Evening star., 1898-04-30
A new LOCAL MORGUE
More Desirable Than Repairing the
Present One.
CANNOT USE D STREET ENGINE HOUSE
Advantage Of Obtaining Site on
the River F ront.
AN OUT-OF-WAY PLACE BEST

The discovery that the law will not per-
init the Commissioners to utilize the en-
gine house on D street between 18th and
18th streets for morgue purposes has raised
the question of the best use to which the
morgue appropriation. proposed by the SEN
ate, can be put If it is retained in the Dis
trict appropriations bill.
The Senate amendment concerning the
morgue now under consideration in confer
ence reads as follows:
For morgue keeper nine hundred dol
lars; assistant morgue keeper, two hundred
and fifty dollars, and for repairs, equip
ment, fuel and gas for the morgue, one
thousand and forty dollars; in all two
thousand one hundred and ninety dollars" )"
1t appeared from recent statement of
the Commissioners that there was involved
IN thls item not merely the repair and mod
ernizing of the morsue as proposed by the
words OF the amendment, but its intended
removal from the present site to that of the
engine house on d street, looking out on
Pennsylvania avenue and adjacent to the
new city post office and 2. o. d. building.
and the ousting of the chemical engine new
located there.
Everybody was In favor of a new and
modern morgue in place of the present
abomlnation, but this universal approval
cid not contemplate the removal and loca-
t!on OF the morgue in a conspicuous por-
lon OF the city, at the doors of a. great
Luohc department and in plain view from
the capltaIs historic avenue There at
once sprang up. as already stated in The
Star. a vigorous opposition on the part of
the business and hotel men on the avenue
In that vicinity, strengthened recently by
the postmaster General, who protested
against the removal of the chemical en-
elne, which had proved SO valuable a pro-
lection against fire in the past and the
location under their noses of the city's re-
ceptable for the dead. They urged that
they should not be deprived of an institu-
tlon which saves property and increases its
value Ill order that there might be SUBJ
stituted for 1t an institution which attaches
a stigma to the neighborhood and inevita-
biy decreases property values. They con-
tended that there was no public necessity
for the change and that the PENNSYLVANIA
avenue location was absolutely unsuitable
for morgue.
Law Regarding the Engine House.
While their protest was under considera-
ticn by the Commissioners the law was
discovered which prevented the use of the
d street engine house except for the pur-
pose of the city fire department. The act
is dated February Is, 1867, and reads as
follows:
That the right to have. use and occupy
all the several buildings, with their ap-
purtenances. known as the Union Frank
be, and Is hereby, granted to the city Of
Washington in the District of Columbia,
said possession and occupation to continue
so long as used for the purposes of the
fire department and at the pleasure of the
Congress OF the United States; provided,
that said use and occupancy Of the Co
lumbia engine house shall not in any way
interfere with the possession and occu-
pancy by the Columbia Fire Company of
the rooms now used as library rooms in
said building"
The Franklin engine house referred to
in this act Of Congress is what is known
as the d street engine house. This house
was first occupied by the Franklin engine
2, when that company formally succeeded
the Franklin as part OF the District fire
department. When the new house for No.
2 company was built and occupied several
years ago the chemical company, No. ],
which until then had shared the house OF
truck c, 14th street and Ohio avenue, was
located in the ID street house, and there 1t
has since remained. Hence unless the Dis
trict authorities obtain express authority
from Congress to convert the D street
house into morgue it cannot be done:
1t was suggested at ths District building
that the Commissioners might make appli-
cation to the conference committee to pro-
vide the legislation necessary to authorize
this removal But those who objected to
the location of the morsue on ID street Wig
crously protested that this course would be
public question, seriously affecting their in
terests. ought not to be proposed for the
first time in conference committee and be
sprung upon Congress and the community
without any opportunity for careful consld-
Grafton 1t is believed that the Commits
sioners do not intend to take this course.
Improving the Present MorRue.
OF the two remaining propositions con-
cerning the morgue the first is the use of
fnnnrOVinP
the present morgue, reducing to a minimum
the nuisance resulting from 1t. 1t is argued
that the natural place of expending an ap-
in its terms for the repair OF
the morgue would be at the morgue as II
row exists; that there Is room on the lot
now occupied for the enlargement of the
morgue and that an additional story could
be built at small expense; and that the
of the mOrgue In equipment
would be a positive blessing to the people
of that locality, who have become accus-
toned to the morgue in its present stencil
emitting condition. whereas its location In
any other frequented section would be
viewed as a curs., no matter what improve
ments in its operation might have been ac-
complished. The lot Oh which the sixth po-
lice precinct stands, in the rear OF which Is
located the present so-called morgue, Is
about forty feet wide, and runs back to
large alley or vacant lot, through which the
streets in the rear are reached. In the rsar
for stabling the horses used by the patrol
wagon This building Is about thirty by
twenty feet, and between 1t and the cell
building of the police station Is the one
story brick building used as a morgus. This
latter building Is about twenty by twelve
feet. and between 1t and the rear Of the
station house there Is a wagon shed about
fact in length. It Is contended
that should the Commissioners desire TO
erect on this lot a well-equipped. modern
morgue they would have ample room for so
doing.
A Morgue on the River Front.
Commissioner Wight and the residents OF
the section in which the morgue Is located
object strongly to its retention there. and
the proposition of erecting new morgue
somewhere on the river front has perhaps
the most powerful support Of the various
plans 1t is pointed out that according to
the precedents morgues are put in out-of-
the-way places: that the dead-house. which
is sometimes a pest-house. is not exposed
on or near a city's great thoroughfares;
that q central conveniently accessible loca-
ton Is not absolutely necessary as in the
case of a hospital, there being no occasion
for hurry in carrying tenants to the
morgue: and that q large percentage of the
occupants Of the morgue are persons
dfowned, and these would be conveyed to a
morgue at the rivers edge without any
carting through the city. The District con-
trolls several wharf properties at the river