1882 Scrapbook of Newspaper Clippings Vo 1 025

12

[Column 1 of 4]

FIRST CREMATION IN BOSTON.
---
Body of Lucy Stone Burned at
Forest Hills Crematory.

Dying Wishes of the Deceased Com-
plied with at the Yet Incomplete
Structure of the Massachusetts Cre-
mation Society - Nothing to Mar the
Solemnity of the Occasion.

According to her oft-expressed wish
when alive, the remains of philanthropist
Lucy Stone were cremated Saturday after-
noon in the new crematory at Forest Hills,
and the ashes were delivered to Dr. Black-
well yesterday.

In 2 ¹/₂ hours the body of the great
thinker and leader among women was
transformed into a little pile of ashes, to be
properly preserved in an urn and guarded.

Among the few permitted to witness the
incineration were Mr. Henry B. Blackwell,
husband of the deceased, Miss Blackwell,
her daughter, Mr. Frank J. Garrison, Dr.
James R. Chadwick, president of the Mas-
sachusetts Cremation Society, John Ritchie,
treasurer, and several of the directors,
with Mr. L. S. Ipsen, the architect of the
crematory building.

The remains, which were placed in the
Forest Hills cemetery receiving tomb Oct.
21, were taken away Saturday afternoon
in the casket to the new crematory. There
were no services.

Though taken to the preparing room, the
body was allowed to remain in the original
casket when it was placed in the retort, or
furnace, which was at a white heat. Heat
was produced by massive oil burners.
There was no odor, no smoke - nothing, in
fact, to lead the outside world to suspect
that "ashes to ashes" was being accom-
plished as quickly as it could be. No in-
usual incident occurred to mar the solemn-
ity of the extraordinary occasion, and the
cremation made a profound impression
upon the witnesses.

The crematory is not yet completed, but
it was Lucy Stone's dying wish that her
body should be among the first consumed
in its fiery furnaces, as she was herself
foremost among the advocates of this
method of disposing of the dead.

One retort was barely ready for the great
event.

The building, while ready for use, is noot
fully finished inside. It is hoped to com-
plete the chapel in the spring.

The Massachusetts Cremation Society,
under whose directions the first cremation
of a body in New Englands has been ac-
complished, was organized for the purpose
of building and maintaining a crematory
for the people of New England. Other
sections of the country are already pro-
vided with such buildings.

The society has about 1 ¹/₂ acres of land
on Walk Hill street, opposite the rear en-
trance of Forest Hills cemetery, and upon
this lot the crematory stands.

When completed the crematory will be a
handsome building of rough stone known
as felsite, which is quarried at Mt. Hope.

There are eight other bodies which are to
be incinerated at the crematory as soon as
arrangements can be made. Some of these
will probably be cremated this week. The
bodies have been kept packed in ice, and
some are in the receiving tomb.

Herald, Jan. 1, [18]94.

[Column 2 of 4]

THE REVIVAL OF CREMATION.

Now that this city is about to have a crema-
tory, it is well to note that the progress of this meth-
od of disposing of the dead. The first crema-
tion of a human body in a closed receptacle
took place at Milan in January, 1876. Before
that year, in 1869 and a few years later, cre-
mations occurred at Breslau and Dresden,
and the first of theser were under the charge
of Professor Brunette. Italy has always
been an encouraging field. In 1888, 500 bod-
ies were cremated, and 250 at Dresden. Since
that year, the custom has increased in Ger-
many, and, under the encouragement of Sir
Henry Thompson, has received much in-
dorsement in Great Britain. Denmark has
legalized it this year and stirred up the ill-
will of Dr. Johannes Clausen, bishop of
Aarhus, who has recently written a pastoral
to his clergy about the introduction of what
he finds no better term for than a heathen
rite. In Gotha, a crematorium disposes of
600 bodies yearly, and now two more are in
operation, one at Ohlsdorf and the other at
Carlsruhe. Even Australia has had this
subject discussed in the House of Assembly,
where it failed to be confirmed, though it
was carried through and universally in-
dorsed by the Legislative Council. The cler-
gy, for some reason, have not meddled with
this matter.

