Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-09-09

William Hill Moore. of Philadelphia the most
famous of Its undcrtakers tells some strange
tales and knows his business He saws In tha
Philadelphia Times: when fixed up placs
Tor myself on 9th street. forget the builders
name now. but I buried all his family. and a
large family II was. tool had two rooms where
useu To do emhalming and keep bodies until
me one would come TO pay for them, but
. .iade op my mind that I'D never bury any OF
these or anybody else until l was sure thew
weren't alive. Eut it's easy Ia tell. With such
~ Gle from apopleNy and sudden like that
" acthaiiy seems"-and here the Jelly old
undertaken laughed a broad. hearty laugh-.at
actually seemed they'd decampos.ai before thew
dled ha hai hal Its remarkable how plain
the sghs OF decomposition become 10 the prae-
tlced eye Why, sir, can tell dead body an
qu'ch as THAI and he snapped his long fingers
IL ,lon. oi ms shre~d gray cyes-''but we al
ways put on moving the body as long as the
relatives like, unless IL gets very bad and then
We does our duty and moves them off They
always like you know, to have their little erica
ana we let them have their way. John
Swift, who was the mayor that time-we buried
him in double coffin, I rememher-didnt
Hike the idea of my keeping the bodies
month at time. but | didn't mind
1t the least, and 1 soon showed him
there was no danger. Why. sir. the dead are
no more TO US than the sheets of paper Won
write on. We never think any more what a
person dies OF than you do of asking the people
You meet in the street what disease they have.
I've been all through cholera. smallpox and vel
low fever. and never had so much as a sick
stomach. Most contagious diseases are caught
through fear. but great deal depends on the
way man lives. No undertaken can touch
hquor If he wants TO keep free from disease. He
has TO he strictly temperate. lie has 10 be very
careful what he eats. too. It's my experiences
that II a man is careful what he eats and drinks
and keeps his stomach In order. he need not be
afraid OF any contagious disease had a friend
buried him, too, 10y way-who lived 10 ninety
just by eating as little as possible.
up to twenty or thirty years ago there were
no carriages. The burial places we've not far
away and people walked. the coffin being car
ried on the shoulders or on bier. 4 have often
carried little babies in collins under my arm my
self. The great cemeteries had not grown up
then. Eli h. Price and myself are about the only
ones remaining of the starters OF the Woodlands
Cemetery. Judge Mallory. who was interested
IN II at frst-l buried him afterwards persuaded
me to go into it, There are some 900 buried
In III now. and think have had something TO
do with its success. The number have buried
Is something incredible. For many wears IL
averaged 100 month. Mr.. kellogg nv
partner, who has kept track of IL. saws we
have buried over 10000 In the fifty wears Now
my son, whatever you say, be careful and don't
wound anybody s feelings. ! have always tried
TO make it pleasant for the mourners. When
Mayor Stokely's father. whom I afterwards
buried. lost a little boy and was speaking Of Mrs
StOkey's distress. l recommended the adoption
vi IL Iitle one OF ttle same age belonging TO Mrs
Ward, whom l buried too. and sure enough
they did. and he grew up beside Mayor Stokely
and distinguished himself in Mexico, until /
buried him some years ago. You know a great
many commit suicide that nobody knows
ANYTHING about but the doctor and
the undertaken. Many one I've buried-no one
knows but me to this day they had the rope
around their necks. l always used to carry a
crooked needle to sew gashes in throats I
found it handy to have around. One day lady
very rich and elegant she was and had an A |
coffin when she died-showed me her husband
who had Just cut his throat, and said. oh. what
Shall do!' DO, said l. "a commenced to sew
up the cut and put clean shirt on him. don't
tell living mortal, for it's my experience that
II you tell anybody a secret you might as well
put 1t in the newspapers. Don't tell living
mortal and it be all right And sure enough
10 Was His own brothers don't know to this
day but that he died natural death"