"I was accompanied by my assistant, Crowley, and we took with us some bread, tea and sugar; on reaching this vault, I thrust my head through the hole of entrance, and had immediately to draw back, so intolerable was the effluvium; and, though rendered callous by a companionship for many years with disease and death, yet I was completely unnerved at the humble seen of suffering and misery that was presented to my view; six fellow creatures were almost buried alive in this filthy sepulchre."

Harrington. (1847, February 13). The Illustrated London News.