The Washington herald., 1914-04-05
Through Many Inquests that
Have Brought Sorrow to
Hosts, Science Has Reaped
Rich Harvest of Knowl-
edge.

I showed him photograph We had taken
in the morgue. The minute he saw II he
knew IT. He had a copy Of a newspaper
containing a picture of her. But the pic
ture in the paper was so blurred he
couldn't be sure it was the girl he was
looking for. Then 1 showed him the
clothing. and that clinched il.
Lie, Better than Truth.
well, sir, what do you suppose he did ?
He had Annie's body taken up from the
potter's field and carried over to Mount
Olivet Cemetery. He had another ser
vice there. with a minister and singing,
and the other things that belong to a de-
cent Christian funeral. He was all right,
that man.
You needn't guess il pleased US. I
got him to give US the address of Annie's s
sister in ireland. and sat down and wrote
her a letter. with all the bare things left
out. We don't usually tell lies. but We
all got more good feeling out of the lies
we wrote to that girl in Ireland than We
got out of any truth We ever told"
Perhaps of the horrible cases handled
at the morgue none is burned more deep
" into the memory of the men there tina
that of the night of December 30. 1906
when thirty-four broken bodies were
brought within an hour to the little
chapel from the scene OF the Terra Gotta
wreck.
They came in ambulances and all sorts
of wagons" said the morguemaster in
telling the story. And the crowds were
so thick in Water street for two blocks
that the drivers had a time getting
through. Some of them weren't bodies at
all.
Only Man Faints.
1T wasn't meant for the morgue to
hold thirty-four bodies at once. but We
did the best We could. There were so
many OF them you could hardly walk be-
tween the rows.
1T was a Sunday night when the
wreck happened. That night. and clear
up until sunrise. and all day Monday,
that night, Tuesday. and way into We'd
nesday We had crowds at the morgue. It
was pretty bad. I don't think there was
an hour in all that time but what you
could hear some man or woman crying.
want to tell you it doesn't sound good.
that sort of thing. Yet there was only
one person tainted. and that a man.
''He came down Sunday night. right
after he heard about the wreck He was
a big, strengthening chap, the last kind
in the world you'd think would cave in
He seemed dazed when he got here. He
told me in quiet way that his wife had
been on the train that was wrecked. and
that he hadn't been able to get any word
about her.
II led him through the front room. and
the first thing his eyes met as he walked
through the second door was his wife It
all happened in a flash. He let cut a sort
of sigh. as though something had hit him
in the face, and as he made that sound
he went down in a heap on the floor be-
side her body. We picked him up two
of US, and carried him into the inquest
room. 1t took us fifteen minutes to bring
him around. When he came to he was
the most pitiful thing in the morgue. I
thought he would sob his heart out"
Boys Body Found.
Another pathetic case was that of little
Harry Elton Smith. the twelve-year-old
boy who was murdered by Tony Milano,
Tony. the Shoemaker"
On Saturday afternoon little Harry was
Knocked in the head by the Italian. A
shoemaker's hatchet crushed the boys
skull. To hide his crime, the cobbler
placed the body under a couch in the
rear room of his shop. and early the next
morning set fire to the place-to cover up
his crime.
Firemen stirring about in the ashes
iObIu remains OF the little
boy. For twenty-four hours detectives.
policemen. and newspaper men worked to
establish the identity of the charred body.
Finally 1t was discovered that Harry FL
ton Smith had been seen to go into this
shop. but not to come out
The italian was tried, convicted OF
murder in the first degree, and sentenced
TO death. For a year he remained in the
District Jail. In a desperate effort to
save mis- life he dramatically confessed in
an official statement and begged for
mercy. On the grounds Of insanity his
sentence was commuted to life impris-
onment.
Wins Death Mt Last.
But now to the part Of the story as
seen at the District morgue during the in
quest. The boys mother and two sisters
we're present. Frantic with grief. and
determined on revenge, one of the girls |
n a rage flung herself at the throat of |
he italian. |
Had she had a weapon the chances are
she would have avenged the murder of !
her little brother. Following this, in a |
moment of grief, she attempted to hurI |
herself into the river. Prevented in this. |
the died months later as a result of poi |
;on 1t was claimed by relatives she took
he poison in mistake for medicine. but |
It any rate she wen. to Join the little |
repeatedly said she wanted |
o die that she might meet him in heaven. |
Time was when unclaimed bodies that /
vent to the morgue all were buried in |
he potter's field. Now 1t is different. The
unidentified ones are, but the identified |
mes are cremated. and the ashes kept in 1
sealed Jars for q year. Them