PARK AND CE/nETERY. 
196 
CEMETERY NOTES. 
The Crematory at Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee, 
Wis., will be completed by the first of Maixh. 
* * * 
In St Agnes cemetery, Albany, N.Y., up to January i, 1896, 
there have been 11,534 interments, of which 780 were made last 
year. 
* * * 
An annual tax of fifty cents per lot is levied by the Maple- 
town, N . J., Cemetery Association to provide for the expenses 
of caring for the grounds. 
■» -jf * 
It is expected that the new mortuary chapel in the Fair 
Haven. Conn., cemetery will be completed and dedicated next 
memorial day. This chapel is intended as a memorial to the 
soldiers and sailors buried in the cemetery. 
In the annual meeting of the Mount Royal iJemetery Com- 
pany, of Montreal, Canada , the report showed receipts for the 
)’car ending Nov. 30, 1895, of 126,020.71 and expenditures, I24, 
573.09. The subject of cremation was brought up and the build- 
ing of a crematory strongly advocated, but the matter was post- 
poned for a year. 
* * * 
The report of the Riverside Cemetery Association, Apple- 
ton, Wis., showed total receipts for year 5'4,834.57, w'hich added 
to cash on hand Jan. i, 1895, equals 16.525. 26. Total disburse- 
ment s amounted to $6,420.43, of which $1981.38 was for new 
greenhouses. The greenhouse receipts for past year were 
$1,342.57. 
Beautiful as Arlington Cemetery, Washington, is with so 
much historical sentiment clustering about it, and containing 
so many names of military renown, its law forbidding the bur- 
i il of the waves of its sleeping tenants deprives it of many more 
honors. It is quite debatable whether the patriotic idea of sur- 
rendering to such law IS of more value than the respect due to 
the closest of family ties. 
* * * 
Some recent flagrant cases of grave-robbing for dissecting 
purposes in Topeka, Kans., has aroused intense indignation on 
all sides. An exchange says that there is no specific law in Kan- 
sas against the crime, and that although the legislature has been 
called upon many times, nothing has been done towards enact- 
ing this very necessary legislation. In the present case public 
indignation nearly caused the destruction of property and this 
should lead to legislative action. 
» X -x- 
At the annual meeting of the Riverside Cemetery Asso- 
ciation, Cleveland, O., the president reported the association 
free from debt and with an available surplus of $15,000 over all 
obligations. The most important improvement begun last year 
was a steel bridge, 305 feet long, spanning the ravine between the 
old and new parts of the cemetery. This involves an outlay of 
$14,000. Many other important improvements were carried 
out. The report also presented a brief review of the Indian his- 
tory connected with the cemetery and urged that all such data 
be carefully deposited in the archives of the association. The 
matter of constructing a new stone office building was referred 
to the executive committee with power to act. 
* * X 
It has often been observed iiy these columns that the Wom- 
an’s Associations of our towns and villages, could with honor to 
themselves, appropriately undertake the care and beautifying of 
the Cemetery, and it is gratifying to note that this idea is gain- 
ing ground to the practical benefit of the places affected. In 
Massillon, O., the Massillon Woman’s Cemetery Association has 
just held its annual meeting and in order to raise funds it was 
suggested that each member should endeavor to earn by her own 
efforts b.v April ist, as much money as convenient and possible, 
to put in a general fund for work in the cemetery, which work 
was expected to open about that date. This kind of practical en- 
thusiasm will work w'onders in Massillon and elsewhere whern 
tried. 
* X X 
An important case in its results in relation to lot owners 
rights in cemeteries may be that of O'Connell and the Catholic 
cemetery officials at Cedar Rapids, la. The late Henry M. O’ 
Connell was buried in the family lot and in due course his wife 
was also laid there. The body of the wife by direction of certain 
parties in control of the cemetery was removed from the lot and 
buried outside the enclosure without due permission, consequent 
it is said upon her not having paid proper attention for some 
years to her church The sexton was indicted by the grand 
jury. Another point in this remarkable case is, that the ad- 
ministrator of the estate allowed some 1425 to the church for 
masses, and the judge of the district court has decided that there is 
no provision of law for the taking of money belonging to minor 
children for spending in such a manner. The outcome of this 
litigation will be of general interest, in that it may decide what 
part denominational prejudices play in public cemeteries. 
XXX 
The Onondaga County Cemetery Association, organized 
last August as recorded in Park & Cemetery, for the purpose 
of preserving existing memorials of the dead and of beautifying 
the various burial plots about the county, met in annual session 
Jan. 8, in Syracuse, N. Y., and received reports from its officers. 
The election of officers I esulted in the re-election ’ of the entire 
list as previously published, wdth one exception. In the course 
of his report. President Georee H. Wicks said that something 
should be done to improve the county cemeteries, many of 
which had been sadly neglected. He suggested a commission 
who should investigate and direct such work as should be deem- 
ed necessary, and that it would be a good idea to have a bill in- 
troduced in the legislature giving the association authority to 
demand of cemeteries the uniform care of lots During the 
meeting Prof. L. H. Bailey of the horticultural department of 
Cornell University delivered an address on “Suggestions for 
Cemetery Gardening.” 
* X X 
The Mexican Cemetery at Guanajuato is thus described by 
a correspondent of the Boston Traveler: There is hardly room 
in Guanajuato for the living, so it behooves her people to exer- 
cise rigid economy in the disposition of the dead. The burial 
place is on the top of a steep hill, which overlooks the city, and 
consists of an area enclosed by what appears from the outside to 
be a high wall, but which discovers itself from within to be a re- 
ceptacle for bodies, which are placed in tiers, much as the con 
fines of their native valleys compel them to live. Each apart- 
ment in the wall is large enough to admit one coffin, and is rent- 
ed for .f 1 per month. The poor people are buried in the ground 
without the formality of a coffin, though one is usually rented in 
which the body is co veyed to the grave. As there are not 
graves enough to go round, whenever a new one is needed a pre- 
vious tenant must be disturbed, and this likewise happens when 
a tenant’s rent is not promptly paid in advance. The body is 
then removed from its place in the mausoleum, or exhumed, as 
the case may be, and the bones are thrown into the basement 
below. 
