The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1882-06-22
A GHASTLY GATHERING.

n CHASTITY GATHERING.
Hosg the Dead Are Dssposed of sn Palermo.
palermo Correspondsnce of the Hartford courantl
There is one curiosity of Palermo
about which I hesitate to disturb you.
II You were to see it and let your mind
dwell ON it you probably would not sleep
for q week afterward. OF all the fantas-
tic, ghastly and sportive dealings with
poor mortality that have seen in my
short pilgrimage, the convent OF the
Capuccini furnishes the most astonish-
ing. In seeing it had a new revelation
of the capacities of human nature for
indulgence in the horrible and grotesque.
From the convent we descended into
the subterranean corridors where are
exposed, not buried, the dried remains
of wealthy inhabitants of Palermo.
These corridors, of which there are sew
eral, are arched, broad and well-ighted,
and should think each couple of
hundred feet long. The air in them is
dry and apparently salubrious. and one
might walk through these wide aisles of
death in comfort if he were blind. On
each side of these passages are long
boxes, piled one upon the other-not
collins, but boxes, sometimes with brass
nails, and looking not unlike old-fash-
ioned hair trunks. You might imagine
yourself in an emigrants' baggage-room
ON q steamer but for some other things
in the corridors. Each OF these boxes
contains dead person. The occupants
of part Of them, which have glass
fronts, are visible. There they lie
grinning in arrested decay, with
Just enough dried skin and flesh ON the
bones to preserve the semblance of hu-
manity. The poor desiccated bodies
have been forced into clothes, some
times into finery and many in this awful
dress parade of death wear white kid
gloves and fine shoes. But this is not
the worst. Above these rows of boxes
hang in all the limpness of irresponsi-
bility for appearance which character
izes the dead, ranks of mummies, hung
by the neck, or attached in some way
to the walls of the vault. They are
pretty uniformly clad in somber monk
ish robes of cotton, and, but for the hor-
rible faces staring at you, might pass
for scarecrows. The drying process has
drawn the faces into all ghastly contor-
tions, in which one might fancy that the
real character Of the departed lis re-
vealed. Some scowl, some grin with
malevolence, some smile (that is the
worst of ally, and some actually assume
a comical look that forces your unwill-
ing laughter. Sometimes groups Of
three or four incline their dreadful heads
to each other as If enjoying some post
mortem humorous story. His conceit
must be infinite who can walk through
these ranks of the dried and distorted
dead and not feel humiliated by such an
exhibition Of his kind Is it possible
that we shall all look like that? Must
oil beauty and manliness and bravery
come to that?
There are many little children, some
not q span long, lying in their little
boxes, decked in all the finery of fond
affection, the lace and ribbons adding I
know not what of mockery to the weas-
ovoJ babxr fcnau npa av<,ro ,~-~; a.. =:
reserved for the women, and this is more
pathetic and profoundly y-disgusting than
the others. Those who died virgin have
crowns ON their heads, and palms or
lilies in their hands. They were great
beauties, / doubt not, before they came
here, for the dark-eyed women of Pal
ermo are ccmely but, maid or bride or
wife, they are not beautiful now, al
though they repose in silk dresses, kid
gloves and satin slippers. These be
dresses for ball, and what ball and
dance Of death is this ! Is it any pleas
ure for my lady to have her partner or
her lover come and see her in this guises
learned that at death the bodies are
inferred in sealed pit in this cemetery
for year. There is supposed to be
something peculiar in the soil which dries
the body without destroying it. At the
end of year it is taken out, dressed and
either put into its box or hung up in the
corridor. Every year, at least on All
Souls day, the friends of the departed
come to look upon the frlghtful remains.
What satisfaction they can have in the
spectacle ! do not know. nor do under
stand how any man or woman of pre-
sentable appearance, who has visited
these corridors in life, can consent to
occupy them after death. Interment
here was prohibited about year ago.
/ do not know how long the wealthy
people Of Palermo have been exposed
here, but. we were told, as we walked
along, that 5000 bodies were in sight.