, and her corpse
was left unattended in the room of her late
residence until yesterday. In an adjoining
room was her son, helpless and suffering
with the yellow fever. What q picture
How sadly terrible and how torturing to
that young mans feelings was this terrible,
| sickrning fact. The firemen's relief asso-
citation yesterday found dead man near
/ the Ohio depot, and much trouble was had
in obtaining person to lay the corpse out
| for burial. At No. 153 Main street an un-
fortunate woman died, and no one could
be found to shroud the corpse and place it
in the coffin. Application was made to
the Howard Association, whose duties are
more with the sufferings of the sick and
the living than with the removal of the
| dead. Let the board Of health or city
council suggest plan practically adequate
| for the occasion.