The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1879-06-14
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01Dese lngeoglly ever Law.
Gold nm New. News.

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01nese lngesslly sves Law.
Gold Hin Nsv. News.
The Law passsa y ~ lass lssis-
lature, forbt11iAg. un1ss heavy
penalties, IL diaintsrnsat Of hu-
nan bedies basisl In this State,
without Arst Obtaining psrmissiou
ftom the county colnmissiouers,
was sssgestsd BY and aimed At the
weltknown custom Of the Chinese
of DIGGING ~ ths bones Of their
esanatynea ard shipping them
Ae0e to Chins. The Custom has
prevailed not osly from religious
duty but through the contracted
obligations Of the companies to
which they belong, or by whom
shey are brought to this country,
TO return them to China alive or
dead. Returning the bones suit
ably boxed up, labeled and certiA.
cd 10. illlills tho contract. For
every celestial not 90 returned, or
etherwise satisfactorily accounted
ior, the calnpany has. 10 forfeit
three times the amount ofths con.
tract money TO tho relatives Of the
dcceased or to the government.
For this reason It IL that at I suit
able tine, . lew months after bur.
isl, the graves are reopemed and
the bones taken out for shipment.
The new law would apparently
discourage and prevent IN q great
measarethe emigration OF Chinese
TO this country, but John is too
cunning to be caught out or kept
ont any such arrangement q that.
Since the law went into effect not
one Chinese corpse has been buried
With any bones In II. Skillful
practitioners, employed by the
companies, remove oil the bones
ffom The body - soon ~ conven.
lsnl afser death. The sorpse Il
laid upon the operating table face
downward. A kind Of aromatic
Joss.papsr is burned In tho censor
suspended FROM the ceiling, the tea
cups full OF sanctiisd rice water
arc sprinklcd over the body and
around the rooms, and priest re.
pea's tho sacred Chinese provcrd,
"Aoong Lc fat chop" which signi.
nee, "Peacc and good will 10 IN
ALL" This Is tho religious fornnu.
u Vt the occasion, The two skilled
suryicaI operators now stcp for.
ward to their work with glitter.
ing knives. An incisi0M IL made
from top Of head down the spinal
column, branching of down cacl,
leg " the heel, and along the back
Of each arm. The sk.u fcsh 10
then carefully and speedily peeled
and trimmed away each side from
tho skull, shoulders, back, ribs,
hips arms and lcgs, and III less
timc than Il takes to describe Il
the fcshloss skeleton IL draws,
forth, leaving the boneless corpse.
lying there. Then tho clothes
which tho deceased wore during
life, oftss comprising all his world.
y possssslons, srs carefully stuffed
In to supply the place Of the bones
removed, ssd ths body being nest.
" sswed up and washed, Il ID
wrapped IN . plain shroud aud de-
livered to the friends for burial.
The skeleton Is now unjointcd and
the bones boiled for several hours
sH1cient to remove all adl,eripa
6csh Or refuse matter. They sre
subsequently baked in oven auc
packed for shipment.
II Il not necessary to enter int
details rs to the disposal oi tn,
soup or burial Of the body, the 70
moval and preparation Of the bonel
being the main point In view.
The advantages Of this new
method Of securing the bonef ovel
the old style are very apparent
and tho Chinese consider It a greaI
improvement.
Il involves NO delay or uncer'
taInty. nor the extra work Of re
opening, tho bones are more agre,
ably secured aud prepared, will
no obnoxious or oppressive law Il
interfere. The story started a few
days ago by lnisinsormed cotcm
porAry to the effect that the Chi
nese were obviating this law diff
Guilty BY placing tho corpses II
large eartheu pots, for shipmen
to California, was untrue, absurt
and iinpracticablc.
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