PARK AND C EMETER F. 
would l;e well spent. He suggests also 
that tunnels might he run beneath the 
drive instead. 
"To talk of 'improving' the bluft's of 
Riverside Park ( as proposed now ) is sheer 
nonsense," he states. "They are the work 
In response to a widespread demand for 
the admission of automobiles to its roads, 
Mt. Hope Cemetery, Rochester, X. Y., plans 
to ha\e a survey made to determine the 
feasibility of reconstructing some of the 
roads so that they will be safe for motor- 
car traffic. This cemetery has always had 
a rule forbidding the entrance of automo- 
biles to the grounds. The principal objec- 
tion to admitting automobiles to Mt. Plope 
Cemetery lies in the fact that the roads are 
narrow and in places are on the edge of 
steep embankments. Should an accident 
occur the city would be liable. Hence, if 
the motor cars are to be admitted the 
roads will have to be improved with a 
view to their use by such vehicles. Su- 
perintendent John Keller has been au- 
thorized to obtain a survey and estimate of 
the cost of reconstruction. In answer to a 
letter from the funeral directors and liv- 
erymen of Rochester, asking when automo- 
biles will be allowed in Mount Hope 
Cemetery, Superintendent Keller wrote as 
follows : “Under existing conditions of 
roadwa\ s and embankments, and also in 
view of the fact that the commission would 
be liable in case of an accident resulting 
from the condition of the roadways if au- 
tomobiles were permitted to enter the 
cemetery, the board was unanimous in con- 
tinuing the ironclad rule, ‘no automobiles 
shall enter the cemetery.’ This absolute 
power is vested in them by the city charter. 
However. I wish to add that they have 
taken further action authorizing the super- 
intendent to have a proper .survey made of 
the main driveways and the probable cost 
of reconstructing such roads or driveways 
so as to permit automobiles to drive over 
them with safety. This work, as you no 
doubt will realize, will take considerable 
time, and consef|uently no exact time can 
be set as to when automobiles will be per- 
mitted to enter the grounds." The ceme- 
tery commissioners have petitioned the 
common council to authorize the city en- 
gineer to perform such engineering service 
as Superintendent Keller may direct. That 
the Cliamber of Commerce is in favor of 
allowing motor vehicles in the cemetery is 
indicated by the following letter written 
by Secretary Roland B. Woodward to 
the cemetery commissioners: “Xow that 
till- Holy Sepulchre Cemetery is open to 
automobile funeral processions, it is the 
earnest hope of the flood Roads Commit- 
of hundreds of thousands of years, a mas- 
terpiece beyond man’s dreams of his pos- 
sibilities." He suggests that Riverside Park 
should be extended north along the Hud- 
son to the end of Manhattan Island. Such 
a park, he says, would be the en\ y of every 
.\merican city. 
tee of the Chamlier of Commerce that the 
commissioners of Mt. Hope Cemetery will 
take similar action. It is desirable that ad- 
mission of the automoliile, when used at 
funerals, be general in our cemeteries. 
They are allowed in the cemeteries of 
nearly e\ er\- other large city in the country, 
and the Good Roads Committee believes 
that in this Rochester should meet the de- 
mand of modern conditions and prove her- 
self as progressive as she is in many other 
matters pertaining to public conteniences 
and necessity." 
Mt. Hope Cemetery, Topeka, Kan., has 
been rapidly developing for the past nine 
years until it is now one of the finest in 
tlie W’est. .'M ready over $S0,C00 have been 
spent on improvements. There are sixty 
miles of drives and walks along which are 
rows of young shade trees, which, in a few 
years, will form a conspicuous feature of 
the landscape artist’s general decorative 
plan. Beds of flowers and shrubbery are 
scattered over the grounds. Artificial lakes 
are now being created and will add to the 
general attractiveness of the cemetery. The 
officers of the cemetery are: .■\. B. Whit- 
ing, president and superintendent; ?ilrs. W. 
S. Lindsay, vice-president: H. H. Wallace, 
secretary, and H. L. Shirer, treasurer. 
