The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1885-12-18
SKULLS AND BONES.
fhs CHASTITY Collection in the Army Medi-
cal Museum.

very few sight-seers visit. 1t is a mu-
scum with q very extensive and novel
collection, composed entirely of frag-
nents of dead people, and it occupies
the old Ford's Theater, on Tenth
street, in which Lincoln met his tragic
death. The once gay theater is now
associated with skeletons and death.
The first floor, where the pit was, is
occupied by the clerical force OF the
medical department OF the army. The
dress circle contains the library and @
| few articulated skeletons, while the
| peanut gallery, where the street arabs
used to assemble at night to applaud
the acting and drop peanut hulls and
orange peelings on the bald heads in
the pit, is given up exclusively to the
fragments of dead men. There is sell
dom anybody in the museum except
the attendant. At the entrance of the
library a group of skeletons stand
grinning a. sepulchral welcome, those
IN front standing in a careless attitude
"too naked to be ashamed" while
those behind leer over their shoulders
with an air of familiarity that is Of
/ fensive to a person of delicate sensi-
bilities.
Near the door is sign and an index
finger, which tells the visitor that the
museum is upstairs, ,and these grinning
glbbering skeletons seem to feel a cyni-
cal satisfaction In directing the way to
the upper room where are collected the
relics ofruined men. One tall. .fnelook-
ing fellow stands with his foot on a
skull. The rest stand with their toes
turned in and their long, bony fingers
spread out at their sides or twisted to-
gether. Some of them are young, spry,
dandified skeletons, with head erect
and polished white foreheads and O.
full set ofpure white teeth, while others
are hollow chested snaggle toothed old
! and shrivelled up, like witches imps.
They all have that offensive, familiar
grin which seems to say that they
hope to know you better later on.
Up stairs there are rows of glass
cases all the way around the wall, and
close together from east to west across
the room, there are large glass bottles,
! like preserving jars. Some have human
| hearts in them, some hold the lungs
and liver. Others hold kidneys, ,spleens,
have been long time dead. Among
is third larger than any of the rest.
One case is devoted to arms and legs
that have been amputated, and show
how nice and slick the surgeons knife
and saw went through. Some OF them
are all lacerated and torn to pieces by
gunshot wounds-most of the exhibits
are the scraps of men picked up of
the battle field. One heart has two
big ounce bullets imbedded in it.
Another has a deep cash in it and near
by is a dirk knife. Another case is
devoted to horrible looking hands and
feet put up in glass Jars. All are
swelled up and lacerated. Some have
the flesh torn away and the bone and
sinews ]esst bare. A solitary thumb
reposes "a a small bottle, while little
finger is crooked up in another. An
ball is soaked in alcohol; odds and
ends and all sorts offragments of dead
people are collected there Like the
scraps for crazy quilt.
But the chief of the collection con-
sists of small fragments of bones.
There is section of the backbone Of
Booth in a glass case not many feet
from the spot where he shot Lincoln.
ItIc dIC dlI Sol 70 Va COiSS
shattered by shot and shell. Skulls
with great big lead balls sticking in
them; big bones with fragments Of
iron shells crushing them into powder;
Joints broken apart by musket balls;
there are skulls, ribs, legs, and arms
shattered and shivered by all sorts of
missiles of war, and in some cases the
lead and the bone have become we'd
lol Tharo q 00n
specimenes of bones fractured in cur
ious ways by shot. There are plaster
casts of different cuts of the human
body that make the cases look like a
butchers stall. Then there are more
articulated skeletons. Theres is the
great French skeleton, giant in pro-
portions, every bone as white asivory,
teeth all perfect like pearls, toes turn
ed out, and palms of the hands ex-
tended with all the grace of a dancing
master.
Look at those teeth" said one of
the attendants to the reporter. ''He
is proud of those teeth. None but
French skeleton could have teeth like
that. You can always tell French
man by that. There's a Yankee. None
at all! Only one canine, and half the
Jaw rotted away. That's because they
use too much tobacco. If Americans
knew how it ruined their skeletons
they wouldn't chew SO much. A
Frenchman has q right to be proud of
his skeleton. l should be ashamed to
be skeleton without teeth. That's
a mighty fine looking woman there"
and he busted the glass case that pro-
tected a. set Of delicately fashioned
bones. ashes French. See her teeth;
like pearls. If you want to make
good skeleton take care of your teeth"
These articulated skeletons are the
only actors now on the stage that
used to afford amusement to Abraham
Lincoln, and their bony fingers point
out the spot where he met his death.
A published portrait of Return
Jonathan Meigs, Jr., one of the early
settlers of Ohio, leads to an old remin-
iscence in the Hartford Courant: His
father was resident of Middletown,
I III