Dear Reader: Please don’t die in a fiery highway accident this holiday weekend. That’s the stark message of this photo, which dominated the front page of the Minneapolis Star Journal 67 years ago today. The original caption is below it. The 1952 photo at the bottom of the entry illustrates exactly what newspaper editors – and morgue officials – did NOT want to see.

Consider yourself warned. And have a happy holiday!

Keep This Picture in Your Mind’s Eye Tomorrow

This is the Hennepin county morgue. It is not a pleasant place. It is not intended to be a pleasant place.

To it are brought the bodies of persons who fall dead on the streets, PRINCIPALLY THOSE WHO ARE KILLED IN AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS.

Today the tables in the picture (called slabs) are empty. By Friday they will almost certainly bear sheet-covered forms – bodies of those who were victims of their own or others’ lack of caution.

Each Fourth of July John Anderson, whose task it is to run the morgue, hopes the slabs will be as empty on the morning of the fifths as they are on the afternoon of the third.

Once or twice his hopes have been fulfilled. Usually the Glorious Fourth is his busy day.

Have a care to help John Anderson keep these slabs empty tomorrow, lest … but you get the point.

January 1952: Nine bodies on six slabs at the Minneapolis city morgue.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at 11:59 pm and is filed under Main, Mayhem. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.