PARK AND CEMETERY. 
292 
CEFIETERY NOTES 
Vandals recently entered the old cem- 
etery at La Grange, Tex., and injured 
sixty-seven monuments. About fifteen 
were totally destroyed. No clew to the 
perpetrators. 
* * * 
The United States government owns 
and maintains a national cemetery in 
Mexico. It is located at San Cosme, 
near the City of Mexico, and was pur- 
chased and established in 1850 for in- 
terring the remains of soldiers of the 
United States who died or vi/ere killed 
in that vicinity during the war with 
Mexico and also for the purpose of in- 
terring the bodies of citizens of the 
United States who have died in that vi- 
cinity since that period. 
* * * 
Judge T. C. Hunger has dismissed the 
suit to appoint a receiver for the Bea- 
trice Cemetery Association, Beatrice, 
Neb., brought by W. J. Townsend in an 
effort to collect $5,082.26. His conten- 
tion was that the money had been bor- 
rowed by the cemetery association in or- 
der to pay for the site. Of course it 
was impossible to levy on the cemetery. 
So he and his lawyers thought they 
would have a receiver appointed who 
would sell lots and the money would go 
to Mr. Townsend until he had recov- 
ered his $5,082.66. The court, however, 
refused to appoint the receiver. 
* * * 
Superintendent William Salway, of 
Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, O., 
has notified the Board of Public Ser- 
vice of that city that Spring Grove Cem- 
etery will be in danger of a flood within 
another decade unless there is something 
done by the city to wall up the waters of 
Mill Creek. The bend in Mill Creek 
opposite the cemetery has worn away 
the banks after the creek passed the B. 
& O. bridge. Stagnant water elsewhere, 
he said, contaminates the air in front of 
the cemetery. The directors of the cem- 
etery have had plans prepared and are 
willing to share the expense of changes. 
The board referred the matter to the 
city engineer. 
. ^ ^ 
At the annual meeting of the New 
England Cemetery Association held at 
the Quincy House, Boston, Mass., Feb- 
ruary 10, 1908, the officers elected for 
the coming year were : President, James 
Warren, Jr., superintendent North Bur- 
ial Ground, Providence, R. I. ; vice-pres- 
ident, J. H. Erskine, superintendent Pine 
Grove, Manchester, N. H. ; secretary 
and treasurer, Horace A. Derry, superin- 
tendent Glenwood, Everett, Mass. The 
association is in a flourishing condition 
and gained seven new members last 
year. Some twenty-eight members were 
ill attendance at this meeting. A gen- 
eral discussion on cemetery work v^as 
held, after which a banquet was served. 
The meeting adjourned at 8 o'clock. 
* * * 
Those who stop to read public no- 
tices posted on the walls of Paris can 
learn details of a contract soon to be al- 
lotted for “The rights for the year 1908 
of making hay in Parisian cemeteries.” 
Unbeknown to the general public, the 
grass which grows along the walks and 
among the tombs of Pere Lachaise and 
other great cemeteries in Paris furnishes 
a crop each year worth several thousand 
francs. This item is considered as a 
permanent source of income and figures 
regularly in the municipal budget. 
Throughout most of the French prov- 
inces the right of making hay in the 
cemeteries is a much-sought privilege 
among the poor. Often it is the sole re- 
muneration granted the village sexton. 
* * * 
Daniel C. Callahan, superintendent of 
Prospect Hill Cemetery, Omaha, Neb., 
was declared guilty of grave desecration 
by a jury in the criminal court. The 
verdict was coupled with a recommen- 
dation to the court for leniency. It is 
understood an appeal will be taken to 
the supreme court. The penalty for the 
crime is from one to three years in the 
penitentiary or a fine of $2,500, or both, 
in the discretion of the court. Mr. Cal- 
lahan was released on bonds to appear 
when wanted for sentence. The specific 
offense charged against him was that 
while digging a grave he came upon a 
decayed coffin and, acting under instruc- 
tions, he threw the remains out on the 
ground and reburied them in the bottom 
of the new grave. Mr. Callahan said 
he had acted under ordexs from Judge 
Baldwin, president of the association. 
* * * 
Recalling the sad effects resulting 
from overwork on the part of two well- 
known cemetery superintendents last 
year, it behooves cemetery managers to 
request their lot holders to place their 
orders early for lot improvements and 
thus avoid the rush of work that usually 
comes prior to Memorial Day. The Oak- 
woods Cemetery Association, Chicago, 
makes a practice of soliciting orders of 
this kind by m.aih On March 1st a 
notice is sent to lot holders which reads : 
"We received your order last season 
(1907) for 
on Lot No. .. .Div.. . .Sec.. . .Costing. . . 
Should you desire us to again do this 
work, or any other work on the lot dur- 
ing the season of 1908, please find postal 
enclosed for ordering the same.” 
The addressed postal card enclosed 
reads : “The Oakwoods Cemetery As- 
sociation. Please do the following 'work 
on Lot. . .Div. . .Sec. . .for the season of 
1908.” Then follows a blank space in 
which is written the work done the pre- 
vious year with its cost and a space for 
signature and address of lot holder. 
* * * 
Resolutions denouncing the proposed 
amusement resort in Forest Park ad- 
joining Concordia and Waldheim ceme- 
teries, Chicago, were adopted at special 
meetings in all the forty German Luth- 
eran churches in Chicago. In addition 
to the resolutions, sermons were 
preached by many Lutheran pastors urg- 
ing their congregations to prevent the 
threatened desecration of the burial 
grounds. The ministers urged that 
“common decency” ought to impel the 
amusement park backers to establish 
their resort somewhere else than almost 
within the gates of two cemeteries. Fol- 
lowing is the resolution adopted by one 
of the churches : “We, the members of 
the Bethania German Evangelical Luth- 
eran Church, do most emphatically pro- 
test against the establishment of an 
amusement park adjoining Concordia 
cemetery in Forest Park. We protest 
on the ground of common decency and 
Ijecause such a resort would be a dese- 
cration of the cemeteries, in addition tO' 
being an outrageous show of disrespect 
to the sorrowing relatives of those bur- 
ied there.” 
* * 
The application of the Roman Catho- 
lic Diocese of Newark, N. J., for per- 
mission to locate a cemetery in North 
Arlington on a 208 acre tract recently 
purchased was rejected by the council 
of that borough. It is stated that the 
Diocese will make a new application for 
permission to use 125 acres of the tract 
as a cemetery and will sell the remain- 
der. Following up this matter, Senator 
Wakelee has introduced in the New 
Jerscj' legislature a bill which amends 
the cemetery act of 1875 as follows: “It 
shall not be lawful to locate any new 
cemetcy or burying ground, or to en- 
(Continued on p. XIT ) 
