000_1882 Scrapbook of Newspaper Clippings Vo 1, 2005.120.001

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Church, the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, Eben D. Jordan, the merchant prince; Joseph S. Waterman, Linus Child, the eminent lawyer; George B. Nichols, William F. Weld, Joseph Houghton, Henry Pfaff, Martin Millmore, the sculptor; William W. Clapp, the journalist; Charles M. Clapp and William J. Reynolds.

Of the 28 commissioners and trustees who have been in charge of the cemetery, 17 are dead. The present trustees are: L. Foster Morse (president), James Bennett Forsyth, William A. Gaston, Robert B. Fairbairn, George R. White, Nathaniel Thayer Kidder and J.D.W. French.

PUBLIC CREMATORY ASKED. — Three Hundred Citizens Send a Petition to the Mayor. — Want a Building Where Bodies Can Be Burned at Cost—Charges Made by the Private Corporation at Forest Hills Are Too High for Poor People.

A public crematory is wanted by many Bostonians. A petition asking for the establishment of one by the city will be presented to Mayor Quincy today. It contains the names of some 300 signers, many of them prominent in the clergy and the medical profession.

These petitioners ask that the city build a crematory where such as wish may secure the burning of bodies at cost. The only crematory now in use in Boston is at Forest Hills, and is operated by a private corporation. The petitioners feel that the charges at this institution are beyond the means of such of the poor as desire this method of disposing of the remains of the dead.

The arguments for cremation are thus presented in the petition:

To the Mayor and City Council of BOston: We, the undersigned, respectfully petition the authorities of the city of Boston for the establishment of a public crematory, for the incineration of the remains of the departed without distinction of class, creed, color or race. The practice of burial, which means the increase the permanency of cemeteries within the limits or close neighborhood of cities, is attended wtih the following evils: 1, the appropriation of earth space required by the necessities of the living; 2, the disfigurement of the landscape and the casting of a gloom over the immediate vicinity; 3, the constant menace to health by the poisoning of the air and water; 4, the emphasis given to social distinctions and sectarian differences, by ostentatious monuments by the side of humble graves, and the exclusion of "pauper" and "heretic" from the sacred inclosure; 5, the greater expense of this mode of disposing of the dead, which brings anxiety ofttimes to the minds of the dying; 6, the robbery and desecration of graves.

Cremation, therefore, which avoids all these evils, by the substitution of the quick purifying action of fire for the slower and loathsome process of decomposition, may be said to be justified by reasons at once economic, sanitary, aesthetic and humane.

The petition has been circulated by the Social Alliance, through its secretary, T.W. Curtis. Among the names on the paper are those of George H. Hosmer, the Rev. Thomas Van Ness, the Rev. Charles F. Dole, Horatio W. Dresser, Ellen Harrington, Sophia M. Hale, Thomas G. Reed, M.D., P.T. Buckley, M.D., A.B. Drake, M.D., William H. Westcott, George D. Ayers, James C. Clapp, the Rev. B. Fay Mills, Pauline H. Hindobro, Abbie C. Lee, Emily P. Briggs, Kirk W. Caldwell, Francis J. Miller, M.D.

So far as is known, there is no city in the country which owns and operates a public crematory. The petitioners feel that here is another chance for Boston to distinguish itself as an aggressive, progressive municipality in the great sisterhood of American cities.

Crematory at Mt. Auburn At Mt. Auburn the building formerly used as a chapel is being altered into a crematory. It is to be constructed with all the latest improvements, and will be completed in October. The fitting up of a crematory at this noted cemetery is a source of satisfaction to those who prefer this manner of dealing with the dead, and it also indicates that this method is spreading in America.

[image with caption PRESENT ENTRANCE TO FOREST HILLS CEMETERY.]

[image with caption OLD EGYPTIAN ENTRANCE TO FOREST HILLS CEMETERY.]

Mayor Quincy will find no better field for the exercise of municipal control than in the matter of establishing a public crematory. The petition to this end, which has been presented to His Honor by some three hundred citizens, is entitled to an earnest and thoughtful consideration. Of course, obstacles may be found to carrying out the scheme, but if the cost of erection and maintenance of a crematory can be provided out of the public funds, the reasons urged by the citizens in their petition are weighty enough to turn the scale in their favor. It is an economic sanitary measure of no inconsiderable merit, and it comes before the city authorities backed by men whose opinions should entitle the petition to a hearing. Nothing of the kind has been done by any municipality in this country, so far as we are aware, but Boston's present mayor does not seem to hesitate about leaving the beaten tracks, and as an experiment, that of municipal cremation is one which can be commended to his attention.

