PARK AND CEMETERY 
230 
Annual 7'eports or extracts from thon^ historical sketches^ 
descriptive circulars^ photographs of improvements or dis- 
tinctive features are requested for use in this department. 
A fire in Elmlawn Cemetery, Buffalo, N. Y., recently de- 
stroyed the barn and caused a damage of about $4,000 to the 
cemetery besides a considerable personal loss to Superin- 
tendent Bellett Lawson, Jr. The foreman's bouse nearby was 
also destroyed, his family having a narrow escape. The blaze 
was started by a workman dropping a torch while thawing out 
a frozen pipe. 
* * * 
The Wallkill Valley Cemetery, Walden, N. Y., recently 
added 25 acres, which has been mapped and plotted under the 
personal supervision of Downing Vaux, of New York City. 
A portion of the new tract is now open for burials. By 
action of the board, the remaining portion in its entirety will 
be finished during the current year. Mr. Vaux has submitted 
a list of three thousand trees and shrubs, and by special map 
indicated the location of each. This is one of the most at- 
tractive and beautiful cities of the dead found in the Wall- 
kill or Hudson River Valleys. 
* * * 
A verdict was recently rendered in Judge Marean’s divis- 
ion of the Supreme Court in Brooklyn, N. Y., in favor of 
Mrs. Mary A. Schultz, who sued to recover $10,000 damages 
from the Greenwood Cemetery and one of its special officers, 
William Smith, for false arrest and imprisonment, on a charge 
of stealing a single flower from a rosebush in the cemetery, 
which she alleges was growing on her own lot. The jury 
brought in verdicts for the plaintiff of $4,000 against the ceme- 
tery and $4,000 against Smith. Judge Marean took the mat- 
ter under advisement and will decide later whether the ver- 
dicts are to be allowed to stand. 
* * * 
It is alleged by the Board of Health of San Francisco that 
the ordinance of that city forbidding the “interment of a dead 
body” within the city limits, is being violated by the inter- 
ment or other disposition of ashes of bodies that have been 
cremated. The Laurel Hill Cemetery Co., acting under legal 
advice, maintains that ashes are not to be considered as 
“bodies,” and consequently may be disposed of in the ceme- 
tery without violation of the ordinance. The Board of 
Health will lay the matter before the city legal authorities. 
Laurel Hill Cemetery will continue to inter ashes, but the 
other cemeteries are reported to have ceased pending the legal 
controversy. 
* * * 
As a result of negotiations commenced in 1892 the Evan- 
gelical Lutheran Zion’s Congregation, St. Paul, Minn., has 
resolved to unite the Zion’s cemtery with Oakland. They ob- 
tain perpetual care on the ground which they had sold and 
their lot owners acquire equal rights with the lot owners of 
Oakland, and become amenable to the same rules, .\fter the 
conclusion of these negotiations Oakland purchased a tract 
of land adjoining Zion’s, thus adding to the area of Oakland 
over nine acres. Zion’s cemetery adjoins Oakland on the 
north, so that the whole tract will make a continuous ceme- 
tery. 
FROM THE ANNUAL REPORTS. 
The seventy-third annual report of the Mt. Auburn Ceme- 
tery Corporation, Boston, notes that fewer lots have been 
sold than usual, and expenses for repairs, fighting moths and 
development have been unusually large. Still, on the whole, 
the financial year has been satisfactory. I'he “repair fund,” 
the income of which may be expended only for care of lots 
under perpetual care contracts, or in adorning the cemetery 
grounds, has increased $53,932.87, and is now $1,342,142.64. 
The “permanent fund,” which is to provide for expenses when 
revenue from sales of lots ceases, gained $14,378.03 during 
the year, and is now $476,289.12. Provision for its invest- 
ment until it reaches $500,000 has been made, but on the at- 
tainment of that limit further action will be necessary. The 
“general fund,” from which all ordinary expenses of con- 
struction and repair are met, increased $14,463.48. It now 
amounts to $210,489.28. 'I'he treasurer’s report shows a de- 
crease of cash on hand from $31,180.93 to $25,496.32, but 
against this apparent loss must be reckoned $20,000 of city 
bonds purchased at $222.50 above par and accrued interest 
of $126.66; and also $3,983.73 carried to the “permanent 
fund.” The superintendent reports 450 interments and thirty- 
eight removals from other cemeteries to Mount Auburn, mak- 
ing the total interments 35,255 on Jan. i, 1905. There were 
180 cremations at the cemetery in 1904, making a total of 636 
since the crematory was opened April i, 1900. Beginning in 
1901 the yearly record has been 119, 134, 153, 180, respectively. 
* * * 
Superintendent of Cemeteries Charles F. Winslow, of Paw- 
tucket, R. L, in his report for 1904, notes that the building of 
brick vaults, thereby preventing sunken graves, and preserv- 
ing a better appearance of lots, is appealing more and more 
each year to the lot owners. Especial attention is being given 
to perpetual care and the growth of funds for this purpose is 
shown in the following figures: The perpetual care fund Feb. 
I, 1901, was $17,500, and Feb. i, 1905. including lots accepted 
and applied for, was $23,304, an increase of $5,804 in four 
years, or about 30 per cent. The total receipts for 1904 were 
$6,548.75. The report recommends the extension of the water 
system and the erection of a new receiving vault. 
* * * 
The annual report of Superintendent William Stone of Pine 
Grove Cemetery, Lynn, Mass., tells of the extension of the 
cemetery grounds, necessitating an increase in grading, which 
is very expensive because of the rocky formation of the soil, 
which requires considerable blasting. Water pipes have been 
extended to the pond, completing that portion of the work, 
and in 1905 a rustic bridge will be built from the side of the 
pond to the island in the center. The waiting station which 
stood at the upper entrance to the cemetery has been located 
within the grounds and changed into a pagoda, making a use- 
ful and ornamental building for the accommodation of visi- 
tors. The receiving tomb has been enlarged and is now 
deemed sufficient in size for all time. The perpetual care fund 
amounts to $148,890, an increase of $8,417. The interments 
in 1904 were 683, and the total receipts for the year $34,534. 
* * ^ 
Hie annual report of the Hamilton Cemetery, Hamilton, 
Out., shows receipts for the year of $16,182.15 and expendi- 
tures of $11,734.72. Among the receipts are: Sale of lots 
(including perpetual care), $6,166.20; care of lots, $4,072.50; 
foundations, $915.12. The expenditure for labor was $8,134.41. 
Among the improvements were : The extension of the drain- 
age system and the placing of cement catch-basins. Some of 
the work planned for the present season is the building of a 
new gateway, the purchase of trees and shrubs for the new 
ground, and the gravelling of the roadways. 
