The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-08-04
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NEW YORK. aul. D. A-S|a> a. AtAc
The speaker was mau of medium hight
and rat her inclined TO stoutless. His hair
is turning gray, but his eyes were bright
and CHEEKY and his face glowed with che
lue of health.
Glow cd am If'
The writer placed his age at 70 years at a
venture, though IS years would have been
apparently an equally close guess.
That's what most people take me for.
I am nearly 40 years old aud have spent
the last seventeen years of nv life in the
city dead house Do Look sickiy"
Albert White, the keeper OF tho city
morgue was discussing the recent death of
Joseph Fogarty, for several years the assist
ant keeper, aud was Indignantly denying
the widely credited report that constant in
tercourse with the bodies of the dead
had evil effects upon the health of the
living.
II have employed hundreds of men and
women here" continued the Keeper, "sinca
l have had charge of this department and
have never Vet had one die from the effects
of handling dead bodies OF Del)S co Instantly
among them. Some have died, 1t IS true,
but they have only thsm5elve' 20 blame for
it. | have had seven assistant Keepers.
Fogarty was the las. My Il asSlSta
was the only mao WnO c1ntrac ed disea
here and | am not quite sure that this a
the place he caught it, One day be came
down with smallpox, though neN er had
a case OF smallpox IL the building to our
knowledge He recovered and Is now an
attendant In the city lbs lAe asylum.
Forgarty died from heart disease. lie was
born with 1t. Why every week durin2
the college sessions, for years DE-, JauaWaJ
would have Joe go up before his class fJr
examination. He nad triple murnel' 81
the heart, so he called it, and was one Of the
only cases ever known. When he had MS
leg taken off there was a consultation of
twenty or thirty big doctors to decide
whether they would give him ether or not.
They concluded he would die il they didl't,
end So they gave it to him and he recovered.
AS the keeper talked the wind shifted
to the east and the breeze that br ug t
miniature white caps 10 tue waves tnCt
slashed under the city dead house also
carried into the Office faint odOr
from the long, low room that e.
tends over the river and where the bodies
are kept.
"Snell that odorF went on Mr. White,
throwing wide open the door. "Well,
that's ell We ever get, and there's nothing
unhealthy III that. It's not altuge her
what it came from you'd hardly notice it.
We pack the bodiesin red carbolate of lime.
That abSorbS the animal moisture. Then
we keep the stone floor always wet That
carries of the odor as fast as it is made
That is the way we manage to keep
healthy
But isn't work in the morgue calculated
to effect mans mind more than it does his
body"
"Why should it any more than the work
of an undertaken? Look at me- leioinet
the keeper with n touch of pardonable p ide
in his t)nes. II thiuk my mind is as healt' y
as most mems, and pve spent most a liz
time here A; ter a mans used to the W prk
there is nothing exc eSslvelY unpleasant about
it."
"But you spoke of your helpers dyingn'
"TDats their own faulJ. They dunk
You can't expect man to fill up on whisky
every night and come to work every morn
ing the year round without his being
knocked out sooner or later. ! dou't ca
what business he may be il. It's worse in
t is business tnGn in n good manv ot4ers.
The room is dark and damp and tho men
catch cold. When man takes a drink Of
whisky for his breakfast instead Of food
and thea works all day on damp stone
floor is it any wonder his health breaks
down2 | don't think | have had q half
dozen sober, well helpers since have been
here. They get their board, was ing and
10 Lying free in Bellevue hospital and depend
upon the friends Of persons brought here,
or the undertakers. or the doctors for their
money. II they keep sober there would be
70 danger of their breaking down.
"What disease do they usually con-
tractW
Consumption.
docs this sort of life give them par
ticulary horrible kiad of delirium
tremens@'
81 have never had a helper who bad
dellrlum tremens. | never had one go in
sane. 1t doesn't affect their moral natures
in the least SO far as | can fiud out. never
knew it 10 affec any ones, particularly
We never had helper commit suicide and
| never knew of mans killing himself IN
or near the morgue. One ma did shoot
himself at the hospital entrance, but ne had
never been III the morgue, even as a visitor,
that | know of"
do you have any trouble in getting
helper5s"
81 can get more than l need. There are
always dozen or more applicatio than
there are vacancies, and when / discharge
man tor drunkenness as is usually Uho
case, am overrun with applicants wi hin
twenty four hours. No, 1 tel you, the
morgue is healthy place to WORK II,
public opinion to the con rary, notwitn-
anu u man W no taxes care OF y M
self can live here as long as he can any
wheren
The opinion Of Keeper White, while not
the publicly accepted one, has been shared
by more than one student of this queer
pla Of life. The late Dr. Fraak ii. nam
ilton, the famous surgeon WAC wol M
tional reputation du ing the fatal Hines
of President Garfield, agreed with Mr.
White in every particular, and even vent
farther. a few m )ntl5 before his death. in
1856, be visited the mOrgue and closely in.
terrogated Mr.. White regarding hi own
and the health of his assisi ants He en-
bodied the result Of his research in the last
paper he ever read. II was read before the
Society of Medical Jurisprudence, OF which
he was president, and was strong
argument against the sanitary necessity of
cremation.
''Ihe effects Of rank growth Of vega
tlon," wrote the doctor, 'are much more
pornicious to human life All health than
the decay OF animal st. uctures In the
great Partisan slaughter house, especially
Monttaucon, where annually are bought
10000 to 1900 dead, dying or worn out
horses, dogs, cats ana Their dome tic aui-
mails, every portion of whose bodies was
there worked over and used up for various
economic purpo 'es, the WORK non enj " a.
good health as the same class of laborer5 i'll
any other occupation.
''In New YORK" he continued, "where
large slaughter houses are scatteret here and