It is interesting to observe that the announcement of another cremation comes almost as often nowadays as does that of the funeral services over the remains of an eminent citizen of this vicinity.

New York Cremates Only 600 a Year New York, Feb. 7—The fact that a large new cemetery is about to be opened on Staten Island for the burial of the dead of Greater New York has brought out the other fact that out of the 60,000 people who annually pass away in the metropolis only six hundred are cremated.

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NEW FEATURES FOR MT. HOPE. — Ground Has Been Broken for Mortuary Chapel, Administration Building and Gateway. — [image of sketch of mortuary chapel with caption PROPOSED MORTUARY CHAPEL AND GATEWAY AT MT. HOPE CEMETERY.]

Ground has been broken for the new mortuary chapel, administration building and gateway at the Mt. Hope cemetery, for which the city of Boston has made the necessary appropriation.

The plans which have already been accepted show that the improvements are on an elaborate scale, and will add materially to the appearance and convenience of the cemetery.

The chapel is at the right of the main entrance from Walk Hill street. It is 32x60 feet, and its style is early English gothic. At the base of the tower is the vestibule from which one enters the nave. At the end of the nave is the chancel, and adjoining the chancel is

the robing room, the organ and vestry of the chapel, all of which are finely finished. There is a porte cochere, or carriage way.

The tower is 45 feet high, built of stone, with turrets. A bell will be located in the tower. The entire structure is built of pudding stone with limestone trimmings, open timber work overhead and a slate roof. Oak wood is used, giving a very substantial appearance to the whole structure. The interior is lighted by stained glass cathedral windows and by electricity.

The administration building at the left of the new gates is about 50x40 feet, and is also made of pudding stone with limestone trimmings, and slate roof.

The main door opens into a large hall. On the right is the main business office, and on the left the waiting room is lo-

cated. The latter contains a bay window and fireplace. At the extreme end of the building is the trustees' room, the superintendent's private office, drafting room and toilet apartments.

This building contains two fireproof vaults for the preservation of the records. The heating apparatus for both the administration building and the chapel is located in the basement of the former structure. The administration building has leaded glass windows.

The parapet of the fence is of pudding stone, with an iron railing of a tasty design and handsome iron gates. The gateway is 20 feet high and the two lamps on the posts are lighted with electricity.

The architects are James E. Wood and Charles E. White, Jr., of the Ames building. The estimated cost is $40,000, and the work will be completed Nov. 1.

JOHN H. GLOUCESTER CREMATED. — First Ceremony of the Kind Among the Colored People of Boston.

By special request, made before his death, John H. Gloucester, a well known colored barber of this city, who committed suicide at his residence, 81 Windsor street, last Thursday, was cremated yesterday at 5 o'clock at the Massachusetts crematory, on Walk Hill street, Forest Hills.

It was the first cremation that has taken place among the colored people of Boston, and a crowd assembled at the crematory yesterday afternoon, eager to catch a glimpse of what was to it a novel way of disposing of the dead. Only the immediate family and a few particular friends of the deceased were allowed to see the coffin.

The services were held at 2 o'clock in the Calvary Baptist Church, corner of Waltham street and Shawmut avenue. The church was crowded. The services were conducted by the pastor, the Rev. George E. Stevens. Delegations were present from Plymouth Rock lodge, 1622, and several white and colored business organizations.

The pallbearers from the Plymouth Rock lodge were Noble Grand G.W. Morris, C.J. Johnson, Cornelius Briggs and C.H. Robinson. The honorary pallbearers were Julius C. Chappelle, C.J. Mainjoy, Daniel Elllot and John Robinson.

FUNERAL OF SAMUEL JOHNSON. The funeral of the late Samuel Johnson was held yesterday noon from the Old South Church, Copley Square. The great, dim church was thronged with people, and over row on row of the high-backed pews were seen the gray hairs of Mr. Johnson's host of old-time friends.

The services were conducted by President William J. Tucker of Dartmouth, in the absence of Dr. Gordon, the pastor, in Scotland.

There was no eulogy; only the Scriptural reading and a prayer. The church choir also sang two of Mr. Johnson's favorite hymns, "The Lord my pasture shall prepare," and "Hark, hark, my soul."

The body was laid to rest in Mount Auburn Cemetery, beside the grave of Mrs. Johnson.

