80 
PARK AND CEMBTERY 
Cemetery Notes. 
The New York legislature has recently passed an act 
giving to the trustees of the new Ellisburgh Cemetery Asso- 
ciation authority to control and improve the old and much 
neglected Ellisburgh Cemetery. The old cemetery lies adja- 
cent to the new one, and will be greatly benefited by being 
placed under the same management. Part of the land was do- 
nated by Lyman Ellis in 1797. 
* * * 
The United Hebrew congregation, St. Lojis, Mo., has 
issued $2,000 in cemetery bonds to its members and lot own- 
ers for the purpose of improving Mt. Olive cemetery, eight 
miles northwest of St. Louis. The bonds are 200 in num- 
ber and will be sold at $10 each. They will bear 3 per cent 
interest and are to be redeemed at the rate of 20 each year. 
Over half of them have been sold, and the funds will be used 
for needed improvements. 
* * * 
The Commissioners of the District of Columbia have ap • 
propriated $15,000 to purchase a site for a burying ground 
for the indigent dead, preferably near the site for a munici- 
pal almshouse. Sealed proposals have been advertised for, 
and if sites offered are not on a public road, the right of 
way from the nearest road must be good until a street 
adjoining the site shall be opened. 
* * 
The city attorney of Dowagiac, Mich., has brought suit 
against James Gardner for the cemetery tax of $1, which 
is the assessment for the care of one lot for one year. Sub- 
scriptions have been made to defray the costs for the de- 
fendant, who maintains that the cemetery board, being ap- 
pointed by the mayor, has no power to levy taxes. This 
is to be a test case, and has aroused much interest in the 
city. In a similar suit last year, which reached the Circuit 
Court, a decision was rendered against the board, on the 
ground that it had no power to sue. 
* * * 
Bishop Bonacum, who is in charge of the Catholic Cem- 
etery at Lincoln, Neb., has refused to allow the mother of 
Edward Cagney to remove her son’s body from the ceme- 
tery to be buried beside another son at Platsmouth. The 
deceased had expressed a desire to be buried in the Lincoln 
Catholic Cemetery, and as ecclesiastical law regards the 
wish of a dying person as sacred, the Bishop holds that his 
wish should be respected. The cemetery is held, according 
to the custom of the church, in the name of the Bishop as 
personal property, and the matter will be taken into the 
courts. 
* * * 
The Greenwood Cemetery Association, Galena, 111 ., has 
raised among the lot owners a permanent investment or trust 
fund of $2,764, the interest of which is to be used for the 
care of lots. Of this amount $964.36 is invested in real es- 
tate (sexton’s residence and lots), the balance is loaned out 
on interest. The annual rent from the real estate and the 
interest on the loan has been used in keeping the lots of the 
investors in order. The plan adopted by the directors is that 
no less than $35 should be received for the perpetual care of 
a quarter lot or less, and no less than $50 for a half lot, and 
no less than $75 for a full lot, leaving the owner to invest 
as much more as he desires. 
In the case of the Commonwealth against the Lexington 
Cemetery Co., Lexington, Ky., the Circuit Court has re- 
versed the decision of the County Court, which had decided 
that the cemetery’s funds, which are loaned out on mort- 
gages, are subject to taxation. The County Court consid- 
ered the funds as separate from the real estate and as not 
exempt under the clause in the constitution exempting 
“places of burial not held for private or corporate profit.” 
The Circuit Court in reversing this ruling meets with popu- 
lar approval. A similar attempt to tax the funds of the 
cemetery several years ago aroused much indignation, and 
caused action to be suspended until the recent litigation. 
* * * 
Additions of land are reported to the following ceme- 
teries this month: Greenwood, Nazareth, Pa., eight acres, 
$1,800; Ligonier, Ind., 17 acres; Lutheran and Reformed 
congregations, York, Pa., 10 acres; Cypress Lawn, San 
Francisco, Cal., two 50-acre tracts, $45,000; Southwick, 
Mass., four acres, $600; Bristol, N. H., 20 acres at $100 an 
acre; Elizabethtown, Ind., 14 acres; Oakwood cemetery, 
Rochester, Minn., 20 acres of sloping ground along the 
banks of Silver creek; Shaul cemetery, Ottumwa, la., 20 
acres; St. Mary’s German Catholic church, Sharpsburg, Pa., 
87 acres, $15,000, 50 to 60 acres to be sold, and the rest used 
for cemetery purposes; Mackinaw, 111 ., two acres. 
* * * 
Westwood cemetery, Oberlin, Ohio, the resting place of 
many of the builders and founders of Oberlin College, is 
working to establish an improvement fund of $25,000 to be 
used for perpetual care and improvement of grounds. Lack 
of funds has hitherto prevented the making of improve- 
ments which the natural beauty of the cemetery make worth 
while, ’out the trustees have enlisted the aid of President 
John Henry Barrows and other influential citizens and ex- 
pect to make the cemetery the attractive spot of the city. 
They have issued a circular appealing to the people of the 
town for donations. 
* * * 
An interesting legal question pertaining to cemeteries 
has been aroused by the damage suit of David Neff against 
Miss Hester Ann Neeley, one of the wealthiest women in 
central Indiana. Miss Neeley is erecting a costly monu- 
ment to her parents in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, near Dale- 
ville, and one of the stones toppled over and injured the 
young son of Mr. Neff. The question involved is whether 
or not a cemetery is public ground, and whether the law 
affords the same protection against accidents as it would in 
a public highway. 
* * * 
Proposed cemetery improvements to be carried out dur- 
ing the coming summer are the following: Penn Yan, N. 
Y., laying a flag walk, $1,000. * * * McLean county cem- 
etery, Bloomington, 111 ., will build a waiting room, con- 
struct a new entrance, and purchase a horse mower. * * * 
Rangeley, Me., has appropriated $1,600 for the building of 
a receiving vault, and the purchasing of additional land. 
* * * Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Boston, Mass., is to erect 
a greenhouse 103x26 feet, similar in design to the one con- 
structed in 1899. The 'floor' will' be of concrete and the 
cellar will be used for storage. * * . * The Daughters of 
the Confederacy have secured permission to beautify Home 
Cemetery, Higginsville, Mo., and have let the contract for 
a new fence. * * * Slate Hill Cemetery Association, 
Goshen, N. Y., is to build a new stone fence around the 
cemetery, and is considering the erection of a receiving 
vault. 
