The sun., 1894-05-06
SEARCHERS OF THE MoRGUE.
,r,RFULLT TntT sEEE ron MISSING
FRThNDS 4HONG TBE DEAN

ERIkADN IhONN TUE DEID
"a Varied Msrs- by whIe1 Bo4,.s
=. ta..,tasd-Strsng- Mistakes or n e.
.,,,,,. Followed by Appearance IN
a.. rI-.h or the P-r-on- Mo-rnsd.
"rbs iientincation OF the unknown dead IL
..,h,sct that shows queer streaks Of human
.s.,.c,sr." said Can't White. keeper OF the
W.,sna 10 a Sun reporter. You would no
.,,r,Issd were Jou to witness some OF the ex-
..,isness we have. It's only now and then.
-hsrs the newspapers get hold Of an ocea-
.Ion.l case. that any one hears OF them. Nat
.r.lIv most persons have q horror OF the
Moreue. and the majority never come at all"
~ suppose that q great many mistakes are
r,ds7" ventured the reporter
"yss i've known fve different visitors to
ia.r,liv the same body. and each was positive
chat It was that Of his particular friend or rel
.,ivs You see half the people who come here
hseln 10 get nervous as soon AS they enter the
huIiding. THEY'LL give q hasty glance at the
.rhieot TO be identified. Then they'll make a
.,sne or shake their heads and get away as
.ooo As possible. There are q score or more
,sses on record that have come under my OBJ
s.rystion where body has been identified q
do,sn times and we we're finally obliged to
hurv IL in the Potters Field unrecognized. I
cont pretend to say how many occur else
r.sch into the hundreda
Now. for instance. there was the case OF the
woman who was murdered at Railway. N. j..
sfsv years ago. People came from all parts
sf the country to identify the remains Some
wsre positive that they had done so until
soms seemingly trivial point: would come up
which proved the error. One woman swore
that the girl was her daughter. who had run
svsy from homo the year before. Another
ssld that she recognized the body as that OF
her servant who had disappeared In COM
many with strange man. She went so far as
10 furnish . description OF the alleged man.
and had the police on the Jump for q week.
You remember the case Of Maggie Lawler
the Bridgeport girl who committed suicide at
the Grand Union Hotel on Feb. %. She had
registered as Maggie Miner which was at
nrst supposed to be her correct name. A great
many persons came hero and identified the
body There seemed to be . Maggie Miner In
about every town In this part OF the country.
Finally. We thought that We had the real iden-
tincation- A man named Charles NJ. Brock
sispsr OF 70 Suydam street, Brooklyn. said
that the dead girl was Mary Bogsrt OF New
Haven Miss Bogarts sisters saw the body.
and the resemblance was so strong that they
were sure Of the correctness OF their identin-
cation In the end Il turned out that they we're
Where the description Of q body 10 pub
lishsd good many people twist It around un-
I'll they really como to believe that 1t corre-
spends with that Of the person they're looking
for Thsy will compare the general charac-
tsristics. aud overlook all the minor points.
which are really the most important clues."
Capt White has . long list Of cases OF mis-
taken Identity. On April 2 the body OF man
was found In the East River. at the foot Of
Ninety fourth street. He was identified rs
John Hoey. So years old. painter. who had
lived at 2O1 East 10lst street Two days after
the funeral the real John Hoey walked in
while the family were at dinner.
Another case II that Of woman who thought
she had identified q body as that Of her hus-
band. On Aug. IL the body OF man was found
in the East River near Coentiss Slip. On the fol-
lowing day . woman who said she was Mrs.
Quinn Of 221 East Twenty fourth street. called
ct the MorRue and asked to see the body. She
identified IL ~ that OF her husband. Marcus A.
Quinn. Q teacher. SO years old. who had lived
In the city twenty years. She was so certain
that she recognized her husband that she had
the body buried. and donned widows weeds
About ten days after the funeral she happened
to 20 to the hospital on Wards Island. Almost
Ssssais S s;.s Ssss:Sd s:S s. ising + cot %Ssa @
sbly the moss disgusted man this side OF the
Mississippi River. l.. -,
he Tuned. There you've gone. and spent
500 or more on & blam ed pauper."
Third .Senae; y .sld the Captain, e she ,S wa:
Ars sprecker Of 631 Hancock street BROOK
hanna Tenser. The body was iinally Identified
.. that Of a woman named Gsorgiana Willis.
which we 's we're naIiy obliged to S SuSy aniden.
titled. Il was that Of the woman who was found
Eat
The body was Identified as that Of Josephine
Muller: Ny 23 m years OF age; by 2 hrs: & Goe,te Of
Miss Muller had come TO this city from Ger;
many on the steamship Friesland. Nearly all
Sometimes two Visitors. View q body st the
same time. and each furnishes different iden-
70 1ssos sss Subject %hish had been foand IN the
river. One examined the body closely That's
Jim said he; It's my cousin, sure enough:
st home In the meanwhile the second man
had been making an examination. Who did
ia kno. him anywhere snapped visitor No j.
, guess not friend. broke In No. 2. rm will
Ing 70 at hss my S1e HHS sIGw
Siss whom | suggested that Il had probably
had been mistaken. The men they were after
had only disappear ed two days before. Well. |
~ be blamed said No. 2. I was sure OF It;
What do you sAy II We get away from here and |
We've got system that saves a, good deal |
OF trouble" the Captain added. although to |
make an Identification certain We generally |
require the person to see the remains. He |
picked up a small leather-covered book and
oIened II at random.
This is what We call the Morgue Book"
said he. We have on file one for nearly every /
year Tor aquarter OF century. When an un-
known body is brought to the MorRue de- |
tailed description 10 taken OF the physical |
sharacteristics. clothing. And other dstailS
Here 10 an example:
Man from Eleventh precinct. who dropped
dead at corner OF Clinton and hivington |
streets; 50 years old. 5 feet inches high,
proWn hair and syes, sandy mustAehe. and
brown. full beard. Old brown saekeoat and
Esisteoat. black and gray striped trousers.
white shirt with small black figures, white knit
andershirt. blue woollen SOCKS, red and white
Striped comforter around neck. Elastic CATERS.
black derby hat. no property.
Now, . resuqe ed the Captain. good many
could tell whether that was a friend OF theirs
s,hoqt s,,h going through the ordeal OF looking
"Ot course " he continuad "identihcAtions