Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-08-04
fallen of, and now come almost altogether
from the indolent and vicious.
HrAfru IN TIE MoRoUE.

VIII the nue. Oh UfilLu.
How old am II"
The writer placed his age at forty years
at venture. though thirty-eight years
would have beer apparently an equAly
close guess.
That's what most people take me Tor.
7 am nearly forty-nine years old, and have
spent tho last seventeen years Of my life IN
the city dead-house. Do look sicklyI,
Albert White, the keeper of the Cl'y
Morgue. was discussing the recent death
of Joseph Fogarty, for several years tne
keeper. and was Indignantly de-
nving the widely-crcdited report that CON
slant intercourse with the bodies OF the
dead had evil effects upon the health Oh
the living.
The MoEGUE DON'T KILL THIN.
81 have employed hundreds Of men and
women here. -" continued the keeper, since
! have had charge of this department. ana
have never vet had one die from the ohectS
OF handling dead bodies or being constant
Is among them. Some have died, II IS true,
but they have only themselves TO blame
for IT, / have had seven assistant keepers.
Foeartv was the last. NV first assistant
was the only man who contracted q as
ease here, and am not quite sure that
this is the place he caught It. one DAY
he came down with smallpox. though
building 10 our knowledge. He recovered
and Is now an attendant in the City Insane
ASYLUM. Fogarty died from heart-diseasea.
He was born with il. Why, every week
during the college sessions for years Dr.
Janeway would have Joe 60 up before MS
class for examination He had triple
murmur' of the heart, so he called II, ana
he was one of the only cases ever known.
When he had his leg taken of there was
OF twenty or thirty big doctors
10 decide whether they would give MN
ether or not. They concluded he Wouid
die if they didn't, and 50 they gave II 10
him and be recovered
oDoR OF DEATH.
As the keeper talked the wind shifted 10
the east and the breeze that brought mini,
allure white caps 10 the waves that sla.heu
under the CITY dead-house also carried into
the Office a faint odor from the long, low
room that extends over the river ana
where the bodies are kept.
Smell that odor; Z" went on Mr.. White,
throwing wide open the door. Wei,
that, all We ever get, and there's nothing
unhealthy in that. It's not altogether
pleasant. 1 know. but ii you didn't know
where 10 came from you'd hardly notice It:
We pack the bodies in red carbolate OF
lime. That absorbS the animal moisture.
Thon We keep the stone floor always wet.
That carries of the Odor as fast "a II Is
made. That il the way We manage TO keep
healthy"
But isn't work in tho morgue calculated
to affect mans mind more than 1t does
his body"
why should it any more than the work
Of an undertaken? Look at me- reiolned
the keeper. with touch of pardonable
pride I'm his tones. 81 think my mind Is as
healthy as most mems. and Eve spent most
a lifetime here. After mans used 70 the
work there is nothing excessively I'M
pleasant about it, go,
But you spoke Of your helpers dylng?"
DRINEING HEITERs
THAT'S their own fault. They drink.
You can't expect q man u fill UP ON wills
KEY every night and come 10 work every
morning the yenr round without ms beng
knocked out sooner or later don't care
what business be may be IN. It's worse IN
this business than in good many others.
The room is dark and damp and the men
catch cold. When man takes a drink Of
whiskcv for his breakfast instead OftOod and
then works an day on damp stone Moor -
II any wonder his health breaks DOWN. /
don't think ] have had half dozen sober.
we'll helpers since have been here. They
get their board. washing. and lodging free
In Bellevue Hospital and depend upon the
friends of persons brought here or the IN
dcrtaker. or the doctors for their money.
If they kept sober there would be no dan
ger Of their breaking down.
what disease do they usually con-
tract?"
Consumption
40 DEImUM.
"DOcs this sort of life give them par
4 1 tlfff ID.
Il have never had n helper who had de-
L-i,m froD,0gS. | never had one 90 insane.
II doesn't affect their moral natures in the
least. SO fan as / can find out. ! never
knew it to affect any ones particularly.
We never had helper cOmmltsuicide, and
never knew of u mans killing himself IN
or near the morgue. One man did shoot
himself at the hospital entrance. but he
had never been IN the mOrgue even as a
visitor that ! know Of"
DO YOU have any trouble in getting
hclpcrs:"
II can get more than need. There are
ALWAYS a dozen or more applications than
there are vacancies. and when ! discharge
a man for drunkenness, as Is usually the
case. ] am Oyerruu with applicants within
twentv-four hours. No, | tell You, the
moreur Is healthy place To work in. pub
lie opinion 20 the contrary notNithstaud-
inn. and "a man who takes care of him.
self can live here rs long as he can any
where
DIR. HANuLToN's BELIEF.
The opinion OF Keeper White while not
the publicly accepted one. has been shared
by more than one student o. tins queer
place of life. The late DR.. Frank IL. Ham
ilton. the famous surgeon who won III
tioual reputation during the fatal illness
. I tt|fN IA
White in every particular and even went
further. 4 few months before his death
in 1886 he visited the morgue and closely
Mr.. White regarding his own
and the health of his assistants. 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 the president, and was a
strong argument against the sanitary ne
cessitv of cremation.
THE effects of a rank growth of vegeta-
tion. -" wrote the doctor. ARE much more
pernicious 10 human life and health than
the decay Of animal structures.
N THE sLArGHTER-HoUsrs.
"In the great Partisan slaughter-houses,
especially Montfaucon. where annually are
bought 10 600 % Is, 900 dead. dying, or worn
out horses. dogs, cats. and other domestic
animals. every portion OF whose bodies
was there worked over and used up for
various economic purposes, the workmen
enjoy az good health rs the same class OF
lahOrers in any other occupation.
I'm New York" he continued, where
large slaughter-houses are scattered here
and there along the water-'ronts, among
the poorest novels and tenement-houses, |
am told that there does not exist any more
sickness than is usually found among the
same number Of poor in all the crowded
tenement districts of the city Yet there Is
not "A slaughter-house in New York in
which more or less of the blood from the
slaughtered animals. with fragments Of
flesh. ETC., do not lie in or about or under
the floor, there to undergo putrefactlon.
The mortuary and general sanitary stats
tics of Chicago will probably not show that
1t is any more unhealthy TODAY than il was
before it became the slaug of the
world. Dessault. the famous French ana
tomist was fond of repeating the old say
inc. When the animal dies the poison dies
too"
The Religious Instruction of Children.
To tie Editor Of the Dispatch:
Greatand often irreparable injury is some
times inflicted upon the minds of young
children by the attempt 10 give instruc-
ton on religious subjects which Is insult
ed to their tender years.