The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-08-13
THE DEAD MANS rAzoR.
odd Experiences OF e. Barber With
his :. eceasud Customers.

%hat razor Oh Jlc taceS oil liNlnG IN n. we
call that tho dead Man'5 Razor"
Grim ard hideoos enough it looked, too;
long black handle. that inscnsiblv reminds
one Of The hull of aIaksA, piratical craft.
Txactly in the middle vas rudely scratched
skull and cross borcs. The back of the
bIade cleaned over the Phustly symbol,
eeeming to bring il ou5 i'll holder relief.
Tho razor was III aracii in a west side barber
Just little fancy of mine," said the
barber. as lie slashed the rush around in
tie lather cup. Thought it would be bet
ter 70 put that DEATHS head on the handle,
SO | wouldn't be picking it up by mistake
and using it on a customer VINO could turn
his head without being helped. Dead men
can't YOU know. Most people have an OBJ
iection to being shaved with the same razor
;,s.d on tae face of a corpse. Don't know
why. Same foelin', 'spose, that prevents
g man who would tackle burglar at mid
tight from walking through a graveyard
al the same hour"
Rather more loQuaciousthan his kind was
This Sir Tonsor \ cadaverous man with
d ep set eyes and hair plastered close to his
hrad A m,lstache whose ends curled like
tho horns of Il Southdaln ram was the only
hairy adjournment on his face. His hands
we're long and his fingers were supple Three
of them on his left hand were up in the air
when he worked, like the legs of boy
anding on his head. The barber, like all
other barberss smelled of pomade and bay
rum.
GIVING THE RAZOR A REST.
Haven't used that razor for nigh on to
three weeks, now" he went on, as he dipped
nm a brush full of lather; "only wish
had job for it every day in the week
The pay runs from 81 up I've had as high
as SO, but that included a hair cut Cur
ions. too, the fancies that take some peo-
pAa. Why. sir, long durin' the war | was
called to shave man on Eighth street, who
had worn a full beard for ten years. His
widow, mighty nice, pretty little woman,
got it into her head that her husband
didn't look Stylish, as she put it, and
took tho hair off his upper lip and chin, and
left him with pair Of side whiskers. All
tEe friends of the family came In to zee
what sort of job had made, and most
of 'em declared that the dead man looked
twenty years younger and was just as
nat'rel as could be-
II guess he must have been about 80 years
of age. His beard was gray and he was
bald-headed, and tell you he looked pretty
well broken up. Consumption, | think it
was. The widow didn't appear to know
that the undertaken usually attended to
such matters, and she sent one of her boys
for me- When got to the house she says
TO me, she says: Now. l want my poor,
dear husband to look just as nice as pos
sble I'm going to have a very elegant
funeral and everything must be first-class.
| want you to make him look just like he
was when | married him. How was that,
MADAME says |, not knowing, of course,
how tho man looked at that time. Why
says she, sort of surprised. he had beautiful
side whiskers when we were married, but
in the last ten years he let his beard grow,
and couldn't coax him to shave it off, poor
dear man. Now, | want him to look as he
used to look All right madam, says l.;
'rll do the best can, and if you'll believe
me, blocked out as pretty pair of whis-
kers as you'd want to see. Does that razor
pull, sirl
a CLEAN SHAVE.
Gases like that. however," said the bar
Der, lis what you might call rare. l once
took full beard off a corpse aud gave him
a clean shave, because just before he died a
lamp got upset alongside of his bed and
singed all the hair off one side of his face
You never saw family so broken up as
that family was The man had a very
heavy. close beard. and when it was all off
he looked like another person. There was
a terrible scar on bis jaw, and his mouth
'peared to be- kind of twisted. All this was
hidden by the heavy growth of hair. l
guess his folks had never seen him with
smooth face. When the widow saw him
laid out she pretty near went into Mysteries.
She sorter half believed, l think, that the
dead man wasn't her husband at ALL To
tell you the Gods truth he didn't look in
the least like he did before he was shaved
about three years ago an undertaken
gave me a job out at Harlem. 1t was a
young man about 30. He had a weeks
growth of beard | shaved him carefully,
and let his mustache stand. That night
about o'clock was sent for to come to
the house at once. 1t scared me little, for
/ thought might have made some kind of
blunder. When l got there, however, |
found that they wanted me to wax up the
mans mustache. That was the way he
used to wear it i'll life.
DEAD MEMS Boards GROW.
II guess you've often heard 1t said that it
was nonsense to say that the beard doesn't
grow after death. Well, it isn't nonsense,
and | don't care who says 50. l. shaved q
man named Farley, on the Bowery, about
six years ago, and shaved him second time
before he was buried Yes, sir, just as true
as I'm telling you. He died on Wednesday
night. did my work early on Thursday
morning, and never did see such stiff
beard as that man did have. He was dark
completed, and the skin on his chin looked
almost blue, the beard was SO close. He
always wore smooth face. | finished the
job, as | said, on Thursday morning. The
funeral was set for Sunday. On Saturday
afternoon L was sent for again, and found
avery heavy growth of beard on the corpse;
Just as heavy as you would see on living
man. His chin and the sides of his face
were black with it. shaved him again.
THAT job made me feel all creepy like.
1t was like cutting hair off block of mar
bic. Then his eyes were half open, and |
imagined that he was watching me to see if
was doing the thing right. | got So for
the first shave, but they couldn't pay me
for the second. Said it was all one job.
didn't kick. If they was too mean to pay |
wasn't mean enough to kick up row and
afuneral goin' on.
II had one experience, continued this
man OF queer experiences, as the razor
swept over the customers chin. THAT I'll
bet knocks out any barber in New York.
shaved dead woman oncew
The grimace of incredulity on the listen
er's face nearly turned the edge of the razor.
That's frozen fact" said the barber,
solemnly, land the family is living in New
York city to-day. l know it sounds rather
tart, but you ask any old barber and I'll
guarantee that he will tell you he has
shaved living women often enough. lhave
shaved a dead one. Women don't have
boards | know they don't, as a rule.
Neither do cows have two heads, nor are
calves born with six legs every day in the
week, but you'll run across 'em once and
awhile, you must admit. Same way with
human beings. There are lots of women