Gen. Curtis Guild, Jr., had charge of the arrangements. He is a nephew by marriage of Mr. Johnson. The pallbearers were William Endicott, Henry Woods, Moses Merrill, Joseph H. Gray, E. Pierson Beebe, Dr. C.G. Weld, Thomas Motley, Thomas Perkins, John P. Lyman and James H. Beal.

The ushers were A.S. Covel, William Endicott, 2d, W.D. Mandell, Arthur Lovett, John Lawrence, John Lavalle, Edward H. Bayley and John Gordon.

NEARLY NINE THOUSAND CREMATIONS — Boston, with Four Exceptions, Has Contributed in Six Years More Toward the Total Than Any Other City — According to statistics about cremation in the United States collected by a gentleman in New York, more incinerations have been made in Boston than in any other city in the country, except New York, St. Louis, Philadelphia and San Francisco, although it is only six years since cremation began in this city. It appears that the first crematory in the United States was established at Washington, Pa., in 1876, and the second was built in Lancaster, Pa., seven or eight years later. The whole number of cremations made in the United States from 1876 to 1899 is 8885, these being the annual figures from the year 1883: 25, 16, 47, 114, 127, 190, 249, 372, 471, 561, 647, 831, 1017, 1101, 1391, 1699.

There are crematories in New York, Buffalo, Troy, Swinburne Island, Waterville, St. Louis, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Cincinnati, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, Pittsburg, Baltimore, Lancaster, Pa.; Davenport, Io.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Washington, D.C.; Pasadena, Cal.; Washington, Pa.; St. Paul, Minn.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; and Middletown, Conn.

LAND FOR BURIAL PURPOSES. — Peculiar Case Involving Intent of the Town of Winchester.

An interesting question as to the legal effect of a town voting, under Public Statues, chap. 82, sec. 18, to give a landowner the permission to use land for burial purposes, was involved in the case of Lewis Silberstein vs. the town of Winchester, in which Chief Justic Mason, in the Suffolk superior court, yesterday, overruled the defendant's demurrer to the plaintiff's bill. The plaintiff contended that the town vote granting the permission conferred a property right in the nature of a franchise to use the land for burial purposes, which right could not be taken away except by the power of eminent domain or by an exercise of the police power. The defendant claimed, on the other hand, that the vote conferred a mere revocable license to use the land for burial purposes, which has afterward revoked by the town in a subsequent vote of recission before any bodies had been buried in the ground.

The land, which is in the town of Winchester, near the Catholic cemetery and the Boston & Lowell Railroad Company, was up to Nov. 17 last owned by Maria C. Mills, when he bought it for $10,000. On Nov. 9, while she owned it, the town voted her permission to use the land for burial purposes, but later, on Dec. 28, after Silberstein had purchased it, the town voted to rescind its previous vote, and, the plaintiff alleged, the town is seeking to prevent him from using the land as a cemetery, though he has, meanwhile sold some burial lots there, and paid $2000 down upon his purchase and given a mortgage for $8000, the balance of the price.

The defendant filed a demurrer, claiming that the plaintiff's bill, which set up substantially the above facts, contained no case for equitable relief, relying mainly, in support of its demurrer, upon the contention that the first vote of the town merely gave a license to the landowner which it could afterward revoke, as it did, under the circumstances. The statute referred to provides that no land shall be used for burial purposes unless by permission of the town in which it is situated. Harriman & Daggett for plaintiff; G.S. Littlefield for defendant.

HER BODY WAS CREMATED. — Disposition of the Remains of Mrs. Ellen C. Johnson. — News to That Effect Received by Acting Superintendent of Reformatory - Caused Displeasure, as the Deceased Was Thought to Be Opposed to Cremation. [Special Dispatch to the Boston Herald.]

SOUTH FRAMINGHAM, July 11, 1899. At last definite intelligence has been received regarding the disposition of the remains of Mrs. Ellen C. Johnson, late superintendent of the reformatory prison for women, in Sherborn, who died in London two weeks ago.

Mrs. Frances A. Morton, acting superintendent of the reformatory, received, today, a letter from Mrs. Barrows, wife of the Hon. Samuel J. Barrows of Boston, a personal friend of Mrs. Johnson, who accompanied the latter abroad, giving a touching account of the sudden death of her friend, and stating that the remains of Mrs. Johnson had been incinerated.

