PARK AND CEA\ETERY 
215 
•:^10orfe5poMelence.l^ 
Removal of Bodies Dying of Contagious Diseases- 
Franklin, Pa. Jan. 28th 1896. 
Editor Park and Cemetery , 
Dear Sir:— I n your January issue W. R. C. asks for in- 
formation about removals of bodies dying of contagious diseases. 
In a letter of Dr. Benjamin Lee, secretary Pennsylvania state 
board of health, to the baggage agent of the Penna. R. R. Co. 
who desired information as to transportation of the body of a 
child dead of diphtheria, buried 1 1 years, he says; several of the 
state boards of health, including our own, have within the last 
two years adopted rules forbidding the transportation of bodies 
dead of contagious diseases. In reply to a letter from the father 
of the child. Dr. Lee says; I regret that the rules of our board 
will not permit the disinterment of and transportation of the 
body of your child. To the superintendent of the cemetery at 
Norristown, Pa., he wrote: I learn with much regret that you 
have been a party to a violation of the regulations of the Health 
Borad of the state and of Norristown, in allowing a body dead of 
diphtheria to be placed in a vault in your cemetery, instead of 
being immediately put under the ground. Although your ceme- 
tery is outside the limits of the borough, yet it is understood 
that the regulations in regard to burial apply to all bodies of 
persons who have died in a borough even though they are to be 
removed to a distance for burial. The laws of Pennsylvania are 
very strict in the matter of death from contagious diseases, pro- 
hibiting public funerals in such cases and even prescribing a 
limit to the number of friends attending the private ceremonies. 
The Board of Health calls for the assistance of ministers of every 
denomination and order and to incorporate the rules into their 
statute books. If W. R. C. or any one who desires it, will send 
me their address, I will try to get circulars from the Board of 
Heath for them. C. D. Phipps, Supt. 
Franklin Cemetery, 
» * » 
Riverside Cemetery, Fairhaven, Mass. 
Editor Park and Ce7netery, 
Dear Sir; — It has for some time been my intention to com- 
mit to paper my experience and ideas upon the moving of bodies; 
I always regard that part of my business as second only to the 
conducting of a funeral as regards decency and decorum. I hope 
my remarks may not be deemed inappropriate. I have moved 
bodies in all stages of decay, in the presence of friends and 
otherwise. If the body has been buried a few months, or any- 
thing less than ten years, I calculate to lift the body but little 
disturbed. In that case I have the new grave open and a new 
box or coffin, large enough, in readiness; sornetimes the casket 
may be lifted with the grave lines only, using an iron rod with a 
handle at one end, about four inches at the other end bent at 
right angles to raise the casket to get the straps under, occasion- 
ally 1 have had to lay boards underneath and beside the casket. 
It is then raised, placed bodily in the new box, all small pieces 
of coffin furniture etc. placed with it. Any pieces of wood that 
are too large are at once carried away and buried. Of course no 
time is lost in reintering the body. In such cases the remains 
are never exposed to the view of even a workman. Be sure to 
have plenty of help as an accident would be simply disastrous. 
As soon as the casket is uncovered, I sprinkle over it a little 
chloride of lime as it tends to quell any slight unpleasantness that 
might arise. If for any cause the casket is exposed to the air for 
even a few minutes, or if it has to be carried a short distance to 
a new location we throw over it a piece of sail cloth, not only 
from motives of decorum, but if a body is exposed for a short 
time to the air it will most likely become unpleasant. I always 
work in rubber gloves, and supply the same to my assistants, al- 
ways have at hand a pail of water and a piece of soap and when 
the gloves become soiled wash them while on your hands. 
In taking up remains that have been buried for a long 
period, when the bones are simply collected and placed in a 
small box they are more or less mingled with mother earth, I 
always use a mason’s trowel to uncover them, searching careful- 
ly for all small bones, coffin furniture etc. In all cases should 
the grave be again opened there would be no trace of previous 
interment. I have removed bodies that have died from diph- 
theria and scarlet fever, but none who have died from small-pox, 
but I would not for a moment hesitate to do it as in my humble 
opinion, human remains which have been for a few years beneath 
three or four feet of earth do not retain the same characteristics 
as they do on or near the surface. While moving a body I once 
cut my finger deeply with a piece of glass that must have lain on 
or in a human body for some years and experienced no serious 
results. I think that if rubber gloves are used and the ordinary 
rules of cleanliness are observed no evil results are to be feared. 
Thomas White. 
A Cheap Lot flarker. 
Mr. Sid J. Hare, Supt. Forest Hill Cemetery, Kansas City, 
Mo., sends the following; 
When the original stakes in a cemetery, have decayed, or 
have been carelessly removed it occasions some delay in replac- 
ing them before a grave can be laid out, and often in the haste 
the work is not done with as much care as it should be. The 
expense of re-staking a cemetery, or the replacing of permanent 
lot corners of stone or iron is one that few cemetery companies 
undertake, therefore the work should be done as cheaply, yet as 
permanently as possible the first time 
As a civil engineer I have studied over this question of per' 
manent corners for the past fifteen years. I have found the stone 
corners used by the Lfnited States for marking section corners 
are not reliable, for I know of many that have been shifted; iron 
bars do not last many years, and are subject to the same danger 
of being shifted or entirely removed by some unscrupulous survey- 
or or land owner. 
As the result of my experiments in marking corners of lots 
and blocks, I have found that a hole made in the earth with an 
iron bar to the depth of from four to ten feet and filled with 
white sand is as easily found ten years later as would be an iron 
bar or a stone, and it is almost impossible for any one to remove 
all traces of it, especially if you fill the hole with a mixture of 
one-third cement and two-thirds sand. Where rock is encoun- 
tered a drill will be required to make the hole, and in order to 
make a contrast in color, I mix red mineral paint powder with 
the sand and cement; this can readily be seen on the surface of 
the rock. 
I have often thought that if this method were adopted by 
the U. S. Survey in monumenting sections, it would be a great 
saving of time and money over the present method of cutting 
monuments and setting them in place, and if these holes were 
made to a depth of ten feet, and some color used to destinguish 
the U. S. Survey corners, there would be less law suits and dis- 
putes over their true location. 
I find that an iron or steel bar four or five feet in length, and 
one inch in diameter, made like the figure above, pointed at 
one end rnd having a ring set in the other end to give a hold in 
removing it, is all that is necessary for most work. 
