CARUSO AFTER DEATH.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5012, 11 August 1926, Page 3

CARUSO AFTER DEATH.

THE GREAT TENOR’S BODY.

WONDER OF EMBALMER’S ART,

“ Ah, Signer, you wish to see the mortal clay of the greatest singer the world has ever known! A little moment, and you shall have your wish. It was an aged Italian, whose shock of grey hair and sagging step added much to the sepulchral voice aild Jmb-like atmosphere of the rainy morning in the great cemetery where the rich of Naples! are buried (writes Wilbur Forrest, in the New York Herald Tribune). The “guardian of the dead” fished under his cape and produced a key. He shuffled up a small flight of stone steps jvhich led to a magnificent house-like tomb of marble and granite, unlocked a heavy door, and entered. We followed. My companions were a young New York surgeon and his uncle, a New York merchant. Before us, was a beautiful marble sarcophagus covered with heavy blankets. The guardian threw back these blankets as one would fold back the covers of a, bed. “Behold !” he said. Before us was Enrico Caruso. Dead five and a half years, the great tenor lay there; seemingly asleep. The same face, seen a thousand times by tens of thousands, in the Metropolitan Opera House, had not changed even a trifle from the day he breathed his last in a Naples h>tel on August 2, 1921. The same hands which had made the accompanying gestures to the notes, in operatic roles lay peacefully at each side; of the body, perfectly preserved. The broad-winged collar, bow tie, and expanse of shirt front, in linen and silk, were faultlessly white; and the dresjs suit which clothed the body might have been neatly pressed only y. sterday.

The remains of Caruso are enclosed in a hermetically-sealed glass case, which rests within the large marble, holding the centre of the spacious tomb. Around the walls are the spaces which will some day hold the remains of the dead opera singer’s. closest relatives. Their names are already chiselled in the polished marble.

The great tenor’s body represents to-day one of the wonders! of the embalmer’s art. From the scientific side, one is, told in Naples, there is no reason why time should efface the lifelike appearance df the body so preserved. • The process is said to. be Italian, though it was not this! which was used in the case of Lenin, who is exposed at the Moscow Kremlin. That Caruso’s remains may be viewed, however, is not generally known. When the singer returned 1 to. Italy in July, 1921, he engaged ,a suite in a,n hotel at Corrento, a charming spot in the Bay of Naples. Growing ill, he hurried to Naples, where he sltbjpped at the Vesuvius Hotel, and called in specialists. He appeared to be recovering and spent his time drawing sketches, which he presented to guests and. employees of the hostelry. It was onei of the latter who had been promised a sketch by the great tenor who disclosed that his remains might be viewed to-day by all in the Naples cemetery. “When he talked to? me, and promised me a sketch,” said the employee, “he complained that he was not feeling well. He went to his suite, and four’ days later he was dea.d.” “He was a great slinger, and loved by all Americans,” I said, by way of conversation.

“Signor, you must see him,” hastened the employee. "HOw is that possible?” I queried. “Take a taxi cab, and in twenty minutes you are at the to,mb of the great singer,” he replied. “There will be someone, there to show you.” The surgeon,, the merchant, and I called a taxi. In twenty minutes we arrived at the city of tombsi, which is on the outskirts 8f Naples. A few minutes more, and wq were gazing upon the clay of the man who had thrilled the world of music-lovers, and whose, voice is still alive.

“Maestro di musica!” murjmured the old tomb attendant as he folded back the thick layer of blankets over the bier and prepared to lock the tomb.