This latter part of the letter was received as a great shock, as it was understood pretty generally among Mrs. Johnson's friends that she was opposed to cremation.

So far as its known, no definite arrangements have been made for bringing home the ashes of the noted philanthropist, but it is presumed that Mrs. Barrows and some other friends of Mrs. Johnson who are abroad will return together, with the urn containing the ashes of their dear friend.

A QUAINT CEMETERY — Little Old Phipps-Street Burying Ground in Charlestown — John Harvard's Obelisk—Old English Usages Imported and the Indigenous Gravestones—A Curious Epitaph—Tricks with Old Inscriptions — One of the oldest and most interesting burying grounds in New England is the Phipps Street burying-ground in Charlestown. It was founded probably within the first fifteen years after the settlement of Charlestown, although no mention of it is found in the town records until 1648, and the earliest date on the gravestones is 1652. It was known as Burial Hill, because of its situation on rising ground, overlooking the Charles River, which then flowed on two sides of it. Between the burying-ground and Main street was a marshy pasture, granted in 1656 to Solomon Phipps and Lawrence Douse, "in consideration of twelve pounds of good merchantable wheat and pease of each like quantity." To them was given also the right to feed cattle on the hill, but the town reserved for itself the ownership of the hill and a right of way through the marsh.

The present Phipps street represents this right of way. It is a short, narrow street, cut off at the end by the cemetery gates, through which, even from Main street, one catches sight of the grassy hill, with its ol stones and its shading elm trees. Except for Phipps street there is no break in the line of stables and tenement houses which now surround the buryingground.

The space occupied by the enclosure is small but crowded. The general plan is simple. From the summit of the hill paths radiate in several directions. A few circular cross paths cut them and a gravel walk surrounds the whole. On both sides of the walk are tombs. Those on the outer edge cannot be seen, but are marked by tablets in the boundary wall. The very first of them, on the right at entering, is a bronze tablet in memory of Oliver Holden, the composer of the tune "Coronation."

The tombs on the inner edge are built into the hill in long rows and angles, resembling somewhat the line of a fortification. Several are marked by elaborate coats-of-arms cut in slate, and many have the flag and markers of the Grand Army placed above them. There are nine flags on one row to tombs and eight on the next, but on the hill itself only one.

On the summit of the hill, occupying the most conspicuous position, is the granite obelisk erected in 1828 by the alumni of Harvard College, in memory of John Harvard, who died nearly two hundred years before and was buried somewhere on the hill. The exact location of his grave is unknown. Tradition has it that the gravestone was preserved until the time of the Revolution, and then disappeared, perhaps to become a threshold for the British barracks on Bunker Hill, as is known to have been the case with some of the other stones. The same tradition locates the grave near the present monument.

Some color is given to this by the existence of the tomb of the "Ministers of the First Church" close beside the Harvard obelisk. As the families are grouped on the slopes of the hill facing their homes, so the ministers may have been grouped on the summit as nearest heaven and so in a place of honor. The tomb is made of red sandstone marked at the end by a marble slab, which was placed in position by Mr. James F. Hunnewell during the present century. There is no other marking except the number of the tomb.

Tombs for ministers seem to have been common in the early days. There is one in King's Chapel Burying-Ground where Cotton and some of his successors are buried, and another in the Eliot Burying-ground at Roxbury, where John Eliot lies interred, together with his successors.

A general view of the Charlestown burying-ground shows a multitude of low stones huddled together in great confusion. A few have been, in later days, arranged in rows along the edge of the path, according to the strange usage that has prevailed in other places, but most of them seem to occupy their original positions in their family groups. They face in every direction and are set to close together as to make it evident that the graves they mark must overlap to a considerable extent. Similar overcrowding is noticeable in other old

cemeteries and is probably a survival of the old English custom of digging up old graves to make new ones. In England the bones which were dug up were deposited in the charnel-house, but we have no record of charnel-houses in New England.

There are a few gravestones in the burying-ground made of our native green stone, but the oldest and by far the largest number of them are short, thick slabs of greenish slate, which were imported from England. They are all cut from remarkable clearness and are in almost perfect preservation. Many of them are carved with the death's head at the top and a border of scroll work at each side. A few, but comparatively speaking, a very few, add the cross-bones, the hour-glass and the Latin inscriptions, Memento mori and Fugit hora.

After the imported stones, in point of time, come those made of our native purplish slate, a few of red sandstone, and finally the very few marble stones of the present century. The inscriptions on these are already nearly obliterated, while those on the slatestones of the seventeenth century are as clear as when they are first cut.

