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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-katrina-bringing-out-the-dead,1,2255958.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlinesNEW ORLEANS -- When Xavier Bowie died in a flooded neighborhood, his common-law wife did the only thing she could think to do. She wrapped his body in a sheet, laid him on a makeshift bier of two-by-fours and, with a little help, floated him down to the main road.(snip) Bowie, 57, a truck driver who had been with Turner for 16 years, had advanced lung cancer and could not be easily moved. When Turner could find no one to take them out of the city, she decided to stay home and hope the storm would spare them.(snip) Finally, about three hours after Bowie died, Miller flagged down a passing flatbed truck filled with downed limbs. After some heated words and an offer of $20, he persuaded the driver to take the body to Charity Hospital, where the police had directed them.(snip) The truck turned and made its way into the French Quarter, where jazz bands are known to lead joyful funeral processions through the storied streets. But the streets were deserted Tuesday, and there was no music for Bowie but the whirring of helicopter blades above.
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