"At the military funeral of Dr Muttlebury, August 14th, 1832, soldiers were forbidden to approach the coffin be*cause of possible infection. It was finally transferred from the wagon to the grave with the help of Dr. Strachan and his son. (62) Seaborne reported that when men died of cholera at Kettie Creek, a volunteer entered the building and put a rope around the body. It was dragged from the building and drawn to the grave and into it. The rope was cut and the end was thrown into the grave and the earth was piled in. (63)"

I am not finished reading but I think the fact that the dead were contagious is important.