The oldest stone in the burying-ground is the gray slab which marks the grave of Maud Russell and bears the date 1652. It is one of a group of five on the southern slope of the hill. The oldest upright stone is close to the Harvard monument. It bears the inscription, "John Fownell Sonne of John Fownell Aged 18 yeares Dyed the 1 day of April 1654." This John Fownell, the father, was the miller of the tide mill, which was in existence as early as 1645, near the Middlesex Canal landing. He died in 1673, at the age of sixty-three, and his stone is still standing in another part of the burying-ground.

In the same row with the stone of the younger John Fownell are other old stones, two of which bear the dates 1664 and 1666. But on Burial Hill stones dating from 1660 to 1700 are so common as to become monotonous. Mr. Hunnewell, in his "Century of Town Life," enumerates over a hundred and fifty dating back of 1700. Something more than age, then, is required to attract attention.

There are some stones which are interesting from the names they bear. One of these is the stone of Ebenezer Breed, 1715. Exactly opposite are the stones of the Bunker family, from which Charlestown's other hill takes its name, and near by, on the other side, is the heavy granite slab that lies on the ground over the grave of John Long, who died in 1684. He was the proprietor of the Great Tavern, which he inherited from his father. The house was the original Great House of Charlestown, and for a long time the only tavern.

Another stone, interesting for the name it bears, is that of John Mallet (1722), the owner of the old powder house; and one of much later date is that of Rebecca Thoreau (1814), the grandmother of Henry Thoreau, the author.

Other stones are interesting because of the curious carving upon them. Prominent among these is the stone of Sargent Richard Kettell, who died at the age of seventyone, in the year 1680. An hour-glass is placed between two wings. Beneath is a skull flanked by two coffins and, a little lower, two hour-glasses. Beyond these are, on the left, a pickaxe and spade, and, on the right, a scythe, and, last of all, on each side, the cross-bones. In addition to these emblems, which are all Masonic, are three Latin mottoes. The whole is executed with wonderful beauty and clearness and with great attention to detail.

Another noteworthy stone is that of Phineas Pratt, who died in 1680 at the age of ninety, and was, as the inscription says, "one of the first English inhabitants of the Massachusetts Colony." He was the man who went through the snow, in the spring of 1623, from Wessagusset to Plymouth, to warn the Plymouth settlers of the Indian conspiracy. The letters on his gravestone are very ornate. All of the t's are old English and the 1 and 6 of the date are almost obscured by scroll work.

There are very few interesting inscriptions. The old stones, for the most part, have nothing but the same, age and date of death. Bible verses and poetry came in with the urns and weeping willows of this century. They are punctilious, however, in the use of Mr. and Mrs., which were then titles of honor, but which occur with surprising frequency in this graveyard.

The most curious inscription is undoubtedly that of "Mrs. Elizabeth Philips, Wife to Mr. Eleazer Philips, Who was Born in Westminster in Great Britain & commis-

sioned by John Lord, Bishop of London, in ye year 1718 to ye Office of a Midwife and came to this Country in ye Year 1719, & by ye Blessing of God has Brought Into this world about 13,000 Children. Died May 6th, 1761, Aged 76 Years."

The number of children seems to have been changed in later days. The 1 in the 13,000 has probably been prefixed, for it is the only slanting figure on the inscription, and the 3 which it precedes is very large, as though intended for the first figure of the number.

Another stone that has been tampered with is that of Mercy Ketell. The date 1692 has been changed to 1622 by the addition of a stroke at the bottom of the nine. This makes the date of her death seven years earlier than the settlement of Charlestown.

The same trick has been perpetuated in both the Copp's Hill and King's Chapel burying grounds. In the former the date of Goodwife Grace Berry's death has been changed from 1695 to 1625, five years before the settlement of Boston, and in the latter the date of Mr. John Thwing's death has been changed from Sept. 6, 1690, to Sept. 6, 1620, three months before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth.

The cemetery in Charlestown is at present well cared for and protected from such vandalism. Steps are being taken, also, by the city government to preserve the inscriptions as they now stand by having a complete manuscript record of them made.

