The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1874-07-18
THE MORGUE.

At the eommei cement of the second
empire there stood facing the Hotel
Dieu, gloomy building known as the
| the most melancholy monument IN
| Paris. The form of this edifce united
! in some Doric outlines the threatening
! gloom of a malefactor's cell with the
profound sadness of a tomb. Its
! double aspect of incarceration sug-
| 0ested for II a name once used technic-
| ally TO describe tue ent ance of a
/ prison" But IN its new association the
"La Morgue acquired an emphasis
of tragedy.
If the exterior of this building was
sGd, it's interior was appalling. A
chamber inclosed IN glass contained
,ss,;,,1;. sslanes we're strctciea before tue
puo1c gaze~&l---sl~---41,aSlkas. .-..-:
cldes or of unfortunates found drowned
IN the Seine. The institution was be-
gun in 1904, and had as its design the
! exposure of all victims of giolence, ac-
cident, or suicide whose corpses should
be found in the streets or waters of
Paris. There they were held for time
for the purpose of Identification or of
re cognition by friends.
Appalling as the place was, q NOR bid
fascination made it he central attrac-
tion of its neighborhood it was actu-
ally courted as place of rendezvous,
and noted end of the promenade.
People rushed there daily, as to morn
ing gazette or exciting bulletin, and the
scenes of its real grief were mocked by
brutal curiosity, and sometimes by re-
voting levity.
There came a day at last when the
most hardened habitues of the morgue
could. no longer look upon it without a
shudder.
To obliterate all traces of that bloody
time, Napoleon III. transf, rred the site
of this melancholy institutiA, and
changed the character of its aAlitect-
ure to plan more in accord Il Ia his
smiling renOV ations, Built updA the
little arm of the s. inc that Sc stes
the isle OF st. Louis from the Ct Hbe
new morgue cccapies a miaiatUl es-
ert, and conceals in decent iso A2tEthe
details of its work. Staircases -
descend from it on every sid md
serve to facilitate the reception u the
drowned, who, excepting in the heat of
revolution, when cannon sweep the
streets, constitute in major part the
patronage of this funereal hostelry.
The morgue is composed of two cham |
bers or saloons, the largest of which, |
divided in two spaces by partition of |
glass. 1t Is not always this larger sa- |
loon that bears testimony of the most |
terrible tragedies. There is a secret |
hall, " sdLLe 1)riUee," devoted to the |
dead who have been withdrawn from |
the public gaze, or those already recog- 4
nized, who await their enshrouding.
Here the processes of autopsy take |
place, and confrontations are made of |
accused murderers with their victims. /
1t was in this lesser chamber that the |
murderer Traupmann recognized with |
horror the Kaupt family, who had been |
miraculously recovered from a ditch in |
which he had buried them. The pop |
ular excitement.was at that time so fu- |
aDnorreef wreven from IaIIDg InSO UIIo I
hands of an avenging mob.
The revolution of September made |
few contributions to the new morgue, |
nor was it crowded during the siege, |
for they who fell as heroes were regis |
tered among the battalions; but in the |
time of their bombardment there were |
mangled bodies brought there hourly, |
chiefly of gaDaiIlS who had been collect i
ing shells to sell as curiosities, or Of
old people overtaken by unforeseen ex-
plosions killed with children |
whom their arms vainly sought to pro- |
tect-yOung mothers pierced through |
the breast, where her babes lips we're |
still pressed.
During the commune it became i'm
possible to centralize the disposition of |
the killed, and temporary morgues |
were established in the chapels of the |
cemeteries. AS there were no conven- |
fences there for suspending the clothing |
to view, the dead were left in tns ha-
Ill ol, fol lot
ever objects had been founC -
pockets were laid upon their SvUeS to |
assist identification. When the lr- |
rection reached its climax ever 1se |
provisions ceased: the bodies $ere |
placed in the trenches where the were |
TO be buried, and the trenches v e left |
for a short time open to allow Ehe in |
spection of those who souglg their |
missing friends. When the Versaillais |
took possession of Paris the dead were |
stretched at the foot of the wall where |
they had fallen, and the pavements OF |
the streets became the morgue.
The Seine is always the principal re- |
source of these unfortunates of Paris |
who would escape from life. So COM |
mon is this mode cf self destruction |
that when there is brought into the |
morgue a corpse taken from the river, |
the spectators exclaim, without interest, |
"Ah, it is only one drowned !" Unless |
the victim happens to be young and |
pretty woman, not yet disfgured by |
death, the connoisseurs scarcely look at |
the pitiful form, upon whose head
slender Jet of water falls. The objects
that draw crowds are victims of assas
sination, or of suicide that haunts the
imagination by some narrowing associa-