PARK AND CEMETERY . 
45 C 
CEnETERY NOTES 
' • ■*^' 
Notice to Members of the Association of 
American Cemetery Superintendents 
We are confronted with the extra- 
ordinary situation that the Chatta- 
nooga stenographer has failed to sup- 
ply the report of that meeting up to 
the date of this notice. 
Repeated requests to hurry and for- 
ward the same have been totally ig- 
nored and no explanations offered, 
which might tend to excuse the delay. 
It will therefore be impossible to say 
how soon printed reports can be ex- 
pected. Frank Eurich, 
Ex-Secretary. 
Detroit, January 10. 
Arrangements for the preservation 
and care of the Lone Fir Cemetery 
the pioneer cemetery, Portland, Ore., 
have been advanced through a prelim- 
inary organization of the lot owners, 
which is to be put in legal form. Wil- 
son Benefiel, sexton, who owns the 
majority of the stock in the Cemetery 
Association, will transfer it to the 
Lot Owners’ Association as soon as 
formal organization is completed. To 
secure funds for permanent improve- 
ment lot owners will be asked to 
contribute at least $10,000, and to 
provide a maintenace fund. Mr. How- 
ard Evarts Weed, landscape architect, 
of Chicago is now on the ground 
advising those interested. The ceme- 
tery is 45 years old and it is esti- 
mated that it contains 35,000 bodies. 
The Bellefontaine Cemetery board, 
Bellefontaine, O., needing more room 
has purchased an additional eight 
acres adjoining the cemetery on the 
north. 
Ridgelawn Cemetery, Passaic, N. J., 
is under the ban of the “Boost Club,” 
of that city in that it interferes with 
the development of the natural beau- 
ty of the neighborhood in which it is 
located, and the proper extension of 
the Essex County park system. 
William D. T. Trefry, state tax 
commissioner, has given an opinion 
from Milford, Mass., that there is no 
law or no decision of the court which 
will uphold the exemption of tax 
assessed against the Pine Grove ceme- 
tery corporation, upon which an abate- 
ment was sought. The corporation 
was taxed this year for $75,000, and 
an abatement of the tax was asked 
on the ground that the association 
was charitable, its officers serving 
without pay. 
The Richmond Cemetery Associa- 
tion of Richmond, Ind.,.is said to be 
determined to fight condemnation pro- 
ceedings on the part of the Board of 
Works to secure two acres of their 
land for sanitary purposes. 
Mayor Farrell of Kalamazoo, Mich., 
has refused to sign the Council resolu- 
tion granting an option to George B. 
Myers of Detroit on several lots in 
Riverside cemetery for a community 
mausoleum which he returned to 
the council without approval. He 
stated as his reasons for not signing 
the resolution that he was not con- 
vinced that the principle involved is 
a good one; that it contemplates giv- 
ing the approval of the city council 
to a private venture which has for its 
ultimate object the personal gain of 
the promoter, and that it is question- 
able whether the city should ever en- 
courage any scheme, however meri- 
torious it may appear, which has such 
a purpose for its final object. 
A municipal cemetery is pro- 
posed for the people of Milwaukee, 
Wis., and it is said that a survey has 
been made of a large tract of land 
near the northwest borders of the 
city for a muncipal cemetery. The 
Socialists believe that church corpora- 
tions are virtually controlling the 
cemeteries in Milwaukee. The pur- 
pose of the municipal cemetery is to 
sell lots at actual cost and permit 
payment on the installment plan at 
figures according to the will of the 
purchaser. The Socialists believe that 
there exists a need for a cemetery 
owned by the city. 
A community mausoleum is being 
considered at Waterloo, la.; one of a 
capacity of 320 bodies has been com- 
pleted at Harlan, la.; Ottumwa, and 
Perry, la., are also figuring on this 
class of structure. At Rockford, 111., 
a building to contain 1,000 bodies is 
being exploited, and a mausoleum of 
300 crypts is almost completed in 
Taylorville, 111. At Ashtabula, 'O., a 
mausoleum project is being worked 
up, and the Tuscarawas County 
Mausoleum Co. has been incorporated 
with a capital of $25,000. 
The request of the proprietors of 
Swan Point Cemetery of Providence, 
R. I., that the city of Providence 
abandon that portion of Rochambeau 
avenue between Blackstone boulevard 
and the Pawtucket line, was reported 
upon unfavorably by the committee 
on highways, to the Board of Aider- 
men early in December, and as a re- 
sult the board gave the petitioners 
leave to withdraw. 
A press note from Kittery Point. 
Me., says that there was organized 
at that place on Dec. 13, the National 
Cemeteries Corporation, of which. 
Hiram Thomson is president, Horace 
Mitchell secretary and the above 
named and Frank T. Clarkson direc-* 
tors. Its capital stock is $300,000 and 
its object is to organize, finance and 
operate cemeteries. The Maine rec- 
ords contain no mention of such a 
concern ever having been organized 
under its laws. 
The new cemetery board, of New 
Castle, Ind., which was elected by 
the council quite recently and which 
will have control and management of 
South Mound cemetery under the 
supervision of the council, has made 
its report. The board reported for- 
mal organization with John S. Byer 
president, John C. Livezey, treasurer, 
and William Peed, Sr., secretary. 
Rules and reputations are now under 
consideration. 
Dr. C. R. Montgomery, formerly of 
Columbus, O., who was arrested on 
a charge of larceny preferred by the 
National Mausoleum Company at 
Springfield, 111., has been freed. It 
was shown that Dr. Montgomery had 
a financial interest in the property 
he was accused of embezzling, hence 
could not be guilty of that charge — 
or larceny by bailee, under both of 
which charges it was sought to hold 
him. He has later filed suit in the 
sum of $2,500 against the National 
Mausoleum Company for services 
rendered. 
The Bellefontaine Cemetery Asso- 
ciation, St. Louis, Mo., has recently 
issued the following form of bequest 
for the consideration of its lot owners. 
In addition to the form, some valu- 
able suggestions and information is 
distributed, the object being to ac- 
quaint those interested with the neces- 
sary particulars to help them to reach 
conclusions : 
Form for Bequest for Care of Lot 
I hereby give and bequeath to Belle- 
fontaine Cemetery Association of St. 
Louis, the sum of 
Dollars, in trust, for the perpetual 
care and maintenance of my lot No. 
in Bellefontaine Cemetery in 
the City of St. Louis, according to 
the rules and regulations of said Asso- 
cition. Such interest as may be al- 
lowed on said bequest shall be applied 
to the care and maintenance of said 
lot; but the Board of Trustees of 
said Association, or its Executive 
Committee, shall have authority to 
Continued on page VIII. 
