Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-05-25
ONE TOUCH OF SENTIMENT.
The Efforts Of the Poor to Save Their Dead
From = Potter's Field Burial.

From = Potter's Field Burial.
When person dies in any Of the hos
pitals belonging 70 the city. IL is the duty
Of the officials 10 notify such of his friends
as they know OF, ard to wait at least ~
hours before making any disposition Of the
body. II the friends DO net call. one Of the
various medical institutions may get it OF
It may be inferred in potter's field. Nat
Irally the hospital officials are anxious to
have the body disposed Of as soon as pos
sible, but sometimes this desire is trus
irated.
On a recent afternoon a couple called at
The reception room of Bellevue hospital and
inquired about a man who had died there
on the previous night. Both were young,
and a resemblance in features suggested
that they were brother and sister. He was
e cripple, one leg being shorter than the
other, and looked sickly. He was very
poorly dressed, as was also the sister. She
was older than he, and her sace was scanned
with lines that told of privation. She did
the talking for both.
He was our father" she said in a tired
voice, referring to the dead man, "and we
want to know how we can the body"
The orderly suppressed sigh as he re
piled:
"I'll give you the death certificate" he
said, 'if you are sure you will take the body
away"
. Eyes, 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 1t to
the woman.
"You must take the body away by tomor.
row." he said firmly, but not unkindly.
II will" she said, and walked out fol.
lowed by her brother, who looked mystified.
why did you insist upon her removing
the body at oncet" asked the reporter who
had overheard the conversation.
Because we have good deal of trouble
with cases of this kind" replied the order.
ly II don't believe these people will re-
move the body. Not tn It 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 assemblyman 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 char.
ity, you know.
1T frequently happens that the relatives
of poor people who die here come and get
the certificates, promising to remove the
bodies, and then 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
requires US to make out duplicates and go
through lot of red tape to explain why
duplicates were necessary. Some of these
cases are very sad. The relatives know
when they get the certificates that it will
be practically impossible for them to use
them. but they hope for some stroke of luck
to enable them to raise the money. have
frequently 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 wretched and
hardened, will go to any lengths to keep
the bodies of friends and relatives from pot
ter's field and the medical colleges. They
have special horror of the laJter."--.New
York Sun.