The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-01-17
They EriirVc Themselves Entitled
tr Recognition ~ Members
ui Il Profession.
"MORTIONISTS" IS SUGGESTED.
They Consider Their Work rs Iii"
niticd. DiniruIt ana RESPONSE
bic ~ That of the Preach
or or Physician.

I.p,I. uad-rtah"rs a:~ dissatisfied. Not
with ;Er death rate,in tie present instance,
10. the price or funerals. nor the proposed
agr,Eg, mrut whereby THE electric railway
is To carry Baskets and mourn,rs to the
cemeteries, No. II Is something Of far more
importance than amy OF these has caused
thu agitation.
II Is. in short. the name by which th.y
are known. They don't want 10 lee known
ss 'u.i takvrs" any longer.
Plainly The facts are these. The under
takers. "a. they wifi Of necessity be- called
until they agree upon another title. believe
that theirs Is : profession and that It =
entitled Ia recognition as such. They be-
I!ryr thar they ale looked upon a. the ia
frgior OF the physician and TIE preacher,
between whom they form the connecting
link in all o!sequies. They believe ttIt
they are eutiiled to a place among he pro-
frsSions just as surely as the man who
pilots the man out of this world AID the
man WAO pilots him into the other.
According 10 the undertakes, they are as
mach eutitf-: 70 recognition among he pro
rrsSiuus as the school teacher Who pre-
pares the young idea Tor college. as the
professor. Who ~injects IN the mind ~ the
yuuug man those things which are TO make
h:m IT FOR tho business world.
Among the nemeS proposed for the pro-
frsSiOn is that Of 'muruouists." This, the
mortionis's say. expresses their calling and
G~igniirS IL without lowering II - the plane
Of bTirklaJ-r and well-d!eger. Not that
THAI they look down upon those cccupa-
lions, because, IN a certain seuSy. they are
connected with the men who follow these
l.tHlfLf.Ols. a. graves must la ding ANA
IuWbS Crmguted.
Views OF n "No%rrIonixt."
'iiut look upon The difference between
them ami the mOrjiou:sis." said NJ. II.
AieXa'rIrr Of Ne. 80 Olive street yestor-
day. They learn their trade like pupils in
the primary school by rote. We must not
only study. hut also be able 10 PASS exam
nations, just - the physicians, the dentist
ard the school teacher. II We fan n these,
We must study Tor another year og wv" bs-
lore We are able q" obtain a license 10 do
business.
Not only must We have = thorough
knowledge Of the human body, st. arteries
and its veins. but We must also Dee able q.
dSSecJ bodies. We. TOO. must know eLuuSa
OF surgery and the effects of medicine To
be able 10 judge whether death i due 10
natural causes. | know that at the present
time this Is not So much Of "A necessity a.
In former years. but even now there may
come an opportunity when We will be able
10 detect some crime. The appearance Of
the body after death. the conditions and
the disease all indicate something. and ""
are supposed 70 tell these signs.
And IN these days when 50 many persons
fan into frances. which are believed by
physicians Of merit 10 be death. We must
use our Intelligence. Take the ease Of Mrs.
Hirt in East -. Louis. OF which Ne. L,
read IN the Republic. Surprising the under
rakcr who was dbOut to prepare her body
by embalmiHE II had known nothing Of IN.
laws OF phySioiOgy. lis would then haN"
accounted for the movement Of her ey'lid
as reflex or action or something OF the SOFT.
II he had troubled himself about II al Al.
Brt he knew that simple movement was an
Indication that she Was alive. anu Tin.
knowledge saved her life.
Such cases are 80 common nowadays
that the undertaken always applies tests 10
discover If lite Is eNtiuC; before he begins
the process OF cInhallniug. Every day one
reads OF persons coming To- life while IN
the unde:takeTls charge. ana II DEVELOPS
usually that he IL responsible FOR the Dis
cUvery that the supposed corpse * alive.
There IL Vet another reason for the UNI
nertaker 10 b.. considered among III. other
professions. No one will dispUt. thar the
Egyptians Of ancient times were men "f
much knowledge and learning. IheiT mum
mics show that their undertak@TS were men
OF skill and silence Yet ~ ar" not far
behind. Many undertakers in this city can
preserve q body in such 4 manner that Il
will last for years without any change *
cept Il gradual shrinking NJ the skin over
The bones SmitherS & Wagner have the
Eody of a girl which th,E have kept for
eight years. and, excepting FOR the shruukcn
APPEARANCE Of the face there IL no sigu
that the body f. not as II was when the
girl died.
Rf,sIIing the Old Egyptians.
II read IN The Republic last spring about
. -. Louis firm Of UHdertak-rs which had
kept two bodies In a similar state for I'VE
years. More recently the purchaser OF "A
building which some Undertaken had orcu-
pied found In the attic the preserved body
OF 1t man. II Was 80 natural in appearance
that the finder thought the fellow had been
dead only . day or two. and notified tile
Coroner. Then IL was discovered that the
body had been inanimdte ten years.
"The newspapers made much OF ;hc mat
ter and printed u picture Of the uummy.
for that s. all q, can be called The article
met the eyes of a woman Who had lost
her husband i'm 1876, II / remember rightly.
She went 70 the place whore Il vast
had been rented to "A cigar lpalpr-3Ul
recognized her missing helpmaIe.
"TheSa are reasons. [ assert. why ours
should be recognized as a profession. With
such recognition l believe that we should
prove Ourselves worthy the honor"
George y. Lynch Of No. 1ils Locust street.
the oldest undertaken I'm the CITY. saws he
is not anxious 10 change his title. "YnI
see.' said he. 81 am getting so near the
hour when an undertaken must have me
that II don't make much difference 10 nv
mind whether he is called an undertaken.
an inanimatist or a murtinnist. It's an The
same. I 10 believe that The public does not
UNDERSTAND iHt llif worm OF the under
taker. hut that l. a subject for Younger
men than ] TO discuss.
John Frank Geiger of No. u6 North Ninth
street believes that his is 4 t:adp which
should he recognized a. Ct profession. Nnf
only that. but he thinks the association Of
mortiGnists-this is the word he f4ynre-
should each year offer q prize for the
mnrtiorist who makes the most progress in
the work. This contest. he thinks shouid
provide for artistic arrangement OF the 70
mains. the best facial expression and the
most tasteful funeral
Meanwhile no action has been taken and
the mortioniSts are still called upderraksrs