Within the past year death has made heavy demands upon the ranks of Boston's most distinguished citizens, and the fatal termination of the illness of Mr. Samuel Johnson, of the firm of C.F. Hovey & Co., at his summer home at Nahant yesterday morning, makes a conspicuous addition to the city's losses in this respect. Mr. Johnson was one of the finest types of the old Boston merchant. He possessed in a high degree business sagacity and natural dignity, and that spotless integrity which is greater and nobler than all the factitious honors that it is possible to acquire. He was charitable in thought, word and deed, but while his philanthropy found frequent occasions for wise exercise, it was never on dress parade. His public spirit led him to take an active and helpful interest in religious, social and municipal affairs. Back on his high purposes there was a rich endowment of common sense which made his judgment and counsel of rare value upon all matters with which he was associated. For nearly sixty years he had been in active business and a notable figure in various spheres of influence and usefulness. To all this he added a kindly, almost benignant personality which attracted to him old and young, as an adviser and a friend. Few men have passed so many years of life as he, having so little waste to be accounted for at its close.

SAMUEL JOHNSON. By the death of Samuel Johnson Boston loses one of her best known business men. Although the member of a great dry goods house, and eminently successful through his connections in that line of business, Mr. Johnson was better known as a representative of a number of large and important trusts, among which was counted the Weld estate. It was in this capacity that his highest abilities were brought into play. He was an exceedingly shrewd, though at the same time conservative, investor, possessing that intuitive faculty of determining in what way purchases of land, shares, bonds or other forms of investment could be made, which, while securing the principal against the possibilities of large reduction, and even promising an increase, would at the same time bring in a good return upon the money invested. Mr. Johnson had seen estates under his control not only pay to the beneficiaries good and regular returns, but increase greatly in volume. In the religious life of this community, particularly that of a sectarian character, Mr. Johnson played a prominent and worthy role, and one which it may be difficult to find any successor to properly fill.

A LEADING MERCHANT DEAD. — Samuel Johnson, Member of the Firm of C.F. Hovey & Co., Passes Away at His Summer Residence. — Samuel Johnson, a member of the dry goods firm of C.F. Hovey & Co. of this city, died suddenly at his summer home in Nahant yesterday morning. Heart failure is assigned as the cause. Mr. Johnson, who had been ill for the past six months, had just returned from a visit to his sister, Mrs. Austin Phelps, widow of Prof. Phelps of Andover, at Bar Harbor, and appeared to be somewhat improved from his visit, and the discovery of his lifeless body at 7:30 o'clock yesterday morning was a great shock to his family and intimate friends. Death was peaceful, in keeping with the life of the deceased, who had contributed so much to making the conditions of others better and happier. He was 73 years of age.

Mr. Johnson was one of the most prominent and successful business men of Boston, and at the same time was one of the most kind-hearted and generous. To everybody who knew him, either in business, religous or social life, his death will cause profound and universal sorrow. Few men had so endeared themselves to those with whom they came in contact as the deceased, and he lived to see many of the charitable, educational and religious enterprises with which he was connected succeed in a measure which insured their future usefulness. — He accumulated a great deal of money in business, and gave it freely to objects which merited approval. He gave it while in life, and enjoyed the pleasure of witnessing the noble work which his generosity promoted. He was especially interested in the work of the Congregational church, of which he was one of the most prominent laymen, and gave liberally to its home and foreign missions. As president of the Congregational Club, he rendered valuable aid in the advancement of the interests of that denomination, and he was a leader in the liberal movement within the church. He gave freely to colleges and other educational institutions, and received the honorary degree of A.M. from Williams College for his gifts to that institution.

He was born in Boston, and received his early education in the Chauncy Hall school. At the age of 14 he entered the service of C.F. Hovey & Co.. which then conducted a wholesale business, and after six years entered the employ of Hovey, Williams & Co., in the capacity of a clerk. His adaptability for the business was later rewarded by a partnership in the firm, with which he was connected up to the time of his death.

He occupied many positions of prominence and trust, and in all of them his word was accepted as his bond. At the time of his death he was trustee of the Weld, Beebe and George O. Howe estates. He was president of the Boston Dispensary, president of the Congregational Club, vice-president of the board of managers of the Old Men's Home, a director of the Webster National Bank, and was prominently identified with many other enterprises.

During the winter he resided at 7 Commonwealth avenue, and for over 30 years had made his home in Nahant during the summer. He never held elective public office, but was at one time a sinking fund commissioner. In politics he was originally a Whig, but when the Republican party was organized he was a subscriber to its principles.

