Milford chronicle., 1893-03-10
ONE TOUCH OF SENTIMENT.
The Efforts of the Poor to Save Their Dea
Iernrn 4 pnt4eris FieIn RnrIaI.

The Efforts of the Poor to Save Their Dead
From POtter's Field Burial.
When a person dies in any Of the hos
pitals 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 "a
hours before making any disposition of the
body: If the friends do not call, one of the
various medical institutions may get it or
It may be inferred in pOtter's field. Nat
urally the hospital officials are anxious to
have the body disposed of as soon as pos
sible, but sometimes this desire is frus-
trated.
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
a 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 face was scanned
with lines that told Of privation She did
the talking for both.
"He was our father" she said in tired
voice, referring to the dead man, "and we
want to know how we can get the body"
The orderly suppressed a sigh as he re-
piled:
"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 orderlylcoked n dubious,
but he secured the certificate and gave it 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 oncep' asked the reporter who
had overheard the conversation.
Because we have a 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 that they don't want
to, but they are too poor to bury it. In all
likelihood they viii 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 viii 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.
"It frequently happens that the relatives
of poor people who die here come ard 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 90
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 viii
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 syretched and
hardened. viii 90 to any lengths to keep
the bodies Of friends and relatives from not
ter's field and the medical colleges. TMy
have a speciGl horror Of the latter. i'--A1 "
York Sun