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PARK AND CEMETERY, 
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t CEMETERY NOTES | 
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In the present session of the legislature of Illinois a bill in- 
troduced by Senator Campbell has been reported favorably which 
provides “that it may be willed or decreed that a lot in a ceme- 
tery shall not be disposed ot by the heirs at law.” 
* * * 
Oakland cemetery, Atlanta, Ga., is experiencing the pro- 
gressive tendency of the times and the general council has ap- 
propriated funds for the construction of a new office building. 
Some five or six thousand dollars will be invested in securing an 
appropriate and commodious structure. 
* * * 
Messrs Rutan & Russell, architects, have prepared plans for 
a stone entrance, to cost about $15,000 which is to be erected this 
year by the Homewood Cemetery Association. Allegheny, Pa., 
on the Beechwood boulevard at its junction with Forbes street. 
The work will be commenced as early as possible. 
* * * 
Plans have been prepared for Mr. JohnC. Larwill,of Mans- 
field, O., for the erection of a memorial mausoleum to his par- 
ents and family to cost $20,000. Mr. Larwill’s parents as well 
as members of his immediate family are buried at Wooster, O., 
and the structure will be erected in Wooster cemetery. 
* * * 
In ancient times burials were always outside the walls of a 
city or town. Indeed, before the time of Christianity, it was 
not lawful to bury the dead within the limits. About the end 
of the sixth century St. Augustine obtained of King Ethelbert a 
temple of idols — used by the king before his conversion — and 
made a burying place of it and St. Cuthbert afterward obtained 
leave of the pope (A. D. 725) to have yards made to the churches 
suitable for the burial of the dead. 
* * * 
Reuben J. Smith, an eccentric character who had been a 
resident of Amesbury, Mass., for many years, died at his home 
January 24th. Of his many peculiar acts, the one that attracted 
the widest attention was the building of a tomb, completed 
several months ago. In this tomb was an iron chair and 
Mr. Smith requested that after his death his body should be 
placed in the chair in a sitting position, the door securely locked 
and the key destroyed. This will be done. 
* * * 
The Riverside Cemetery Association, South Norwalk, Conn. , 
has had plans prepared by Mr. Arthur N. Paddock, architect, 
for the erection of agate lodge at the main entrance of the ceme- 
tery, in Riverside avenue. The structure will be of granite, one 
story in height, 21 by 31 feet, and will cost about $2,500. The 
design includes two good sized rooms, one to be used as a recep- 
tion room and the other as the superintendent’s office. There 
will also be lavatories. 
* * * 
A bill has been drafted by the District Commissioners of 
Washington, D. C., as a substitute bill regarding the tax ques- 
tion in relation to churches and^cemeteries. Section 2, reads as 
follows: “That the ground of duly incorporated cemetery asso- 
ciations in the District of Columbia, dedicated and used solely 
for burial purposes, and not held for private income or profit, 
and all lots in said District actually used for burial purposes, 
shall hereafter be exempt from the payment of general taxes 
and assessments, but if any portion of said grounds or lots is 
larger than is needed for their legitimate purposes, then the ex- 
cess shall be listed for taxation.” 
* * * 
A bill which should tend to the protection of southern bur- 
al grounds'from ruthless and careless spoliation has just passed 
the South Carolina senate. It reads: Section 1. That from 
and after the approval of this Act any person or persons who 
shall wilfully obliterate or desecrate, any grave, or shall wilfully 
destroy, deface or remove any gravestone, or shall wilfully de- 
stroy, tear down or injure any fence or other enclosure of any 
graveyard, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon convic- 
tion shall pay a fine of not more than one hundred nor less than 
twenty-five dollars, or be confined in the county chain gang not 
more than thirty nor less than ten days. 
* * * 
The directors of the Ballston Spa Cemetery Association, 
Ballston Spa, N. Y., have adopted the following regulations 
for the care of lots: “An annual charge of one dollar will be 
made for the ordinary care of each half lot and a proportionate 
rate for full or larger lots. For the permanent care, a deposit of 
fifty dollars will be received for a half lot, and larger lots in the 
same proportion. Additional care will be taken upon the pay- 
ment of larger sums, as the lot owners may desire.” Viewing 
the very rapid decline in the value of money; a continuous word 
of caution is advisable in this connection. Cemetery trustees 
should carefully investigate this subject before making rules to 
govern it, or failure to fulfill obligations in the comparatively 
near future will inevitably result. 
* * * 
The old Pottawattomie chief, Simon Pokagon, who had a 
pretty hard time in life trying to conserve the rights of his tribe, 
and who died last month, was follow-ed by a hard fate in his 
burial. Bishop Foley of Detroit refused to allow his remains to 
be laid away in the Catholic cemetery at Silver Creek by the 
side of his first wife and two children because Pokagon was liv- 
ing with a divorced woman, contrary to Catholic rules. Neither 
were the funeral services allowed to be held in the Catholic 
church. The services were held at the Mix home, an Indian 
residence near Hartford, Mich., conducted by Attorney Engle. 
Pokagon’s lawyer and Fr. Joos of Dowagiac overtook the party 
on the way to the cemetery and gave permission to place the re- 
mains in the potter’s field of the cemetery at Silver Creek. 
♦ * * 
Workmen while excavating upon Goat Island, Oakland 
Calif., recently, preparatory to the building of the Naval Trai n 
ing School, struck a forgotten Indian cemetery and unearthed 
several aborigine skeletons, as well as pestles, mortars, stone 
pipes and other implements used by the savages. The first of 
the remains unearthed, that of a male over six and a half feet in 
height, was found in a sitting posture, the knees being doubled 
up to the chin. The location of the ancient cemetery is on the 
eastern part of the island between the light and buoy station, di- 
rectly within the cove facing the long wharf. The discovery was 
entirely unexpected, though it immediately recalled to the 
minds of old settlers that Indians were known to have had burial 
grounds upon the island. In all twelve skeletons were un- 
earthed. 
Cemetery Reports. 
The annual report of the Little Lake Cemetery Co., Peter- 
borough, Ontario, is always interesting. For a town of some 10 
or 12 thousand inhabitants, it is very commendable and sug- 
gestive to similar places, that such care should be manifested in 
all the details of the superintendent’s work as is shown in Mr. 
W. H. Foord’s report. There is evident intention to bring 
about reform so as to come as near as possible to modern ideas° 
In many of the sections the mounds, grave and lot markers have 
been levelled so as to admit of lawn mower work, and it is re- 
commended in the report that no markers in the future shall in- 
terfere with the work. Hedges, fences and copings are also re- 
ceiving attention, and the landscape plan is gradually interest- 
ing the lot owners. The receipts for the year were $2240. 95 
and the expenditures $1649.47. 
