■PARK AND CEMETERY. 
245 
RIGHT TO PROHIBIT BURIAL IN UNPAID-FOR LOT. 
The Alabama Court of Appeals recently 
decided that a cemetery company was liable 
for wrongful interference with a burial 
which was about to be made in a lot to 
which it was claimed no deed had been 
made because the lot had not been fully 
paid for. (Alexander vs. Union Cemetery 
Company, 69 Southern Reporter, 251.) 
It appears that plaintiff had bargained for 
the lot and had held possession of it for 
years, having made burials in it and having- 
fenced it. But, claiming that the lot had 
not been paid for, the manager of. the 
cemetery directed the sexton to prevent in- 
terment of the body of plaintiff’s grand- 
daughter. Accordingly when the funeral 
party arrived at the grave, which had al- 
ready been opened at plaintiff’s instance, 
the sexton forbade interment, and burial 
was made elsewhere. Plaintiff then brought 
suit and was upheld by the courts in her 
claim that she was entitled to recover, not 
only the money damages actually sustained 
by her through the interference with the 
burial, but “smart money’’ because of her 
embarrassment and grief occasioned by the 
cemetery company’s acts. In response to 
the company’s defense that no deed had 
been obtained, the Court of Appeals said: 
“The purchaser of a lot in a public cem- 
etery only acquires a privilege or license 
to make interment, and although a deed 
absolute in form is not given, the pur- 
chaser does not acquire title to the soil. 
Therefore, a formal deed is not necessary 
to confer exclusive right to use a lot in 
such cemetery for burial purposes, and it 
may be acquired by prescription or adverse 
possession. [That is, by long continued 
use showing recognition of ownership.] 
The court refers to the fact that not 
only the manager of the cemetery directed 
that the burial be prevented in this case, 
but the stockholders at their next meeting 
approved the action. The circumstance was 
considered by the court as material on the 
question of the company’s liability for puni- 
tive damages. A. L. H. S. 
THE COVER ILLUSTRATION. 
A more desirable pair of entrance gates 
for a cemetery could hardly be designed 
than the magnificent piece of ornamental 
ironwork shown on the front cover of this 
issue. While the gates are not artistic to 
a point of being overdone, the scrollwork 
is of an attractive and pleasing design, 
giving the gates an appearance of substan- 
tial elegance which adds tone and dignity 
to the cemetery. 
These gates were built by The Stewart 
Iron Works Co., Cincinnati, O., several years 
ago. The photograph is a recent picture, 
which shows the gates to be in a splendid 
condition after years of service. The same 
design can be carried out, of course, in 
different sizes of material and the gates 
made any height or width desired. While 
our illustration shows granite piers, large 
square newel posts designed in harmony 
with the gates would add equally as much 
richness and dignity of tone to the en- 
trance. Fence is made to match gates and 
the whole serves as a pleasing introduction 
to the beautiful grounds. 
The year of 1914 is considered the year 
of the greatest development in Winnipeg’s 
(Can.) park system, according to the re- 
port of the Public Parks Board, recently 
submitted for that year ; not through the 
acquirement of additional properties, but 
because of the improvement of the prop- 
erties already acquired, and the general de- 
sire of every member of the board to make 
the parks more useful and beneficial to the 
masses. A few of the special improvement 
features accomplished were the erection 
and completion of the Waddell fountain in 
Central Park, the reconstruction of the 
park, and the erection of a durable and 
handsome iron fence. In Assiniboine Park 
the first unit of the conservatory and serv- 
ice building was erected, and is now in 
operation. A large shelter building was 
erected in the picnic grounds. The pa- 
vilion annex was fitted with windows to 
replace the screens and a soda fountain in- 
stalled. A splendid automatic water sup- 
ply system was installed to provide for the 
requirements of the main pavilion and the 
soda fountain. A few of the main drive- 
ways were widened to take care of the 
growing traffic, while a considerable quan- 
tity of road oil was used to lay the dust. 
The annual report of the South Park 
commissioners of Chicago for the fiscal 
year ending February 28, 1915, has been 
issued. Included in this report is a suc- 
cinct statement from the general superin- 
tendent, supplemented with more detailed 
statements from the department heads. Fi- 
nancial statements are also submitted. Dur- 
ing the year the first improvement of 6.58 
miles of boulevards was completed, making 
the total length now fully improved 26.34 
miles. The boulevards improved this year 
are from 65 to 100 feet in width, with 
driveways 40 feet wide in the wider boule- 
vards and 28 feet in the narrower. With 
these comparatively narrow drives, wide 
planting spaces are secured, making much 
better opportunity for the successful de- 
velopment of both trees and shrubbery 
therein. The improvement of Grant Park 
west of the Illinois Central Railroad and 
north of Jackson street was entered upon, 
most of the surfacing, underground work 
and some of the planting having been com- 
pleted. In the area south of Grant Park, 
enclosed by breakwater last year, 440,736 
cubic yards of filling were deposited, add- 
ing 12.12 acres to the made land south of 
Grant Park, now aggregating 35.31 acres. 
A 16-inch water main was laid from the 
park pumping station in Washington Park, 
through the Midway to Jackson Park, 
which greatly improves the water supply 
in the latter parks. An unusual number 
of trees and shrubs were planted during 
the year, largely because of the new boule- 
vard improvements. The nursery contains 
114,056 trees and shrubs valued at $21,684, 
and there were 46,147 trees and shrubs 
planted from the nursery during the sum- 
mer. 
A relative of Daniel Erdmann, for many 
years of the Park Board and also former 
president for several terms, will erect a me- 
morial fountain in his behalf in front of 
Mitchell Park, Milwaukee, Wis. 
Clark Howard, a landscape architect of 
New York, has been engaged by Colonel 
Harts to assist in the preparation of plans 
for the development of the ground con- 
struction around the Lincoln memorial in 
West Potomac Park, Washington, D. C. 
By means of terraces the ground around 
the base of the memorial will be raised to 
the same level as the ground at the base of 
the Washington monument. The basic ter- 
race will be circular in form. On its outer 
edge will be planted four concentric rows 
of trees, leaving a plateau in the center. 
In the center of that plateau will rise an- 
other terrace 500 feet in diameter. Whether 
this terrace shall rise gradually toward the 
base of the memorial or whether there 
shall be other terraces of varying heights 
is yet to be determined. From the main 
entrance to the memorial to the Washing- 
ton monument will stretch a wide esplanade, 
flanked on each side by two rows of large 
shade trees, probably English elms, form- 
ing a beautiful vista between the struc- 
tures. 
The new art museum being erected in the 
Deshong Memorial Park, Chester, Pa., is 
nearing completion. The museum is being 
built with funds bequeathed by Alfred 
Odenheimer Deshong. The entire bequest 
— land, house and art objects — approxi- 
mates more than $500,000 in value. 
The park at Fremont, 111., has been fur- 
nished with sliding boards and swings by 
public-spirited citizens. 
Joseph Roundey, of San Francisco, Cal., 
has suggested that the city purchase a tract 
of fifty-two acres fronting on Railroad and 
Paul avenues, to be developed into a park 
for people in that vicinity. 
