The Republican., 1893-07-13
ONE TOUCH OF SENTIMENT.
Efforts of the Poor to Save Their Dead
from Potter's Field.


from Potter's Field.
When a person dies in any of the
hospitals belonging to the city, it is
the duty of the officials to notify such
of his friends as they know of, and to
wait at least twenty-four hours before
making any disposition of the body. If
the friends do not call one of the vari-
Gus medical institutions may get it, or
it may be inferred in potter's field.
Naturally, the hospital officials are
anxious to have the body disposed of
desire is frustrated.
On recent afternoon a couple called
at the reception room of Bellevue hos
pital and inquired about a man who
had died there on the previous night.
Both were young, and a resemblance
in feature suggested that they were
brother and sister. He was a cripple,
one leg being shorter than the other,
and looked sickly. He was very poor"
ly dressed, as was also the sister. She
was older than he, and her face was
scanned with lines that told of priva-
tion. She did the talking for both.
''i1e was our father" she said in a
tired voice, referring to the dead man,
and we want to know how we can get
the body"
The orderly suppressed sigh as he
replied:
"rn give you the death certificate, -
he said, ''if you are sure you will take
the body away"
"Yes; we will take it," said the
woman.
Her brother opened his mouth as if
to say something, but she nudged him
so hard with her elbow that it brought
the tears to his eyes and made him shut
his teeth very suddenly. The orderly
looked very dubious, but he secured
the certificate and gave it to the
woman.
"You must take the body away by
tomorrow, he said firmly, but not un-
kindly.
II WILL" she said, and walked out,
followed by her brother, who looked
mystitied.
"Why did you insist upon her remov-
ing the body at once?" asked the re-
/ porter, who had overheard the CONVEX
sation.
Because we have good deal of
trouble with cases of this kind" replied
the orderly. Il don't believe these
people will remove the body. Not that
they don't want to, but they are too
poor to bury it. In all likelihood they
will go around among their neighbors
and perhaps to the alderman and as
semblyman of their district and try to
raise enough money to pay the funeral
expenses. Perhaps they will succeed,
but the chances are they won't. You
see, their neighbors are likely to be no
richer than they are and, while they
might be willing enough to help them,
it's probable they won't be able to. As
! for the politicians, they have good
many calls on their charity, you know. "
at frequently happens that the rela-
tives of poor people who die here come
and get the certificates, promising to
remove the bodies, and they never
come back. They are unable to raise
the funeral expenses and are afraid to
come back. The worst part of it is that
they keep the certificates, which re.
! uulItS Us W Oub NupiiSo1CS ahN
go through a lot of red tape to explain
why duplicates were necessary. Some
of these eases are very sad. The rela-
tives know when they get the certiti-
Gates that it will be practically impos-
sible for them to use them, but they
hope for some stroke of luck to enable
them to raise the money. | have fire.
quently been surprised at the feeling
shown by people against allowing the
city to bury their relatives. Men and
women who are usually Indifferent to
sentiment, and whose lives are most
wrctchcd and hardened will go to any
lengths to keep the bodies of friends
and relatives from potter's field and
medical colleges. They have a special
| horror of the latter
| Some of the relatives don't deserve
so much sympathy. They are young
toughs, and get the certificates to dis
play to their friends. 1t is mere vanity
with them. They usually know, too,
that they cause us trouble. and they
rather enjoy that Y. Sun.