214 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
stances and exigency.” (2 Federal Re- 
porter, 624.) 
Not only may the holder of a lot not 
paid for insist that bodies interred therein 
be left undisturbed, but it seems that con- 
tinued possession also gives the right to 
make further interments, according to the 
decision of the Alabama Court of Ap- 
peals handed down in the case of Alexan- 
der vs. Union Cemetery Company, 69 
Southern Reporter, 251. In this case it 
appeared that plaintiff bought a lot in de- 
fendant’s cemetery several years ago, and 
although the defendant claimed that the lot 
was not paid for, and no deed had been 
issued therefor, plaintiff’s control of the 
lot had not been disturbed for ten years, 
interments being made in the meantime. 
After a grave was dug to receive the 
body of plaintiff’s granddaughter, and the 
funeral party had arrived, the sexton, act- 
ing under orders of the manager of the 
cemetery, refused to permit interment. The 
body was buried elsewhere, and plaintiff 
brought suit to recover damages. In af- 
firming judgment for both actual and ex- 
emplary damages, for interfering with the 
burial, the Court of Appeals held that is- 
suance of a deed was not necessary to the 
enjoyment of the lot, and that plaintiff’s 
continued possession gave her title which 
could not be taken away by the cemetery 
company. 
Not only is it a civil wrong to remove 
a body without proper authority, but un- 
der the statutes of most of the states it is 
a criminal offense. Therefore, e.xtreme 
caution should always be used to ascertain 
the legality of a disinterment in a given 
case. 
The view that it is unjust to permit a 
person to have the privileges afforded by 
a cemetery lot without paying for it will, 
on reflection, fade away under the more 
important consideration that, if a cemetery 
extends credit for charges, waiving its 
right to insist upon payment before burial 
is made, it has no stronger equitable rights 
than any other creditor ; and that, although 
a dead-beat owner of a cemetery lot is not 
entitled to overmuch sympathy in his ob- 
jection to the removal of a body from 
ground which he has “mooched,” proper 
respect for the dead and for innocent sur- 
viving friends and relatives, as well as 
promotion of the public health, require that 
there shall be no disturbance of a grave 
on the ground of non-payment for the few 
feet of ground occupied. 
STARTING AND OPERATING A MODERN CEMETERY 
An address before the A. A. C. S. Convention at Norfolk, by Dr. 
R. N. Kesterson, President Greenioood Cemetery, Kno.vville, Tenn. 
The modern cemetery has been aptly called 
a burial garden, and the term itself conveys 
the thought that is most desired — not a place 
of death, symbolized b},' skull and cross- 
bones, but a resting place for loved ones. 
We are here as an organization, men 
who are interested in a work that, though 
dealing with death, is life and love to 
them ; and we are here to improve our 
methods of conducting a cemetery — to 
glean, each from the other, some thought, 
some method, by which we can improve 
and advance our life work. 
The subject. “Starting and Operating a 
Modern Cemetery,” is one of great breadth 
and cannot be discussed in every detail in 
one paper; therefore I shall confine my re- 
marks largely to my own experience in 
beginning and developing Greenwood Cem- 
etery at Knoxville, Tenn. 
My beginning was modest indeed, but 
with a desire to build a monument to the 
memory of my little departed son in the 
way of one of the finest cemeteries in the 
entire country, I first made a trip to East- 
ern cities and cemeteries and gathered what 
information I could by viewing the 
grounds and gleaning all the information 
possible from the men in charge, and from 
their books of rules, regulations, etc. I 
knew absolutely nothing about cemeteries 
and did not even know such a paper as 
P.\RK and Cemetery was printed until it 
was recommended by a nursery man. 
From him I secured the address and wrote 
for a copy. Upon receipt of same I at 
once subscribed, and have never missed a 
number from that time. In this paper I 
saw the advertisement of Sid J. Hare, and 
wrote him : terms were agreed upon, and 
he visited me and made complete plans. 
Through this paper I also learned of the 
Association of American Cemetery Super- 
intendents, applied for membership in this 
grand and honorable association, and was 
accepted at the Chicago meeting in 1904. 
I'o Sid J. Hare. R. J. Haight and to every 
member of this highly intelligent and hon- 
orable body I owe the greatest part of 
whatever success may be ascribed to Green- 
wood Cemetery. After attending each and 
every convention 1 would return to my 
home with new ideas, renewed zeal and 
redoubled energy. 
There is much in common between ideal 
locations for cemeteries and for parks. 
Topography, soil, environments and ease 
of access are controlling features in both 
cases, although a park may be made beau- 
tiful when the ground is too broken or 
stony for purposes of burial. By environ- 
ment is meant natural beauty, attractive 
neighborhoods and social conditions. The 
latter may not be generally considered, but 
a cemetery surrounded by elegant homes, 
fine farms, gardens or other outward evi- 
dences of enlightenment and good taste is 
far better than one where the environ- 
ments picture dilapidation, disorder, pov- 
erty and ignorance. 
In selecting a cemetery site, get your lo- 
cation far enough away to escape the busy 
hum of commerce, for your location will 
have much to do with the success of your 
venture. However, this fact is so evident 
that it hardly seems necessary to state it 
to you here, for almost, if not all of you, 
have your sites and are already operating 
cemeteries. 
You, of course, know the necessity of 
proper drainage — you know the advantage 
of rolling topography. So to those that 
might be here, that are just starting or 
contemplating starting a cemetery, I would 
say, use good judgment in your selection 
of location, for the road plans, lot plans, 
planting plans, etc., properly come under 
the province of the landscape architect. 
The importance of consulting an expe- 
rienced landscape architect before selecting 
a site or attempting to perfect a plan for 
a cemetery should not be overlooked. It 
will not only mean starting right, but very 
often be the means of avoiding costly 
mistakes. 
The crux of cemetery management, in 
my opinion, is the burial service, coupled 
with the impression made and accepted by 
the general public of security, in feeling 
that the cemetery is in competent hands, 
that in future years it will still be cared 
for in the same manner as at present, and 
that every provision for future care and 
preservation has been made. Make this 
evident by every effort in your power. 
Make your burial service so impressive and 
attractive that sorrowing relatives and 
friends will leave with the feeling of 
“Wasn’t it beautiful?” rather than “Oh, 
how heart-rending.” 
Bear in mind that each burial brings peo- 
ple closer to their God, and permit nothing 
in the service to mar the deeply religious 
atmosphere that should envelop the whole 
service. 
Not necessarily do I mean to try to make 
your face look like the whole world is 
wrong, for this is not truly religious, but 
keep uppermost in your minds that God’s 
edicts are being carried out as He wills. 
In conclusion, as I see it, I would again 
impress upon my fellow-workers, to con- 
duct and maintain your burial parks with 
the one idea uppermost in your minds of 
conducting services that will compel people 
in your community to recognize your ef- 
forts as not only striving to make your 
proposition one of commercial value, "but 
of such a character and of such excellence 
as will show that the future is being looked 
to as fully as the present, for on this de- 
pends your success. 
