PARK AND 
CEMETERY. 
9 
SELLING CEMETERY LOTS ON CREDIT— III 
Symposium of Methods and Forms Used by 
Many Cemeteries in Lot Sales and Collections. 
We liave never had a lot owner discon-, 
tinue payment on lot purchased on credit. 
The following contract explains our hand- 
ling of credit sales : 
SLEEPY HOLLOW CEMETERY. 
Tarrvtown, X. Y 
Having selected a Burial I.ot, No in 
Section, No of Sleepy Hollow 
Cemetery, this certifies, that have this day 
paid to said Cemetery Association 
Dollars, and hereby agree to make 
the following payments to it for balance, with 
Interest until date of payment, viz: 
It is expressly agreed, that in ease of any default 
in the above mentioned payments, this contract 
shall be null and void, and any payment made on 
the above mentioned lot shall be forfeited to the 
Cemetery. It is further conditioned that any inter- 
ment made in the said lot. in the meantime shall 
be considered as temporary, and subject to removal 
unless the said lot shall be paid for as thus prom- 
ised. Upon the prompt and punctual completion of 
the payments as above specified and provided for, 
the Trustees of the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery are 
to convey said lot of about 
superficial square feet, by deed to 
in the form now in general use by them subject 
to the restrictions, and the regulations therein 
contained. 
No monuments or headstones are to be erected 
on said lot until after the fulfilment of this con- 
tract. 
Signed Dupplicate. 
W. T. Sackett, 
Supt., Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. 
Tarrvtown, N. Y. 
* * * 
When a lot owner discontinues payment 
we remove any body or bodies from lot to 
single interments, and resell lot, retaining 
the amount already paid on lot to cover 
cost of such removals, as per agreement of 
purchaser printed on contract. We have al- 
ways been successful in this method. 
Following is a copy of contract and 
notes issued to lot buyers who do not de- 
sire to pay cash : 
SPRINT; VALE CEMETERY. 
La Knyetto. In<L. Oct. 31, 1914. 
Received of John Doc. twenty-five dollars in cash, 
and two notes of $2T>.00 each, payable in six and 
twelve months from this date, which, when paid, 
will be in full for Lot No. 1. Section 1 in Spring 
Vale Ometery. and entitle him to a deed therefor. 
The corporation hereby reserves the right, in the 
event of the non-payment of any one of the notes 
aforesaid, at its maturity, to declare the contract 
of sale, together with all previous payments, for- 
feited. and forthwith to re-enter and take posses- 
sion of said lot. and to remove therefrom, to the 
grounds reserved for single Interments, any body 
or bodies which may have been interred therein; or. 
at the option and consent of the Corporation, the 
re-interment may he made upon any lot hearing 
price not exceeding, with expense of removal, the 
amount paid by the delinquent party. 
I^i Fayette. Ind.. Oct. 31. Ifil4. 
Six months after date, we promise to pay to the 
Treasurer of Spring Vale Cemetery the sum of twen- 
ty-five dollars for value received, at the First Na- 
tional Hank of LaFnyette. Indiana, with Interest at 
* per cent, from date, without relief from Valua- 
tion or Appraisement Law. 
I# Fayette. Ind.. Oct. 31, 1014. 
Twelve Months after date, we promise to pay 
to the Treasurer of Spring Vale Cemetery the 
Bum of twenty-five dollars for value received, at 
the First National Bank of LaFayette. Indiana, with 
interest at 8 per cent, from date, without relief 
from Valuation or Appraisement Laws. 
One-third of the purchase price is in all 
cases paid in cash, and the balance, one- 
third in six months and one-third in twelve 
months, with interest at 8 per cent from 
date. In cases of unknown purchasers we 
require an indorser for the notes. The 
deed, of course, is not issued until lot is 
fully paid for. About 50 per cent of our 
sales are made on this plan and we have 
very little trouble with collections. We 
also refuse to open a grave or do any 
other work on lot against which there are 
any past due notes. R. W. Severing, 
Supt., Spring Vale Cemetery. 
Lafayette, Ind. 
* * * 
We have been selling lots on the install- 
ment plan for many years and believe that 
it is the proper thing to do, as there are 
many people who can and will purchase 
lots in this way who are not provident 
enough to ever save up the purchase price 
for such purchase. 