The church congress at Manchester dis-
cussed it, and a member put forth the plea
that the introduction of such a custom
would endanger belief in the resurrection of
of the dead. The reply of Lord Shaftesbury
silenced any further doubt when it asked,
"What, then, had become of the holy martyrs
who were cremated?" Others found in the
burial service of the Episcopal Church, in the
words "ashes to ashes", enough to convince
them that this method of consuming the
dead had a quasi indorsement. The chief
objection is a religious one, but it is now an
ascertained fact that in peculiar circum-
stances even the Jews allowed cremation,
and their descendents today in Berlin,
Spain and Portugal are practising it.

The sanitary side of this matter is gaining
friends every year. It is no longer a ques-
tion to be settled upon the revelations of the
past. What difference does it make to be
told that the Greeks and Romans burnt
their dead, and that Christianity inaugurat-
ed the necessary change of interment to
make more apparent some special teaching
of its own? Nothing is really affected in
Christian teaching by cremation. There is
a sentimentality about burial which easily
could be removed to cremation. When Sir
Henry Thompson writes understandingly of
the dangers encircling burial, especially
with reference to zymotic diseases, one feels
inclined to hold one's breath and wonder
whether the risk of infection and contagion
from corpses is duly considered. Be this as
it may, the clergy are no longer silent, and
one of their number, holding a prominent
position in an adjoining city, has allowed
his name to be associated with this method,
and written with good effect in favor of it.
Other conversions like the recent one of the
Duke of Westminster may assist in disarm-
ing prejudice, and if the clergy can speak
the wise word from a sanitary point of view,
there may spring up the reverence and sa-
credness which has long been associated
with burial around a "crematorium," the
buildings where last sad but impressive rites
may be performed.

[Column 3 of 4]

THREE TIMES BURIED SINCE 1889
---
Husband and Father Unable to Agree Upon
Grave of the Former's Wife

The deceased wife of Austin B. Mer-
ritt of 2 Belvedere place, Lynn, and
daughter of Warren Daniels of Salem
has been interred three times so far,
since 1889.

It is all through a family quarrel
and the matter will probably have to be
settled in the courts. Mr. Merritt de-
clares his deceased wife's remains will
have to be moved again. Mr. Daniels
wants them to repose in Greenlawn
cemetery, Salem, which Mr. Merritt
wants them nearer his own home, in
Saugus.

For two hours yesterday the body
remained in front of the Salem City
Hall in an undertaker's wagon, until
a permit could be obtained to reinter
the body in Greenlawn cemetery. Mean
time such a crowd gathered that Mayor
Turner was compelled to ask the under-
taker to move on, which he did.

Mrs. Annie J. Merritt, it seems, died
in Marblehead in January, 1889, and was
buried in Greenlawn cemetery. A week
ago last Tuesday the husband, who has
again married, visited this cemetery
and had the body removed to Saugus,
where it was placed in a grave.

On the following Thursday the father
visited the cemetery to place flowers
on the grave of his daughter. He
was horrified to find the grave open and
the body gone. On making inquiries he
discovered that his son-in-law had re-
moved the remains.

Yesterday morning with a local un-
dertaker he visited the cemetery in
Saugus and started with the body
toward Salem. He arrived there just
before noon and then learned that
under the conditions of the new burial
permit he could not reinter the remains.
Mr. Daniels sought legal advice and
later obtained permission to bury the
remains under the old permit. The
body is now again reposing in Green-
lawn cemetery.

Merritt, so it is said, married his
first wife's aunt and they are now liv-
ing happily with his three children.

Merritt says "Daniels did not pay the
expenses of my wife's funeral. I did,
and have papers to prove it.

"I will have the body back in the
cemetery in Saugus. I will compel
Daniels to bring it back too."

