Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1884-06-04
One Way OF Advertising.

One way OF AufertlSihS'
In an uptown photographers work
room yesterday were three young
women sitting before long table.
Each had a large pile Of photographs
before her, which she pasted one at
time on cardboard. One of the pho
tographs was that of a portly man
with a long, dark mustache, and dark
hair that was brushed up from high
forehead. Only the head and should
ers were visible The head reclined
on large pillow, and the eyes were
closed.
The adjoining pile contained the
pictures of an old man, with thin,
gray hair on his head, and a fringe
white beard under his chin. He re-
clined OH broad cushion. His eyes
were closed, and on his right temple
was a dark streak, as if a scar had
been made there by heavy cut.
The third was the photograph of a
young woman. One dimpled hand
was under her cheek. There were
frizzes over her forehead, and her
long hair lay in waves on the
pillows and the sheet that covered,
but did not conceal, the rounded form
beneath.
as it becoming fashionable to be
photographed when in bed and
asleep?" said Il New York Sun re-
porter to one of the girls.
The girl held curled photograph
face down while she dexterously pass
ed a broad fiat brush over it. Then
she laid it, face up, on slip Of card
board, and said quietly: "These peo-
pie are dead"
Somewhat startled, the young man
said: ooh, photographs for friends
but what Il host they must have had"
The young woman threw the card
to one side, saying, "Iou are wrong
again. The people are unknown sui
cides, but the photographs were not
taken to facilitate the finding Of
friends, or for any other philanthropic
purpose. They are advertisements
for an undertaken. An undertaken
cannot advertise in the papers saying
that his spring ,tock Of the latest cut
of c0ilins and of the most fashionable
styles Of caskcts is now more COM
plete than ever. Neither can he say
that he has just imported fresh
barrel of the famous Egyptian mum
my elixir and that having bought for
cash he will be pleased to embalm all
his friends at low rates. 1t would not
be appropriate. lie must approach
afflicted relatives delicately. So he
goes to the morgue, gets n fresh sui
eide, and embalms it. -Four or five
weeks later the photographer is call
ed in. The peaceful features, the
chubby hand, and the. rounded shoul-
ders of this girl makes one think that
she has only just dropped asleep.
You can almost imagine you see her
bosom rise and fall as she breathes
But as you look at the picture your
eye soon catches line or more of
type below, and you read:
"This is photograph of an un-
known girl, who was found dead in
- East l0Sth street, with bullet
wound in her left breast, and a small
revolver tightly clasped in her right
hand. The body was taken to the
morguc, where il was embalmed by
Undertaken John Jones, Of - East
10Sth street. The photograph was
taken six weeks after death. Terms
for embalming reasonable"
"Why does the undertaken take the
body of an unknown person."
Because friends would object to
the common distribution of photo
graph of relative for such pur-
pose. No one is shocked by the re-
ceipt of photograph of an unknown
corpse. 1t occasionally happens that
the distribution of the photographs
leads to the recognition of the un-
known. IN. Y. Sun.