411 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
CEnETERY NOTES 
mmm 
' ' V 
The condition of a number of the 
colored cemeteries of the more south- 
ern n-irts of the country is attracting 
the attention of the health and other 
authorities, and Wilmington, Del., has 
been brought to the point of settling 
the question as it pertains to the un- 
used colored cemetery at Front and 
Union streets. It has been urged that 
I he plot should be taken over by the 
city and transformed into a’ park. 
A claim of the City of Lock Haven, 
Pa., against the Great Island ceme- 
tery for damages and expense of lay- 
ing nerv walks along property abut- 
ting the cemetery, has led to an ad- 
vertisement by the Sheriff of Clinton 
County for a public sale of the plot. 
The cemetery is a century old and 
it still contains numbers of bodies, 
monuments, markers, etc., and is 
about two acres in area. As a burial 
ground it was abandoned years ago. 
The procedure, however, is unique. 
David Ashley, sexton of Rose Hill 
cemetery, Eaton Rapids, Mich., com- 
plains that automobile owners are 
causing him much trouble by driving 
their machines over the lawns of the 
cemetery, thus badly defacing and 
cutting up the sod. This is in viola- 
tion of the cemetery ordinance, and 
the council will be asked to appoint 
the sexton a special police officer, 
with power to arrest any person driv- 
ing an auto over the grass and to 
present charges in the justice court. 
It has been discovered by the Pres- 
byterian Church of Bridgehampton, 
N. Y., that title to the old village 
cemetery has never been given, and 
that today, as 200 years ago, it is 
common property and not a posses- 
sion of the church. What led up to 
the discovery was a legacy of Mrs. D. 
M. Miller bequeathed for the purpose 
of beautifying the old burial ground. 
Steps are to be taken to remedy the 
difficulty and provide a corporation 
to receive title and administer the 
legacy. 
Last month some twelve pastors 
of Protestant churches in New 
Brunswick, N. J., decided not to 
preach any more funeral sermons 
on Sunday. They issued a sigiiecL 
statement declaring that the practice 
ought to be discouraged, because their 
usual church duties demand much of 
their time and attention on Sunday. 
Funerals on Sunday “compel many 
others to labor who are entitled to 
the rest and sacred privileges that 
the Lord’s day brings to men. Under- 
takers, superintendents of cemeteries, 
grave-diggers, liverymen, railroad 
men, florists, carriers and others are 
compelled to labor because of these 
services being held on .Sunday. Hence 
we deem it wise and just to rvith- 
hold our countenance of such serv- 
ices and to notify our congregations 
and the public that we do not wish to 
officiate at funerals on Sunday. This 
is dorte in the interests of humanity.” 
The Rose Hill Cemetery Company 
has purchased 31.15 acres of land 
situated on the Lexington Road, one 
mile northeast of Independence, i\Io., 
for the purpose of establishing a 
cemetery. The consideration named 
in the deed is $20,000. 
The congregation of St. Johannes 
German Lutheran Church, Decatur, 
Ilk, is said to have closed a deal for 
the purchase of five acres of land 
close to the city for cemetery pur- 
poses. The desire of the congrega- 
tion of late years to own its own 
burial ground has been growing, with 
the above result. Work is to begin 
this fall. 
Quite a controversy is under way 
in St. Louis, Mo., in which certain of 
the Improvement Associations are 
taking active part, relative to the prop- 
osition to convert the old Pickett’s 
Cemetery on Gravois avenue into a 
public park. The land, 10 acres in 
area, was deeded by Joseph Schreiber 
in 1846, in which it was specified that 
it was not to be used for any other 
purpose than a cemetery. A bill was 
passed in 1903, at the behest of the 
Tenth Ward Improvement Associa- 
tion, prohibiting further burials, the 
object of which was said to be to 
divide the property into building lots. 
The heirs of the donor are trying to 
obtain the land back again, claiming 
that the terms of the deed have been 
violated, and the lot holders refuse 
to obey demands of the association 
and so the grim “merry war” goes 
on. Other opponents say a new park 
is unnecessary within three blocks of 
Tower Grove Park. 
Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Dwight, Ilk, 
has recently been enlarged and the 
addition will be platted by Howard 
Evarts Weed of Chicago. Changes 
are also to be made in the care of the 
cemetery by filling the walks up even 
with the lots, so that the whole ma}"- 
be more along modern lines and 
cared for economically. 
The city of IMuscatine, la., is about 
to purchase two small adjoining prop- 
erties for the purpose of enlarging 
the city cemetery. 
The Italian Societies of Paterson, 
N. J., are negotiating for the estate 
of Mrs. Mary O’Neill at the corner 
of W. Thirtieth street and Little 
Falls Turnpike for an Italian ceme- 
tery. The new cemetery will be un- 
der the supervision of the Roman 
Catholic diocese of Newark and the 
local Catholic Church. The pur- 
chase price is given as $16,000, and 
it comprises about 16 acres, or 190 
city lots. It is said to be the inten- 
tion of those interested to lay out 
the cemetery on the European style; 
it is to be hoped not, however, and 
that the lawn plan of the best Amer- 
ican cemeteries will be adopted. 
The tract of land recently'" added 
to the cemetery at Trexlertown, Pa., 
was dedicated in September. 
The trustees of Pine Grove, Man- 
chester, N. H., have been investiga- 
ting the title, etc., of a tract of land 
opposite the present cemetery with 
a view to drawing up a deed for the 
acceptance of the mayor. The reso- 
lution passed by the mayor and aider- 
men provided that the amount to be 
paid should not exceed $21,000, and 
in the purchase the price set per acre 
was $225 per acre for the 90 acres of 
the tract. 
Prominent business 3nen of Wheel- 
ing, W. Va., have organized and have 
purchased land in Glendale a short 
distance above Moundsville for a 
cemetery. It is said to be an ideal 
spot bought some years ago for resi- 
dential purposes. Neighboring resi- 
dents are objecting on the score of 
another cemetery not being necessary 
with the two now in Moundsville. 
The Woman’s Federation of South 
Nashville, Tenn., propose to provide 
a stone entrance gate at the Fourth 
avenue entrance to the South Nash- 
ville cemetery. The design has not 
been definitely decided upon, but the 
federation of local architects have the 
matter in hand. It is to cost in the 
neightorhood of $1,000. 
The city council of Lowell. Mass., 
appropriated $2,500 for a new gate to 
the Edson Cemetery. On a call for 
His, only one bid was offered, and 
that so far in excess of the appro- 
nriaticn that the matter is held up 
for further consideration. 
Considerable improvement in the 
