The Washington herald., 1918-08-18

Obserye Fourteenth Anniversary.
The morgue may be reached by
three lines Of street cars, and since
Uncle Sam threw his hat into the
ring of the world war It has been
busy but greusome place.
With their sins or virtues frozen
stin within them, the unclaimed
dead of Washington with the human
toll OF accidents and homicides find
their way to the grim, gray
morgue at the foot of Seventh
street and are held in cold storage
Tor the action of the district coro-
ner, DIR. ]. Ramsey hewitt. This in
sutution is comparatively modern
and was once referred to by a-mem-
Der of Congress as the national
dead house"
The fourteenth anniversary of
the completion of the District
morgue was quietly observed sew
eral days ago by Morguema ster
WIZ Schoneberger and his assis-
tlnts- The event was conducted
without any particularly greusome
features and resolved itself into a
reminiscence party with Mr.. Schone-
berger as the principal story teller.
II was recalled that old Washing
ton was mOrgueless for many years,
resulting in many narrowing ex-
periences.
Civil War Period.
In the civil war period and i'm
mediately following it there were
many sudden" deaths in Washing
ton Some were the result of acci-
dent incident to the congestion
here. but many died as the result
OF brawls. South Washington. then
known as the island" because II
was surrounded by water-the Po-
tomac on the south, the canal on
the north and west and Tiber creek
on the east-furnished the early
coroneTs with many cases. In those
days the dead were removed in We
hicles OF many kinds to the back
yards of the several police stations.
II there was a stable attached to
IN" stati"n house II WIS used as a
temporary morgue. If not. the re-
mains were placed in the open
yards and covered with canvas or
tarpaulin. The effect in the neigh
0orhood OF the police station after
decomposed corpse was brought
" coh Oc OcttcI Imagined tnan DE-
sCribed.
pap" Clements Fooled
An amusing incident happened in 1866,
when Pap" Clements. a veteran
policeman, who had served as a
member of the auxiliary guard" the
first organized police force of the
District of Columbia. was called to
the unclassic precincts Of Louise
alley southwest, to have the supposed
corpse Of a stout colored man re-
moved to the station house He
found the dead man" stretched out
ON the cobblestones in front of the
Cracker Box" declared to have been
the wickedest building in the world
As that was before the era of auto
mobiles and as no horse-drawn vehicle
could be found. Pap was compelled
to requisition a venerable wheelbarrow
for use as a patrol wagon and dead
wagon in combination. The tempera-
ture registered up near the 100 mark,
and after the sweltering policeman
had pushed the barrow and the fat
man to within a short distance of No.
police station and was himself near
~ exhausted. the corpse" suddenly
became animated. With a grunt the
fat colored man reared his head,
smiled at the funny situation he had
unconsciously created. lay back COM
fortably and sang out.
''Shove her along. Here I cum, hot
and hollow"
In disgust Pap Clements dumped
the fat man TO the sidewalk and pro-
ceeded to boot him viciously.
"I with could run you in" he said.
but there is no law to punish drunk
cdness in this city"
Every Inch n Morgue.
The finishing touches were given
the present morgue July 4. 1904, and
the structure was occupied a few
days later. In outward appearance it
is every inch a morgue. the prevail
ing color being ghost gray. The
morgue idea has been followed in the
interior arrangement and coloring.
The suggestion that il is a death
house greets everyone who passes
through its portals. 1t is located i'm
mediately on the river front, with a
wharf or landing platform for the
reception of victims OF drowning ac-
Cidents brought in by the harbor
police steamer.
One could imagine standing on the
morgue wharf that he was at the
starting point for the final voyag ge
across the river Styx. In the dead
room are twelve individual sliding
vaults in which the cadavers are kent
on cold storage. provided the ice sup
ply is not exhausted. II is said Con-
gress does not appropriate one-half
enough money to maintain an ade-
auate supply and that sornatiroa. a.