The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-07-30

| from ume 70 Clme theme for sad mOraliZing
in poetry and prose. 1t was over the body of q
wretched girl, freshly dragged from the River
Thames, that Hood was inspired to write 1.-THE
Bridge of Sighs." The interest in that case
arose from the overshadowing, isolating curse
of an outlawed, outcast career -
Mad to life's history.
Clad to deaths mystery,
swift to be hurled
Anywhere, anywhere
Out OF the world.
There knowledge is assumed of the life
quenched in the river; but how vain the
guess work over the lives of those whose
bloated, disfgured corpses are taken up daily
from the waters that wash around Manhattan
Island; that receiving such pitifully scant
attention from those misnamed the "proper''
authorities, are hurried away to the Potter's
Field under the ''open" verdict of a coroner 8
jury? Yet, each time that the eye, skimming
over the morning paper, finds scant para
graph beginning
The body Of an unknown man, much decom-
posed. was found IN the East River, az pier -. by
some boys VINO were playing near the waters
there is q mystery that may never be cleared
up-a life gone out that somebody mourns
over ignorant alike of the fate itself as of the
how, the where or when of death. A passing
sigh may be given by those who watch in vain
for the return of one they love; but the world
passes heedlessly by the slab at the Morgue
where the dead reposes, and the corpse, hor-
rible as it may seem, becomes O merchandise
In the pages Of Dickens there is scarcely any.
he
scene at dusk on the Thames below London
Bridge where 'Gaffer" Hexam and his
daughter are towing down the stream the I'M
recognized body of John Harmon. The
furtive search in the pockets of the
dead, the boat Of ''Rogue' Riderhood
one cormorant might come to another, and
the muttered exclamation of "Rogue"-
always in luck!''-are cumulations of horror
upon horrors head. There the 'luck' was
with the waterside prowler in the reward paid
to the finders of dead bodies in the river.
Here, in New York, the sluck'' is in the
Coroner's fee, which he must make all haste
to earn, if he has any regard for himself or
his brother Coroners, with whom he must
share at the end of the quarter as they must
share with him. It is CHASTITY business;
but there is room for decency and conscien-
tiousness in it, which would not leave re-
sponsible position in a grade no better than
the Thames ''water-rat'' or ''mudlark'' turn
ing penny and living on the human fotsam
and jetsam of the river.
The case of the late HERALD reporter, Mr..
James w. Coulson, is one strongly in point.
A week ago to-day he disappeared. On Satur-
day morning last his body was found in the
East River, ut Forty-fourth street. It was
bloated and disfsured beyond recognition, so
far as the face was concerned. The body was
brought to the Morgue, and Coroner Kessler
Immediately commenced operations by sum-
moning jury from among the patients of
Bellevue Hospital A letter and portion of an
envelope were found in one of the pockets of
the deceased, which when dried displayed the
avocation and name Of the unfortunate young
man. 1t would be imagined that when this
clew to identification was at hand
the inquest would be adjourned, so
as to let an inquiry be instituted into the facts.
Nothing of the kind. 1t is alleged indeed,
that the Deputy Coroner thought this corpse
seemed to be of O higher class than those usu-
ally 'found drowned" (as if men were muir
dered Or drowned by classes); but whatever
truth there may be in it, Coroner Kessler saw
to it that the corpse was only looked on as re-
spectacle, inasmuch as it was q corpse that
furnished On inquest There were eleven
corpses in all to be passed upon
that "rather busy Saturday, and
verdict of "death from supposed
drowning" Was made ont, ''name unknown"
and Coroner Kessler passed on to the next.
On Monday a reporter by accident saw the
letter referred to in the Coroner's Office, and
at once discovered the identity of the I'M
fortunate young man. which the sight of the
body and clothes confirmed. This case proves
a shameful neglect, if no worse, on the part of
Coroner Kessler. Then, indeed, he made
some show of an inquiry, but as our report
will show it was as shamefully incomplete
as could be. Is there measure
of gentility which a corpse must present to the
Coroner before he can do any more than he
did in the first instance with the body of
James w. Coulson, or is it rather that with
an indecent constituencies haste, he would
hurry any dead body to the Potter's Field,
lest lawful inquiry would interfere with
busily following his 'luck' in other quarters
A man died at the Park Hospital, and his
body was opened at the Coroners order
before it was cold. Is this brutality or
that shameful neglect, or the indecent
haste OF both cases, what a Cor
oner is bound to exhibit? The body
of A. T. Stewart, if similarly found,
would most undoubtedly be treated in the
same way if it had lain sixty hours in the
water, and he had not been missed as is very
v,,oo;h1a The mvyterv of moor vounu Cou1-