HERALD Feby 26th

CREMATIONISTS CELEBRATE.
---
They Rejoice the Incineration Idea Is
Steadily Growing.

[Special Dispatch to the Boston Herald.]

NEW YORK, July 21, 1893. Nearly 500
persons were at Fresh pond, Long island, to-
day, taking part in the dedicaton of the
new Columbarium recently erected there
by the United States Cremation Company.

The Columbarium, which has been in the
course of erection during the past year, has
just been finished, and the directors of the
Crematory Company though it would be
fitting to celebrate the 1000th cremation.

When the guests arrived at the crematory
they naturally turned their attention im-
mediately to the new marble Colum-
barium, which was the centre of attract-
tion. It is a handsome two-story
white marble building. It is 60
feet long and 40 feet deep. The building is
entirely of stone, marble and yellow brick,
and is thoroughly fireproof, the cost is said
to have been $25,000.

Louis Lange, the chairman of the cre-
mation company, opened the exercises
with an address. He said when crema-
tion was first discussed in this country, the
people laughed at the idea. Many who
smiled then admit now that cremation
is the proper way of disposing of the dead.
Mr. Lange also said: " In the pas 10 years
in the 15 cities that have crematories, the
increase has been fully 50 per cent, in
each city." This statement was received
with applause. The New York Arion
Mannechor of the 50 members then
effectively rendered several selections of
appropriate music. Among the speakers
invited was Prof. Felix Adler, who is an
enthusiast on cremation; De Long Scudder
of New Jersey, John Storer Cobb of Boston
and Kate Field.

[Column 4 of 4]

HEDGED ABOUT WITH LAWS
---
Many Formalities Necessary in
Cases of Cremation.
---
Permit Necessary Every Time the
Body is Moved and When the Ashes
Are Taken Away - Remains Must
Be Viewed by a Medical Examiner
Before Incineration - Peculiar Case.

It is impossible to procure a "through
ticket" to the grave, via the Massachusetts
crematory.

This is not intended as a facetious state-
ment on a subject too serious for joking,
but as a statement of fact in the language
of the day.

The old burial laws were marvels of sim-
plicity and directness compared with the
formalities surrounding this new method
of disposing of the dead.

The statement is not made as a criticism,
however, for it is not easy to see how they
could be made less stringent withour dan-
ger.

Take the case of Lucy Stone, for example.

After her death it was first necessary to
get a permit from the board of health to
have her body removed from her home to
the cemetery. Then when her friends de-
sired to have the remains removed to the
crematory another permit was necessary,
and when her ashes were conveyed
from the crematory to the grave still an-
other permit was in order. This is the re
quired formula.

Another interesting feature of the cre-
mation ceremony is that before the body is
disposed of in that matter, it is necessary
that it should be viewed by the medical
examiner.

This is to provide against the disposition
of bodies in cases of foul play and the like.

Supposing that a person was poisoned,
and was buried without that fact being
discovered, and that in the course of a few
days or a few weeks suspicions of foul play
were aroused, these suspicions could be
verified or disproved by the medical men
after the body has been exhumed.

After the body has been incinerated, how-
ever, the scientists are powerless; hence
the precaution.

Seven permits for cremation have thus
far been given out at the health office. In
six of these cases the ashes of the person
incineration have been buried in ceme-
teries.

The seventh case was an exception, and
quite a peculiar one, too.

A few days ago a lady called at the office of
the health authorities and said that she de-
sired to removed the ashes of a friend who
had been cremated.

She was told that no permit would be
given to any one who was not a regularly
licensed undertaken, notwithstanding the
peculiar disposition which she proposed to
make of the ashes of her friend, which were
to be strewen, according to the wishes of the
deceased, about the old New Hampshire
home in which she was born.

The lady had to go to an undertaker, and
the ashes were then scattered according to
the desire which the testator had expressed
in life.

Herald, Jan. 17, [18]99