Occasionally there is a lot buyer who 
fails to complete the payments. In such 
cases we first use every effort to induce 
him to continue the payments. If we find 
that the default occurs through misfortune 
of any kind, and that the person’s inten- 
tions are good, we extend the time of pay- 
ment from time to time and give him every 
facility to still secure the lot. In the few 
cases in which it becomes evident that the 
purchaser will never be able to complete 
the payments, or does not intend to com- 
plete them, the lot is vacated and the body 
or bodies buried on it are removed, either 
to single graves or to a smaller lot if the 
amount paid in be sufficient to cover the 
cost of the removal and the price of the 
smaller lot. We aim to give the buyer the 
full benefit of all money paid in, of course. 
The writer doubts very much whether 
any cemetery corporation, under any cir- 
cumstances whatever, would have the right 
to remove a body once interred, with the 
knowledge and consent of the corporation, 
unless a definite and specific written con- 
tract was entered into at the time of sale 
authorizing the cemetery association to take 
such action in case of default. I am quite 
sure that if a removal were made without 
a carefully executed valid contract of this 
kind the cemetery association would be lia- 
ble in exemplary damages. 
Our contracts are made in duplicate by 
carbon and provide an absolute forfeiture 
in case of default, but contain a sixty-day 
clause preventing any cancellation of the 
contract until the default is continued for 
sixty days. We have never enforced the 
absolute forfeiture clause and have never 
enforced the sixty-day clause, rarely va- 
cating a lot until a year’s default has oc- 
curred, unless the purchaser flatly and 
definitely refuses to continue the payments. 
I think the law of any state would allow 
the removal of bodies under the conditions 
above stated, but the contract must be very 
carefully drawn, as the courts in general 
construe all possible points in favor of the 
buyer in such cases. 
It will be noted in the copy of contract 
enclosed, also, that we have inserted an ac- 
knowledgment on the part of the buyer 
that he has read the rules. This I regard 
as a very important point, as cases have 
been decided adversely to cemetery corpo- 
rations in the courts on the plea of the 
buyer that he was not made acquainted 
with the rules. In fact, I have knowledge 
of one case in which the question was 
asked of the lot salesman, “Did you read 
the rules and regulations to this man when 
you sold him the lot?” The salesman’s 
answer was that he could not remember. 
This testimony was admitted as proper and 
seemed to have quite a strong bearing in 
the decision of the case in favor of the lot 
owner. 
Following is a copy of our sale contract : 
THE MOUNT GREENWOOD CEMETERY ASSO 
CIATION. 
Morgan Park, Chicago, 111 lfil . . 
The Mount Greenwood Cemetery Association here- 
by agrees to sell to 
the following part, viz: 
of Burial Lot No in Section No 
in the First Division of Mount Greenwood Cemetery, 
for the purposes of sepulture alone, and to issue 
to., h its regular form of Warranty Deed 
when the conditions of this agreement shall have 
been fulfilled. 
Price of Lot $ 
Proportion of Corner Stones. $ Total 
to he paid. .$ Payable Cash. $ 
Balance, .$ payable. 
until i 
laid 
in full, with 
interest m 
it four 
(4) i or 
cent per annum, all interc 
*st being < 
lue and 
payable 
with e 
a eh ; 
payment on the 
• principal. 
Aftc 
r all 
payments as 
herein spe 
»eified a 
re com- 
pleted. 
the 
Association li< 
?reby iijri'e 
es to s< 
?t apart 
as a 
trust 
fund for the 
Perpetua 
1 Caro 
of said 
kit the 
sum 
of $ 
to issue 
its reg 
ular 
form of Trust 
Fund Agi 
reement 
to said 
pureha 
ser. 
in accordance 
with its 
publish! 
d terms 
and co 
ndlti 
ons. 
This 
Agreement Is cor 
iditioned < 
:>n the 
faithful 
per forma n<< 
[> by -in id 
of. h . 
. . .nj 
freemen t to p 
urehase said lot 
as set 
forth below. 
THE MOP NT GREENWOOD CEMETERY ASSOCI- 
ATION. 
By 
Morgan Park, Chicago. Ill ..lfil.. 
I Hereby Agree to purchase from The Mount 
Greenwood Cemetery Association, the* alsive described 
lot. for the purposes and on the terms therein 
stated. 
I have obtained from The Mount Greenwood 
Cemetery Association a copy of its Itules and Regu- 
lations. and having read the hereby agree to 
lie governed by said Rules and Regulations, to- 
