Can someone do me a favor? 
I’m too scared to open it, yet I’m very curious…
The article is labeled “freak scene” in this issue of Vice Magazine. Scroll down to the center of the page.
I’m a huge fan of this online magazine, and am interested in seeing the pictures in this article. I can tolerate seeing lots of weird stuff, but NOT dead people! I do know the very first picture is a picture of a dead boy at a funeral. I’m just wondering if there are anymore pictures of dead people there, before I proceed.
Also, for those who were courageous enough to open it…what is the story behind that first photo? Where and when was this picture taken? Why? I know there are open casket funerals, but I have never seen an open casket near a doorway. Why were children pall bearers?
The article is an interview with a NYC Ophthalmologist who collects unusual photos, particularly of "forgotten and undervalued genres’. The photo you see is the only one with the article and it is captioned “Schoolchildren attending the funeral of a classmate in New York City, 1911. Photo courtesy of the Burns Archive.”
“Schoolchildren attending the funeral of a classmate in New York City, 1911. Photo courtesy of the Burns Archive”
There is no more information about this particular photograph, nor are there any more pictures in the article, just a Q&A type interview with Dr.Stanley Burns.
Thanks! 
I’m still curious about that photo, I had no idea that there was a history of open casket funerals beginning out doors. The ones I’m familiar with is taking the casket in the chapel, and then opening it. Am I crazy, was that pallbearer dragging the casket?
It looks to me like the casket is propped up on some stairs and the children are just posing around it.
Actually this may just be a postmortem portrait, which was fairly common in the early 1900’s. This article in American Heritage discusses the subject of postmortem portraits, while the book they review is available here.