He leaves two sons, Wolcott H. Johnson, a member of the firm, and Arthur S. Johnson, president of the Boston Y. M.C.A., beside three brothers and one sister, the Hon. George W. Johnson of Brookfield, the Rev. F.A. Johnson of Andover, Edward C. Johnson, a member of the firm, and Mrs. Austin Phelps of Boston.

The funeral services will take place Wednesday at noon, but the officiating clergyman has not yet been decided upon.

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LARGE INCREASE IN CREMATIONS — Annual Report of Massachusetts Cremation Society Shows a Most Successful Year from Its Point of View — Twenty-five or more stockholders of the Massachusetts Cremation Society attended the sixth annual meeting today at 19 Boylston place. President Dr. James R. Chadwick presided, and read the report of the directors for the year just passed. It showed that the increase in the number of cremations from year to year has been very pronounced, there being, as an illustration, 230 such in 1899 as compared with 167 the year before. The total number of cremations since the crematory was opened is 869. In the past year the society has purchased approximately 118,000 square feet of land, mainly for the purpose of protecting itself from the erection of unsightly dwellings in the neighborhood of its plant. Notwithstanding the outlay and other expenses, there is at present a surplus of $5000 in the treasury, which enables the society to sign a contract for the completion of a chapel. After the reading of the report, officers were elected as follows: Clerk, John Homans, 2d; treasurer, John Ritchie; directors, James R. Chadwick, John O. Marble, Augustus Hemenway, Babson S. Ladd, Robert H. Richards, John Ritchie, John Homans, 2d, John A. Higginson and Richard W. Hale.

Among the prominent people who were cremated in 1899 were the following named: Mrs. Wolcott, mother of Roger Wolcott; William B. Gale, well-known lawyer; Rev. Samuel May, D.D., Francis W. Welch, Epes S. Dixwell, Walter Dabney, Russell Sturgis, Jr., Horatio Alger and Rear Admiral F.H. Picking, U.S.N.

ANOTHER BAR AGAINST AUTOMOBILES — Forest Hills Cemetery Directors Forbid Their Entrance on Cemetery Driveways Hereafter — Now it is the directors of Forest Hills Cemetery who have put automobiles under the ban. They have placed a sign at the main entrance to their property saying, "Automobiles are not allowed in this cemetery," and their reason for doing so is practically the same as that which led the Boston Park Commissioners to forbid the automobiles an entrance to the park system at the hours when the parks were most used for driving. They did not want to take the risk of runaway horses.

The secretary and treasurer, Arthur R. Potter, says: "We could not afford to take the risk of having automobiles cause trouble in the cemetery. We have agreements with a large number of lot-owners that we shall take perpetual care of their lots, and make good any damage there. Some of these lots include monuments or marble work valued at several thousand dollars, and the risk of having some horses frightened by an automobile in the midst of this valuable property is more than we want to take. A single runaway could do a good eal of damage, and if an automobile should suddenly swoop down on a funeral procession in the cemetery, there might be a regular stampede."

MT. AUBURN CEMETERY REPORT — Trustees of the Corporation Have Carefully Administered Its Affairs — In the sixty-eighth annual report of the trustees of the Mt. Auburn Cemetery Corporation are found some facts of interest to proprietors. The repair fund, the interest of which can only be used for the perpetual care of lots, amounts to $1,054,841, an increase during the past year of $68,- 576. The permanent fund, accumulating for the care of the cemetery after all the lots have been disposed of, amounts to $403,970, an increase of $10,611. During the past year much attention has been given to the establishment of a crematory and the necessary remodelling of the old chapel. The architect presented plans last April recommending the reconstruction of the chapel, and its use as a crematory chapel, rather than the construction of a new building for that purpose. His recommendations were accepted and his plans adopted. The approval of the State Board of Health was secured, the contracts for the alterations made, and the work was begun early last summer. The crematory chapel is now almost finished, containing retorts in the basement. It is expected to be ready for use before long.

The corporation is empowered to incinerate as well as bury bodies. During the past year the ashes of twenty-one cremated bodies were buried in the cemetery and the yearly number seems to be increasing. The new chapel was used for funeral services on seventy-three occasions. It is especially in demand where dwellinghouses have been closed for the summer season during the absence of a family abroad or where there is no home suitable for funeral services.

