Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-11-19
Women at the MOrgue.

From the New York Tribune.
The morgue to many people is a
place OF attraction. Why this is 50 is
not easy to understand. Pine cofhns,
damp walls, dead bodies in every
stage ofdecay, shrouds, bloody marble
slabs, q stencil that no nostril can
ever get used to. and the almost con-
slant show of grief by friends and rela-
tives are not pleasant things and do
not inspire cheerful thoughts, but still
visitors come every day who are at
tracted solely by curiosity.
IF you would sit here all day." said
Keeper White as he carefully elevated
his rheumatic leg upon q cushioned
chair in the moreue Office "you would
make up your mind that human ma
ture is a, queer thing indeed. Who
would imagine that g. woman could
have desire togo through this place?
Yet there is not d day passes with
out number OF women coming
here to see the sights, and they
are even more inquisitive than
men. The visitors are generally
well dressed people and from their
talk I should judge chat many OF thenA
are from the country. Frequently
they come under false pretenses but
they can be detected easily enough.
They put on sad face and say that
they have lost some relative or friend
and want to 90 through the morgue
and look for the missing one. When
asked the name OF the missing per.
son they are usually taken una
wares and stammer out some familiar
name, usually Smith or Jones, and
look sheepish. No notice is taken of
their embarrassment and the name
is looked for. and, of course, not found.
Then bundle of pictures is handed
to them for inspection. The faces are
all of the dead. The missing one is
not among them and nothing remains
but to take q look at the unkno wn
bodies on hand. They ask if they
cannot see where the bodies are kept.
Permission is usually given and one OF
the clerks shows them around. Why
they practice deception don't under
stand. Any one, if respectable, can
visit the morgue, and if they can get
any comfort out of it am satisfied.
"A man will go through the morsue
generally in one-quarter the time that
it will take g. woman. He will give
glance here and there, ask q few gen
eral questions as to how long the
bodies are kept, what becomes of
them if noe identified. and will hurry
away. But women usually want to
know every thing. Two well dressed
women were here to-day who are q
fair sample OF them all. They were
looking Tor missing friend who only
lived in their imagination. went the
rounds with them. When the door of
the dead house was opened the wom-
On peered in. There was on one side
g. pile OF collins in which there were
about thirty bodies. One OF the wom-
Ell shuddered and held back as the
sickening smell poured out; but the
other one, who had swapping black
eyes, took her by the arm and follow
ed close behind me. The black-eyed
woman did the talking, and kept me
busy answering questions. l thought
that the sight of one corpse would
settle her, so I raised the lid of 3
box containing the body of man
who had spent several months at the
bottom of the river. He was a horrible
sight, being greatly swollen and de-
composed, and having face that was
not human. The timid woman took
one look and wanted to run out OF
the place. but the black eyes took in
every thing, and I was asked enough
questions about the body to fill q
book. II l had been so inclined she
would have taken q look at every
body in the place, but / had more
pity for the ti1nid woman, whose face
was CHASTITY pale, than did her COM
panion, and started for the open air.
On the way out a lot of clothes which
had been taken from the dead bodies
had to be inspected. turned over with
a parasol, and had to explain what
was done with them and how they
were used as q means of identified ton
long after the bodies they were taken
from were in Potters' Field.
''As a matter Of fact" said Keeper
White, in conclusion, "women seem to
stand such scenes better than men.
They make more demonstration and
fuss, but the effect soon passes away,
and as they go out they chat and
laugh as freely as if they had not
passed through any unpleasant expe.
rience."
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