Iwalked along the sidewalk beyond the library to the Lawless Chapel on the Dillard University campus and paused when I saw a single white hearse. One hearse for 19 people. One hearse for what's left of those 19 people. Skulls. In some cases, parts of skulls.

Beautifully-crafted boxes carrying their remains were inside a single coffin. The gloved hands of the Rhodes Funeral Home staff were careful as they moved them inside for a viewing.

There was no open casket. No closed casket. Each person's box had a place of honor.

I thought about Alice Brown, 15; Henry Allen, 17; Prescilla Hatchet, 19; Hiram Smith, 20, and Hiram Malone, 21 and the lives they might have lived. But, like 10 others with names and two unidentified people, they went to Charity Hospital for help, to get better. Each

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