PARK AND CEMETERY. 
23 
NEWS OF THE 
The Annual Convention of the A. 
A. C. S. 
There is nothing like a personal 
appeal to get results. And the joke 
book tells us of a gathering of young- 
ladies who were asked why they did 
not get married. The first one said, 
“I have a mission to fulfill.” The 
second one, “I have a business to at- 
tend to.” The third answered, “No 
one ever asked me.” I think that this 
latter excuse is applicable to a great 
many superintendents and officials. 
They all have, no doubt, heard of the 
Association of American Cemetery 
Superintendents, but no one ever 
asked them to become members. So 
I hope that all members will see to 
it that all superintendents and officials 
cannot give the excuse that no one 
ever asked them. The program for 
the Milwaukee convention is well un- 
der way, and the convention com- 
mittee expect to announce it in full 
much earlier than has been the cus- 
tom. John J. Stephens, 
President. 
The New England Cemetery Asso- 
ciation. 
The New England Cemetery Asso- 
ciation held its annual meeting at 
the Quincy House, Boston, Mass., 
February 13, 1913, a large member- 
ship present. 
At the conclusion of the business 
meeting, the election of officers took 
place, and the old officers were re- 
elected unanimously: President, H. 
W. Ross, superintendent Newton 
Cemetery, Newton, Mass.; vice-presi- 
dent, Edgar King, superintendent 
Peabody Cemetery, Springfield, Mass.; 
Notices recently posted on all the en- 
trance gates to Mt. Peace Cemetery, 
adjoining Mt. Vernon Cemetery at 
Ridge avenue and Lehigh avenue, Phil- 
adelphia, Pa., giving warning that no 
person will be permitted to enter the 
cemetery for hire for the purpose of 
cutting grass, planting flowers, grading, 
etc., under penalty of being arrested as 
trespassers, has called forth a storm of 
protests not only from the numerous 
landscape gardeners, but from the own- 
ers of lots, who resent the action tak- 
en by the Board of Directors of the 
cemetery company. The opposition 
ASSOCIATIONS 
and secretary-treasurer, H. A. Der- 
ry, superintendent Glenwood Ceme- 
tery, Everett, Mass. 
The Association has now 80 mem- 
bers on the list, eight new members 
being the gain for the year. Two 
deaths occurred: Timothy McCarthy, 
Swan Point Cemetery, Providence, 
R. I., and James A. Pinkerton, Cal- 
vary Cemetery, South Portland, Me. 
At all its four meetings held dur- 
ing 1913 the attendance was good. 
At the June meeting held at Man- 
chester, N. H., 50 members and wives 
spent the day at Valley and Pine 
Grove Cemeteries, and Superintend- 
ents Smith and Erskine did the 
honors. Dinner was served at Un- 
cahoonuc Mountain, Manchester. 
The next outing will, in all prob- 
ability, be held at Springfield and 
Amherst College, Mass., which should 
be an attractive opportunity, and Mr. 
Horace A. Derry, the secretary, 
hopes that the entire membership 
may be present. 
Ohio Cemetery Association 
As Mr. John J. Stephens has ac- 
cepted the superintendency of Crown 
Hill Cemetery at Indianapolis, Ind., 
it will be impossible for him to at- 
tend the June meeting to be held at 
Sidney, Ohio. The president, Mr. 
Charles Crain, has very kindly re- 
leased Mr. Stephens from the duties 
as chairman of the executive com- 
mittee. This work is well under way 
and the official program will soon be 
announced. Mr. Stephens’ new posi- 
tion and the work of A. A. C. S. this 
year will be about all he can possibly 
look after. 
has retained counsel and evidently in- 
tend to make an active campaign 
against the order. 
The proposition before the finance 
committee of the Council of Atlanta, 
Ga., to purchase Hollywood Cemetery 
is being seriously considered and may 
be satisfactorily concluded. The price 
is $135,000. The city is greatly in need 
of a new burial ground. 
Common Pleas Court No. 5, Philadel- 
phia, Pa., in a decision handed down 
January 9, declared that the law in- 
voked by the city against the West 
Laurel Hill Cemetery Company to stop 
it from using a new portion of its 
land for burial purposes was unconsti- 
tutional. The suit against the ceme- 
tery company was started by former 
City Solicitor Alcorn, who contended 
that if the company were permitted to 
open up the new tract, the drainage 
therefrom would pollute a portion of 
the water supply of the city. The act 
under which the injunction against the 
company was sought was declared un- 
constitutional on the ground that it is 
local and special legislation and is 
not a bona fide and lawful exercise of 
the police powers. 
Officials of all local cemeteries of 
Chicago, 111., were recently notified by 
Judge Owens that they had not com- 
plied with the requirements of the Act 
of July 1, 1909. The statute provides 
that all trust funds, which generally 
are for care of graves and monuments, 
shall be vested in a board of directors 
and trustees. Securities purchased with 
trust funds shall be approved by the 
county judge, it is also provided. It is 
also provided by statute that the treas- 
urer of the board of trustees shall give 
bond, also to be approved by the county 
judge. Judge Owens said the statutes 
provide for a report every two years, 
but that he has heard nothing from 
any cemetery official since the law 
went into effect. 
The trustees of the Camden Ceme- 
tery Association, Camden, N. J., have 
recently received notice that the late 
Hon. P. C. Costello of New York in 
his will bequeathed the association 
$1,500, to be invested and the revenue 
therefrom to be used in the care of the 
Costello burial plot in Forest Park 
Cemetery. Mr. Costello always had an 
interest in the cemetery and park of 
his home town and made many dona- 
tions. 
Suit to quiet title to half of a burial 
lot in Locust Hill cemetery, Evansville, 
Ind., was filed in the superior court last 
month. Four bodies are now in the 
plot over which the dispute has arisen. 
This is believed to be the first suit to 
settle the title of a lot in a cemetery 
ever filed in the local courts. 
Settlement of the dispute over the 
boundary line between Oak Hill ceme- 
tery and Montrose Park, Washington, 
D. C., has been made in favor of the 
cemetery company, the District Com- 
missioners, acting on an opinion by 
Corporation Counsel Thomas, deciding 
to accept the fence constructed by the 
company as the proper dividing line. 
This will give the District about 7,000 
square feet of ground less than it ex- 
pected to obtain in the purchase of 
Montrose Park, the reservation in 
qbfi 
Cin ETERY NOTES 
A'Xy.' 1 f 
