The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1878-10-10

The Dead of Munich.
The cemetery at Munich always has
attractions to the visitor on account of
the popularity of funerals and the ex-
posure of the bodies of the dead for
three days before burial. The law re-
quires the body of every one dying in
Munich to be conveyed to the ceme-
terry within three hours, there to re-
main, in buildings erected for the pur-
pose, for three days. During these
three days a wire is attached to the
hands of each corpse, leading to
spring bell, so that an alarm will be
given to those whose duty 1t is to be
on guard in case of resuscitation. We
could not ascertain whether there had
ever been case of resuscltatlon, but
it appears that long time ago case
of burial alive had led to the establish
ment of this custom, which had been
regularly Kept up ever since, to avoid
the recurrence of such catastrophe.
We Immediately proceeded to the first
Of these halls, in which the bodies of
the poor were deposited, and there
found eighteen bodies, not laid out as
if for burial, but reclining in floral
bowers or resting upon beds of flowers.
Spectators were not admitted to the
rooms, but they were surrounded by
windows, through which a full view
and inspection of each could be had.
There were eighteen bodies in this
room, seven of which were infants and
eleven those of grown persons, except
enc beautiful girl of about twelve
years, arrayed in white muslin, resting
on bed of flowers, with a wreath of
orange blossoms around her head, re-
clining as if asleep, with her bare arms
living carelessly by her side. None Of
them. except the infants, were lying rs
we usually dispose of the dead but in
every case, whether old or young, there
appeared to be an effort to place them
III Il carless or half-recllning attitude,
so as to have the appearance OF being
IN a natural sleep. An OLD man, in this
room, not less than sixty years of age,
the body dressed in black cloth suit,
was almost in 4 sitting posture. Around
each body there were also a number of
large bouquets, with cards attached to
them, having been sent to the cemete
~ by friends of the deceased, just as
they are sent to the house by friends in
Baltimore. After the expiration of
three days the body is placed in the coffin
by the undertaken, and the friends and
relatives all assemble at the cemetery
and the funeral takes place. After view
ing the bodies of the poor and critical
~ examining the floral decorations, as
well as the bodies of the seven inno-
cents, which were arrayed in plain
white dresses, we passed on to the adj
joining hall where the bodies of the
wealthy were lying in state. Each one
was numbered, and list on the out
side wall gave the name and age of the
deceased. The twelve bodies III this
room were each lying in state under
magnificent floral canopies. and looked
as il they were reposing on banks OF the
rarest and richest exotics. carried up
to wreaths and arches over their heads.
They also were lying in positions to re-
semble life rather than death, even TO
an old lady, whose age was given on
the list as eighty-four, but who did not
look, in her reclining position, banked
up and crowned with chaste floral
tributes, to be more than sixty. I'm
der another floral canopy were two
girls, about six years of age, perfect
models of beauty and innocence. There
appeared to be boxes under them, prob
ably filled with ice. Just as we were
leaving another infant was brought into
the poor room by girl, who carried it
in a white box. From the number of
these boxes lying around we suppose
they are furnished by the undertaken.
Bouquets were being handed in by
some OF the friends of the deceased,
and quite number of strangers were
there looking at the bodies and decora-
tions through the windows. None of
them had the CHASTITY appearance of
death, the effort apparently being to
deprive death of itsterrors.-C. Z. Ful-
ton IN Baltimore AMERICAN
Hoe CAKE.-Take three pints of In
dian meal, not sifted, salt it well, pour
on scalding water, and mix thoroughly
quite hard; spread this on a hot grid
die well buttered and bake on top of
the stove.
The cost of the recent Republican
State Convention in South Carolina
was S13.5i.