Year: 1878

From our Regular Correspondent


HOTEL DU LOUVRE,
PARIS, Sept. 5, 1878.


From time immemorial, the Terrible
has possessed peculiar attractions for
mankind; hence, the Coliseum of ancient
Rome, where martyrs and gladiators
were slaughtered to crafty people that
were thoroughly satiated with every
pleasure that life could offer, and to the
same strange impulse we can trace in
more recent days, the Buffalo fights of
the Spaniards, and the hazardous per
formances on the trapeze and tightrope
of the modern hippodrome. Were 1t
not for this universal yearning for some
thing strange and terrible to behold
something which, to use vulgar but
very signifying expression can make
the flesh creep"-one would be at loss
to account for the number of visitors to
La Morgue; place which, assuredly,
possesses no attractions in an architec-
tural point of view, and which is about
one of the very last places ON earth which
one in search of the beautiful would
think of visiting.


Yet no one can visit La Morgue be
tween the hours of eight in the morning
Bnd nine in the evening without finding
before its low portal an array of carriages
from the humble tiaere to the proud Ian
dan, the inmates which throng the en-
trance, and elbow the surrounding mul
titude, and yet elbowed by it in turn, in
their efforts to obtain admission to the
ghastly spectacle within. Not that they,
or the majority of them, at least, have by
any possibility the remotest interest in,
or knowledge of the subjects" which
they will presently behold; but simply
because they are about to undergo new
and strange sensation which they have
never experienced before they are to
be made to shudder and to close their
eyes; to view blue lips and clenched fists
closed in death, and then to think and
dream of the secrets which those lips
could have uttered, and the deeds which
those hands have committed


When / visited the place yesterday, i
found the vestibule crowded with ladies
and gentlemen of fashion, mostly for
eigners, of course; and it looked odd,
strangely odd, among this glittering
crowd to perceive the van face and blue
blouse OF an ouurier,-a father in search
of missing son, perhaps, or husband
who, for aught he knew, might be wild
over. The Morgue is low one story
building, situated at the extreme east
end of the island La Cite, III the middle
of the Seine and in the very heart of old
Paris, and not hundred yards from the
choir of the church of Notre Dame. The
building is of the yellow Partisan lime
stone, and consists of a square central
part, and two wings, one Of which (the
left contains the Grefe or Bureaus where
the records and registers are kept, and
the other contains the Offices of the in
spector and his assistants. Facing the
entrance door is large wooden screen,
divides the hall from the vestibule, and
has three hooks, upon each of which is
hung a wooden frame with a glass door,
the middle frame contains plainly writ
ten list of subject" that are unknown and
have been buried at public expense, as
such, inasmuch as they have never been
identified; this ghastly list is divided in
four columns, the first of which contains
the gender or sex Of the subject, the next,
the assumed age; the third, the place
where found; and the fourth, remarks
of general nature, which may assist in
Identification, such as briefdescription
of rings or jewels found upon the body,
marks upon the person, etc, etc. l
counted thirty nine entries on this list
of the unknown, yesterday, twenty seven
of which were men, and twelve women
The ages ranged from eighteen to sixty,
and about three fourths Of them had
been fished up drowned from the Seine


The tablets to the right and left Of this
frame contain the photographs of these
unknown dead, taken before interment;
and CHASTITY gallery it is. Those who
have not strong nerves should not enter
behind the screen, but return, satisfied
with what they have already seen. Yet,
strange to say, the crowd pushed on,
with blanched faces, the ladies seemed TO
take the lead; strange fascination COM
pels them to enter the inner apartment
Of the Morgue,-to be carried out faint
ing a minute afterwards, for that is an
everyday occurrence, and the sergeaRts
de Uile on duty are prepared, with am
balances and salts, for just such Incl
dents, to which they have, by long ex-
perience, grown quite accustomed, and
which they treat with a marvellous sang
froid that is peculiarly Parisian-


A large glass wall divides the ante
chamber from the "hall Of the dead as
it is called, and to which no admittance
is had, except by special permission by
the officers in charge. Few, however,
| ucsiIc W ~ IdlIHeI u1.A " snAS o


wall. Behind it are twelve tables, COW
cred with sheet lead, and placed In q
slanting position, 50 that the bodies ex-
posed upon them may be readily seen
by those on the other side of the screen.
From a tube which terminates in rose
or sprinkler, and is disposed centrally
over each Of the tables, is stream Of
cold water sprinkled over the body be
low, to prevent putrifcation as long as
possible, and the clothing, and other
articles found upon the bodies, are ex,
posed to view upon iron racks placed
over each of these couches. founo
four of the twelve slabs occupied; twooi