Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1885-05-08
SMUGGLING A CORPSE.

How = Dead Man was brought From
Ing Car.
Washington Republican,
81 wonder how soon he will DO shipped
back by expressl" meditated q railroad
man last night, as n muffied up figure
passed painfully along the platform OF the
Baltimore & Potomac Depot on its way tc
the southern express.
ado you see many Florida invalids come
back that wayi" asked n reporter.
"From three To Eve a week In good sea.
sons, and sometimes as many ~ that In 9
day. Some die on the way there, and q
few ON the return trip; but at the places
cracked up as consumption cures the cof.
hn trade 10 lively, tell you, while the
'curers' are called embalners, and e
down there-cvery season with the rush Of
sick men and women They pick out theil
likely early victims a. soon az they seS
them. ! usel to run q sleeper down there;
that's how know"
"Does IL cost as much to bring back The
dead a. IL did 70 tnko them down."
Just about double. You see there's the
care that's got b be taken Of the collins
!
breakup would be very awkward. And
then there's the permits that have 70 b
got to pass the corpsss through each State
and some charge high for allowing the
bodies to so over their boundary lines"
"Do you always get permitsi"
"When we know there II q corpse on
board we do, because all concerned would
he liahle to arrest The next time we passed
into the State"
"But you could scarcely be imposed up
on, except IA the case OF medical subjects
I supPos-!'
II guess not easily, because q man mus,
be pretty mean who would crowd his wife's
body into a cask, and certainly no woman
would serve her husband so, however badly
she might have treated him when he was
about and we'll. But remember ono case
where We brought q corpse nearly all the
way In a sleeper and never knew it till We
got TO Jersey. You see POOR sick man in
charge OF two friends got on at Jackson
vile. He was very far gone, and OK.
pected to have TO leave the party at one Of
the towns we passed through. But when
no such thing happened did not trouble;
only thought I'D missed my guess for once
The party occupied a whole section, and
refused to let the porter make the beds up
and they kept to their seats ali the way
At last the sick man was never seen tc
move, and the other two seemed to he very
attentive to him. one of them tanning him
nearly the whole way; at loast
whenever I passed through I would
see the fan agoing. The sick mar
did not seem to have much of an appetite
but then, that was nothing strange. Well
all went along all right until we got to neal
where they had to get of. Then the por.
ter came to me, and could see big bill
sticking out of his pocket He said rs how
the sick mnn would need carrying out, and
would lend him my rug to sling him In
The next time / passed the party Their,
was n strong smell OF some sort of scent In
that part Of the car. The porter hGc
helped them put the rug under the sicl
man, and when the train stopped at theil
town the three carried him out on it. They
did not have to support his back, and hi,
legs did not draw. 1 started to look In hi
face, but one OF his friends accidentally
pushed his hat down over his eyes, and
did not see anything but his underjaw, anC
that was hanging. That man was dead
He had not lived more than half an houl
aftor he got on the car. l got it all from
the porter long after, though he denieC
that there was anything out of the way a
the time. The friends had decided tha
they would not lot on about what had hap
pcned for fear OF being stopped, and hav
ing lot Of bother with getting permit
and certificates Of the cause Of death anC
all that. That was the only CORPSE eve.
carried without q coffin that know Of"