PARK AND CEMETERY 
496 
Cemetery Notes. 
The ofificers of the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery Associa- 
tion, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., recently passed a rule forbidding 
Sunda}' interments. Public sentiment is reported to be 
strongly against the action, and it is feared that the matter 
may be taken into the courts. 
♦ * * 
The city of Des Moines, la., is to plat 6o acres of land near 
Waveland Park for a new cemetery. * * * Yhe West- 
lawn Cemetery Company, Nashville, Tenn., has purchased 
136 acres of land west of that city for a new cemetery. The 
land cost about $80,835, and a large sum is to be spent in im- 
proving it on the modern lawn plan. The ground will be 
sown with bluegrass, and a handsome receiving vault and 
administration buildings are planned. 
Recent interments made in the tombs in the old Granary 
burial grounds in Boston, have brought forth a petition, 
signed by a number of physicians and presented to the mayor, 
protesting against further internments in vaults or tombs of 
cemeteries within the city limits. A law passed some years 
ago prohibits internments in graves, luit none has been passed 
to forbid burials in tombs or vaults. 
Greenwood Cemetery, Knoxville, Tenn., was incorporated 
in 1901, and has had a very successful first year. The tract 
comprises about 30 acres of ground well adapted for cemetery 
purposes, and is being improved along modern lines. In 
accordance with the law' a certain per cent of the price of 
every lot sold is set aside as a permanent fund for beautifying 
the cemetery. A descriptive booklet is shortly to be issued 
by Secretary and Treasurer R. N. Kesterson. 
* * 5i< 
The Woodlawn Cemetery Company, of Baltimore, Aid., is 
reported to be negotiating for the purchase of 400 acres of 
land near Gwynn Oak Park, Baltimore, to be laid out as a 
modern cemetery. The land is the old Powhatan Mills prop- 
erty and is to cost about $125,000. The company is a branch 
of the Woodlawn Cemetery Co., of New York City and is 
capitalized at about $250,000. The officers are as follows : 
President, Charles H. Edgar, New York; Vice-president, A. 
AI. Bow'ling, Baltimore; Treasurer, E. R. L. Gould, New 
York. 
In the amicable suit brought by the board of cemetery com- 
missioners of Grand Rapids, Mich., to determine whether the 
board is liable for special improvement taxes. Judge Newn- 
ham decided to make permanent the injunction issued some 
time ago restraining the city from collecting sewer assess- 
ments. The question has been a bone of contention for some 
time between the city and the cemetery board. Under the rul- 
ing of the court, if cemetery propertj' is to be assessed for 
special improvements, the taxes must come from the general 
fund of the city.. 
* * 
City Attorney H. R. Pollard, of Richmond, Va., has ren- 
dered an opinion deciding that, according to the ordinances 
of that city, a section or portion of a section in any of the 
cemeteries may be re-sold if there is no interment in it for 
a period of 20 years, and has informed the Council committee 
on cemeteries that it may sell a lot formerly belonging to the 
Sons of Temperance, a society which has passed out of ex- 
istence. Considerable dissatisfaction with the law has devel- 
oped and it is reported that an effort will be made to repeal 
it. The argument is made against it that the deeds for sec- 
tions are in fee simple, and the city has no further rights in 
them in any way except that it can require them to be main- 
tained in a proper condition. 
^ ^ 
A mandatory injunction was recently issued at Topeka, 
Kas., to compel the removal from a family lot of the body of a 
person not a member of the family. The case was that of the 
heirs of Henry Vesper against Mrs. Anna Kutz and the To- 
peka Cemetery Association. Henry Vesper's second wife’s 
mother was buried in the family lot of Air. Vesper by his 
widow after his death, and suit was brought by his heirs for 
the removal of the body. In rendering his decision Judge 
Hazen held that a cemetery lot was not to be classed as prop- 
erty. That it w'as purchased for but one purpose, that of 
burial, the cemeter}' association reserving certain rights, and 
therefore being unable to give a property title to it. That it 
was not property because the courts could stop its use for 
anything but a burial place. He also held that a burial lot is 
purchased with the intention that it should be a resting place 
for the family, and not for outsiders except in a case w'here 
the heirs were all agreed to the arrangement. 
* * * 
The following cemetery improvements and additions are 
reported this month : The executive committee of the Fair- 
mount and Riverside Cemetery Associations, Denver, Col., 
has been given power to build a crematory, if, after thorough 
investigation, they deem it advisable. The structure contem- 
plated will cost about $15,000. * =i: * Calvary Cemetery, 
Waltham, Mass., is to he enlarged by an addition of 26 acres. 
=:= * * Designs for a new receiving vault to cost between 
$3,000 and $5,000 are being considered by the cemetery com- 
mittee at Alliance, O. E. A. Beeson is chairman of the com- 
mittee. * * * Jiie crematory of the Chelton Hills Ceme- 
tery Co., in Washington Lane, near Philadelphia, which was 
recently damaged by an explosion, is to be rebuilt and en- 
larged. The present building is 40 x 40 feet and three stories 
high. The addition will be 25x40 feet, three stories high, 
will cost $12,000 and will contain too bronze niches for urns. 
* * * The commissioners of the North Burial Ground, 
Providence, R. L, are soon to let the contract for a new re- 
ceiving tomb. * * * Plans for a new receiving vault for 
Rome Cemetery, Rome, N. Y., have been prepared by the 
Leland & Hall Company of New York City. 
* 5}5 
FROM THE CEMETERY REPORTS, 
The report of the directors of the Scandinavian Cemetery 
Association, of St. Louis, Mo., shows that improvements 
involving the expenditure of $2,300 have been made during 
the past year. The work included the macadamizing of 
1.720 feet of driveway; the laying out of two new drives; the 
replatting of two blocks, and the erection of new gates at a 
cost of $530. There were 60 lots sold, and 175 interments 
during the j'ear. 
The annual report of Superintendent John E. Miller of 
Dodge Grove Cemetery, Mattoon, 111 ., shows 126 interments 
for the year, and 25 lots sold for which $700 was received. 
The work done during the past year includes the substituting 
of a wire fence for an old hedge, and the opening up of a new 
driveway. The report emphasizes the necessity of improving 
the drainage system and building a public receiving vault, 
which, the superintendent estimates, would cost about $2,500. 
