198 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
ville, 111., August 14, for the purpose 
of voting on the question of issuing 
bonds to the amount of $7,000 to pur- 
chase ground adjoining the city, for 
cemetery purposes, the proposition was 
defeated by a vote of 101 to 394. 
The Cemetery Commissioners of 
Millbury, Mass., are just now grap- 
pling with a number of questions of 
ownership of lots in Central ceme- 
tery. Since the death of Samuel D. 
Waters, for 12 years commissioner, 
there has been a tangle in the records 
owing to the fact of Mr. Waters hav- 
ing been ill for a year, during which 
time many changes of ownership were 
made and lots sold by the city, without 
proper record having been entered. A 
systematic canvass is now being made, 
and the vexed questions will be set- 
tled. 
The Fulton Street Cemetery, Grand 
Rapids, Mich., is standing in the way 
of the municipal improvement of that 
thoroughfare, but owing to the great 
.cost of removing the bodies, some 
30,000 in all, under condemnation pro- 
ceedings, the majority of the members 
of the Park board are of the opinion 
that the city should seek to acquire 
title to the property from the present 
private owners and convert it into a mu- 
nicipal cemetery. 
A public cemetery for Chicago, oper- 
ated at cost, not a “Potter’s Field,” 
but a beautiful park, attractively 
equipped, is a plan broached by Presi- 
dent Peter Bartzen of the Board of 
Cook County Commissioners. The plan 
was suggested at a recent meeting while 
the Board was considering levying taxes 
on property of wealthy cemetery cor- 
porations, hitherto exempt. The 
County Attorney said that the county 
had authority to operate a cemetery, and 
it was ordered that county employees 
immediately seek a suitable plot of land. 
The long-advertised public hearing 
in the Sandy Hill, Paterson, N. J., 
cemeteries appraisement matter was 
held at the City Hall of that city, 
Sept. 18. The commissioners appoint- 
ed to award damages to private lot 
owners in the cemeteries were all pres- 
ent. Claims of lot owners previously 
filed with the clerk, were formally 
filed with the commission and other 
claims were received. The matter of 
deciding values and fixing damages is 
likely to take considerable time, but 
when this is done and the court has 
confirmed the report the city will have 
clear title to the grounds now being 
made into parks. The properties af- 
fected by the proceedings are the for- 
mer Presbyterian, Baptist and Episco- 
pal grounds on Sandy Hill. The com- 
mission was appointed to see that jus- 
tice was done on both sides, but it is 
not expected that the city will have 
to pay large damages, as besides the 
high cost of removals and rein- 
terments, the cemeteries at the time 
of their abandonment were in a dis- 
graceful condition, and the land of no 
value except for burial purposes. 
Some of the convention visitors to 
Forest Home Cemetery Milwaukee, 
Wis., met an interesting lot holder 
FRANCIS M. COLLINS AND HIS 
CEMETERY LOT. 
there whose picture and a postal view 
of his lot are shown on this page. 
Francis M. Collins is a veteran of 
the war of 1861-65 having served 
with Matt Quay in the 134th Penn- 
sylvania Regiment. He is an inmate 
of the Soldiers’ Home but spends the 
greater part of his time at his ceme- 
tery lot which he keeps decorated 
with union flags and flowering plants.. 
His pipe, which is a curiosity, is his 
constant companion; some idea of its 
size may be had from the picture. He 
persisted in digging his own grave 
and when refused permission to do 
so, he got into the cemetery at night 
and worked until one o’clock until he 
was discovered when he was given 
consent to finish the job in the day 
time. Caring for the spot that is to 
be his last resting place is truly his 
hobby and he has deposited $1,000 
to insure its care after he has passed 
on. His patriarchal appearance adds 
to the interest of his life story. 
By unanimous vote of the Milwau- 
kee, Wis., city council judiciary com- 
mittee, Forest Home cemetery was re- 
cently granted permission to acquire 
thirty-one acres on the east side of 
the present burial ground. The legis- 
lature had given consent to the exemp- 
tion of 190 instead of 160 acres for 
cemetery purposes. 
Articles for the incorporation of the 
New Dublin, 111., Cemetery associa- 
tion were filed with the county re- 
corder last month. The object of the 
association is to create a fund to main- 
tain and operate the cemetery, which 
is located west of the city; the ceme- 
tery is one of the oldest, if not the 
oldest cemetery in Stephenson county, 
but of late the care of the grave yard 
has been very lax and lot owners and 
others are now seeing the advisability 
of improvement. 
As a result of the litigation, which 
has been pending for several months, 
Judge John C. Rose of the United 
States Circuit Court appointed as per- 
manent receivers for the Woodlawn 
Cemetery Company, Baltimore, Md., 
George M. Clarke, John Phelps and 
Charles Markell. The receivers were 
bonded for $30,000. The petition for a 
receivership was instituted through 
Howard C. Smith and a number of lot 
owners. 
Three thousand interments have 
been made in the new cemetery of Vin- 
cennes, Ind., during the past 13 years, 
according to a recent report. A por- 
tion of the cemetery, once a nursery 
near the Big Four track will be plat- 
ted, and a tier of lots will be sold at 
$14 each. The board has resolved to 
sell single lots at a rate of $5 for 
children and $6 for adults, including 
permit fee. 
Rose Dale Cemetery, Cambridge, 111., 
has a memorial entrance and fence, the 
gift of Mrs. Mary J. Gould in memory 
of her husband and other departed 
loved ones. Heavy iron gates of 
pleasing design are supported by sub- 
stantial granite posts surmounted by 
polished granite balls. The main 
driveway is flanked by entrances for 
pedestrians. The whole work is sub- 
stantial and attractive in appearence, 
and permanence has been the end 
sought for in design and construction. 
To improve the condition of “Can- 
field’s Cemetery” in Cedar Grove, N. 
J., the Cedar Grove Improvement As- 
sociation has appointed a committee. 
The cemetery was founded many years 
ago by Benjamin Canfield, but it bears 
evidence of long neglect. Its plots have 
been filled for many years and many 
of its headstones have tumbled down or 
are overgrown with underbrush. In 
the southern part of the cemetery the 
underbrush has grown so rank that 
many headstones are obscured. Sev- 
eral veterans of the Civil War are 
buried in the cemetery. 