George T. I'rost and Frank O. Hammer, 
of Minneapolis, accused by the city park- 
police of assisting in the raid on Maple 
Hill Cemetery, that city, were acquitted by 
a jury in the Municipal Court recently. 
Tbe raid on the cemetery, which is one of 
the pioneer burial grounds of Minneapolis, 
was conducted on X’ovember 20. Great in- 
dignation was aroused over the vandalism 
among friends and relatives of persons in- 
terred in the cemetery. .\n investigation, 
in which detectives were engaged, was car- 
ried out by tbe Board of Park Commis- 
-ioners. 
Owing to the run-down condition of the 
cemetery at Kearney, N^eb., .S. .\. D. Ilen- 
linc and F. \\k Brown, of that city, have 
had introduced into the Xebraska legisla- 
ture a bill for tbe levying of a tax to main- 
tain the cemetery. The bill i>rovidcs for 
the levying of a tax for cemetery purposes 
at the discretion of tbe mayor and council. 
This tax is to be expended each year by a 
board of six members who are ajtpointed 
for varying terms and which will have 
com[)lcte charge of the cemetery, its de- 
velf)piTient and care. The board, it is 
357 
planned, will consist of three men and 
three women who are interested in the care 
of the city’s Inirial ground. They all serve 
w.thont pay and they are authorized b\- an 
act of the legislature of two years ago to 
solicit and take bequests from people who 
wish to give to a permanent fund to be 
used for the care of the grounds. This 
the new board will follow up, according to 
members of the committee of the Commer- 
cial Club and council, who have l>een be- 
hind the mo\ e. The bill is to be introduced 
in both House and Senate and will provide 
the optional le\-ying of the tax in all cities 
of whatever class in the state, as well as 
villages. In the Senate. Charles Chappell 
will introduce the measure. He will also 
introduce a measure pro\-iding for le\\ing 
of taxes in townships for the same pur- 
pose. This will help out many of the 
cemeteries of the country districts. The 
new measure calls for tbe appointment of 
the board by tbe mayor with the consent 
of the cit>' council. Two are to be named 
for one }'ear, two for two years and two 
for three years, ^^'hen \acancies occur the 
members are then to be appointed for 
three-year terms. 
Township trustees are considering the 
purchase of live and one-half acres of land 
from L. J. Fargo, to be used as an addition 
to Edgewood Cemetery, Ashtabula. O. The 
trustees have Iteen offered the land for 
$10,CC0. In connection with this it is pro- 
posed to discontinue the old windmill 
which is used to pump water to the ceme- 
tery, drain the spring, and thereby acquire 
about one more acre which could be filled 
in and used for cemetery purposes. In this 
event, city water would be used in the 
cemetery. A. H. Talcott was api)ointed su- 
perintendent of Edgewood Cemetery and J. 
0. Crist superintendent of Chestnut Grove 
Cemetery. 
.\ new cemetery has been o[)ened in 
Saltese, Spokane Count\-, Wash., known as 
Saltcse Cemetery, and will be laid out a 
short distance south of Greenacres. It will 
occupy about two acres and will contain 
280 lots. George Courchoine is president 
of the corporation. 
Plans have been perfected with tbe filing 
of incorporation papers for an association 
to maintain i)crpetually Elmwood Cemeterv 
at I'ort Madison, la. 'I'he corporation is 
without capital stock, with purposes of 
purely ci\ ic and neighborhood intent. The 
cemetery, which was formerl\- known as 
the .\tlec Cemetery and is an heirloom to 
the cit\ ami the Atlee pro|)erties, will be 
forever kept up in appearances of lawn, 
.graves, etc., by the provisions of the asso- 
ciation. Incorporators arc M'. R. Tim()e, 
J. II. .\xt, .\. R. Benbow, 1'. .\. Okcll and 
John C. .\tlec. The associ.'ition i- consid 
ering enlarging the cemetery to include the 
f)ld .Atlee property just west, which will 
permit of the disposition of a few more 
lots. 
'I’he Ri\ersi(lc Cemetery, of Alton. X. 11.. 
has been incorpor.'iterl with a e.ipital of 
$1 .'00 by I'rank E. Mitchell, Jennie M. 
WWW 
CtntTERY NOTES 
