The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1885-09-18

HANDLING THE DEAD.
AN INTERVIEW WITH A VETERAN uN-
DERTAkERs MAN. alats \


Cincinnati Enquirer Interview t
That makes the !, Tooth body that ! have
prepared for burial during my time" said .
faithful chief employe Of the city under
taksr, the other day, a. he pushed back the
frowzy hair Of a corpse IN the dead-room Of
the esta blishment ''- at+=.f .. "'
@How long have you been in business"
asked the reporter. saE
1Nearly twenty years, and in that time I
have had some rather queer experiences.
You see this business Is not pleasant one,
and no ons adopts IL as q matter OF choice.
To me 1t was especially distasteful, and
when 1 first started Il was because there was
nothing else open TO me. Why, to tell you
the truth, I would then Just about as lief
stood up before ten good live men and fought
them to q standstill as to tackle one dead
man and prepare him for burial"
"You have got entirely over that nervous
ness, haven't youi" sz...".'
aa 1Oh, yes; but 1t was long time before
could 60 about my work without cold chills
running up and down my back every now
and them
"Why, IL Is the regular belief that no mat
ter how much dread q person may have OF
the dead, to once touch q corpse IL to re-
move this feeling at once and forever. Is
this truef' -7. s' .@..
~well, it may be that way with some peo-
pie. but did not overcome my nervousnsss
Tor long time Now, however, II would
take something remarkable to give me
serious fright" H'
"You must witness some affecting scenes
In the performance Of your dutiesr
@Well, should say did. Why, You
have no idea what hard times some people
4 have to get along in this world. or course,
every family, no matter In what straitsned
circumstances they may be. want to give
relative decent burial They are bound TO
have first class funeral. and have known
people 10 deny themselves even the neces-
sar:es OF life to secure an expensive coffin,
carriages, and q lot in tony eemstsry.
Then there are the poor OF the city. Why,
IL would make Stone heart melt to see to
what emergencies thess poor souls are
sometimes pushed to savs themselves the
modification Of having ons OF their family
buried at the expense Of the city"
@What class Of dead people Ia the hardest
to prepare for buriali" al.a'
This establishment has to take care Of all
the city dead; that Is people that are killed
In railroad accidents. drowned, burned to
death, stabbed, run over, in fact, any one
that Is killed or commits suicide and II not
claimed by friends In that way we come
In contact with all classes OF dead people.
About tho worst kind to handle arc the
'hoaters' that are every now and then taken
from the river. Generally they viii remain
In the water q number OF days before they
come 10 the top, and when they are taken
out and turned over TO us they are 80 badly
bloated by their long stay In the water as to
be unrecognixable except by their clothes.
Often ID requires very delicate touch to
handle them and keep the remains Z: ON fall
ing to pieces ..~ry ~
aDo you think many people are buried
| alivef
aNo, very few. Although when an epi-
demic like the cholera or smallpox Is rag
Ing such awful mistakes are liable to occur.
Then the dead are carted of 30 soon after
their demie that they are not given b fair
test to determine whether they are dead OF
not. Often when remains are dsintsrred II
| is found that the corpse has turned clear
around In ths coffin, and sometimes their
hair and fnger-nails have been pull out by
the roots, showing that the poor victim had
come to consciousness only TO die the horri-
BILE death Of being buried alive. Too much
care cannot be taken in this respect"