THE MODERN CEMETERY. 
lOI 
Removal of Bodies from Unpaid Lots. 
In connection with the recent discussion on the 
subject of the legality of the removal of bodies from 
unpaid lots, Mr. L. L. Mason, supt. , Lake View 
Cemetery, Jamestown, N. Y., sends us the follow- 
ing opinion. In regard to the opinion he says that 
the Hon. R. P. Marvin, referred to, was long a 
judge in high standing on the bench of New York 
state: 
Jamestown, N. Y., Sept. 9, 1892. 
L. L. Mason, Supt., Lake View Cemetery. 
Dear Sir: Some time ago you submitted to me 
a statement of facts and an inquiry based thereon, 
substantially as follows: 
Statement of Fads. Lake View Cemetery As- 
sociation which is a corporation duly created under 
the acts authorizing the incorporation of Rural Cem- 
etery Associations, owns certain lands known as 
Lake View Cemetery, in the village of Jamestown, 
which lands are devoted to cemetery purposes. 
Upon certain lots in said cemetery are inter- 
ments, such interments being made with the con- 
sent of the cemetery authorities and upon a verbal 
arrangement for a sale of the lots to the person ob- 
taining the consent, but no money was ever paid 
and no deed given. 
The persons who were to have purchased now 
refuse to pay for such lots, or remove the bodies 
therefrom or take any action whatever. 
The Cemetery Association has a place provided 
for single interments and the lots where these 
interments were made are desired by persons wish- 
ing to purchase and unless the Association can re- 
move these bodies it must suffer loss and inconve- 
nience. 
TJic Inquiry. Can the Association remove these 
remains to the place provided for single interments, 
without the consent of the persons who were to have 
purchased the lots and now refuse to do so? In 
my opinion it can. The Association has control 
over its property, the management and protection 
thereof, and the power to regulate burials therein 
and the consent that the interments could be made 
upon the lots in question was upon the condition 
that the promise to purchase should be fulfilled. 
Upon a failure to purchase the Association 
could order the bodies removed or could remove 
them itself, I think. They should be properly re- 
interred and kept separate, preserving and remov- 
ing with each, all identifying marks, head-stones 
or monuments. 
I come to this conclusion after an examination 
of the law upon the subject. I confess I am not with- 
out doubt as to the correctness of my opinion. I 
have, however, presented the whole matter to the 
Hon. R. P. Marvin and he is of the opinion that my 
position is correct. 
Respectfully yours, 
(Signed) E. Green, Jr. 
All Saints Day in New Orleans. 
All Saints Day, which occurred November i, in 
New Orleans, is a holiday which perhaps has a 
greater hold upon the hearts of the people of that 
city than any other festive occasion. All differen- 
ces and grievances, creeds and dogmas are forgot- 
ten, and all spontaneously turn out to pay rever- 
ence to the dead without distinction of race or cal- 
ling. 
The New Orleans Daily Picay 7 ine of November 
2, devotes several columns to an account of the do- 
ings of the day at the several cemeteries, from 
which we take the following: “The custom of dec- 
orating the graves of the dead on the ist of Novem- 
ber is an old and beautiful one in our Crescent city, 
and perhaps no other city of the union can present 
such a peculiar spectacle as that of an entire com- 
munity laying aside absorbing duties and business 
cares, opportunities for speculation and money- 
making, pleasures and amusements, and devoting 
the livelong day to communion with silent friends 
in the cities of the voiceless throng. 
“By 9 o’clock the streets were filled with a liv- 
ing, moving mass, which increased as the hours 
went on, and by evening the entire city seemed de- 
serted, while the cemeteries teemed with life and 
animation. Many thousands wended their way to- 
wards nightfall to the beautiful Metairie cemetery, 
after visiting the spots where their own dead lay, 
merely to see the exquisite decorations in this beau- 
tiful city of the dead. 
“A stroll from cemetery to cemetery was a stu- 
dy in itself, outside of the beautiful sentiment un- 
derlying the festival. Beginning with the old St. 
Louis cemeteries, from tomb to tomb adown the 
narrow aisles, were read the names of the old French 
and Spanish noblesse, the last remnant of the an- 
cient regime, inseparably connected with the history 
of Louisiana., The quaint oven-shaped tombs, 
which once were so typical of the New Orleans 
cemetery, are only to be found in St. Louis No. i, 
and St. Louis No. 2. Many of these have fallen 
into decay, and above the crumbling vaults one 
may decipher: “Ici Cigit Jean Jacques,” and then 
follows an indistinct medley of letters, which show 
that the family name has passed out of the life of 
the people since that grave received its dead, in 
1798. Others of the ancient tombs have been 
built upon and modernized, and are handsomely 
kept. 
“In St. Louis No. 3, the graves of the colored 
remnant of the olden people of New Orleans show- 
ed that All Saints’ was a day of hallowed memor- 
ies. Gorgeous paper wreaths of black and white, 
with gold letters glistening, and the typical “A 
Mon Epaux,” “A Ma Mere,” were familiar decor- 