The superintendent's report states the total number of interments to be 32,415, with also 505 burials within the past year, making a total of 32,920. The report of the treasurer gives as a cash balance from the preceding year $12,210. He has received from various parties, from the sale of lots, $21,368; labor and materials on lots, etc., $39,248; for deposits in receiving tomb, $1353, in all amounting to $81,969. For deeds and transfers the receipts were $202; interest on loans, $5025; from Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company, for income on permanent fund, $8000; from Massachusetts Horticultural Society for one-quarter of expenditure for grading new lands for sale, $194; notes receivable, $50,000, a total of $157,000, including the balance of $12,210.

The expenditures during the year are reported as follows: Labor, $37,803; materials, $13,742; repairs of buildings and fences, $1549; receiving tomb drawbacks, $15; new chapel, $400; salaries, $7300; offie expenses, $2333; taxes on real estate, $1185; insurance, $100; amount paid Massachusetts Horticultural Society for its proportion of sales, $5310; graves repurchased, $65; amount paid Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company, for permanent fund, $6616; crematory and repairs on old chapel, $13,032; notes receivable, $50,000, a total of $139,450, leaving a balance of $18,148 in the hands of the treasurer. The receipts of the repair fund make a total of $197,- 859, and the expenditures have been, $163,- 188, leaving a balance of $34,671 in the hands of the treasurer. During the past year the endowments for perpetual care of lots were increased by $68,552, making the total $1,054,841. The general fund shows the cash assets to be as follows: Cash in hands of treasurer, $18,148; notes receivable, $100,000; bills for labor and material uncollected, $12,840; less what is due sundry parties for labor and material, $2228, giving a total of $128,760. The permanent fund now amounts to $403,970.

The other property of the corporation consists of nearly 136 acres of cemetery grounds, with avenues and paths, water works for the supply of fountains and watering purposes and underground pipes and drains, new chapel, office buildings and statuary, old chapel remodelled for crematory, observatory, receiving tomb, gateway and other structures, reception house and 5620 feet of land on Mt. Auburn stret; superintendent's house, greenhouses and 59,936 feet of land between Brattle and Mt. Auburn streets, the Coolidge lot on Grove street, containing about six acres, the Bird lot on Sawin and Cottage streets, containing about 44,000 square feet, and the Stone

meadow on the east side of Coolidge avenue, containing about five acres, on which are situated the stable and other buildings.

The annual meeting of the proprietors of this cemetery will be held at Horticultural Hall, Tremont street, on Monday afternoon, Feb. 5, at 3:30 o'clock, to hear the annual reports, choose trustees, consider an amendment to article two of the bylaws, providing for the creation of the office of an assistant treasurer, with such powers and duties as the board of trustees shall, from time to time, determine.

A recent decision of the Supreme Court, growing out of a dispute between the owner of a lot in this cemetery and the next of kin of some persons buried in the lot, has laid down some rules with reference to the title to and control of lots in a cemetery which it is well that members of the corporation should understand.

The Court suggests the doubt as to whether or not a deed or devise of land in the cemetery gives to the grantee or devisee an absolute title thereto, or merely the right to use the same for burial purposes, and decides distinctly that even if the absolute title is vested, the purchaser or devisee takes it subject to the continuance of the conditions which exist at the time of the change of title. No purchaser of [?] in which bodies have been interred or monuments or stones erected has any right to cause the bodies or monuments to be moved against the will of those who have the right to object, generally the next of kin of the persons buried in the lot.

From the language of the Court in this case it is also probably that is will be held, should such cases arise, that the title to a burial lot would not pass under a residuary devise in a will, but would descend to the heirs-at-law as intestate property.

The whole question of the nature of the title held by the owners of burial lots, their rights over such lots and their power to dispose of the same is in an unsatisfactory condition, depending largely upon the circumstances of each individual case.

These considerations emphasize the desirability of owners of lots in the cemetery taking action under the provisions of the charter to dedicate their burial lots for special stated purposes, or to convey the same to the corporation by deed for such purposes, and it is very desirable that this should be done while there is no question as to the title to the lots or as to the persons who have the right to make such dedication or conveyance.

The Board of Directors of the corporation have now under consideration certain proposed amendments to its charter which it is hoped will have the effect of making the status and rights of owners of burial lots more definite, and these they hope to submit to the corporation at its next meeting.

Respectfully submitted in behalf of the directors. ALFRED STONE, RATHBONE GARDNER,_Committe. Swan Point Cemetery Report 1900.

REPORT ON CREMATIONS — Massachusetts Society Has Disposed of 188 Bodies During the Last Year — There has been a falling off in the number of cremations at the Massachusetts Cremation Society's Forest Hills plant during the last year, due entirely to the erection of a similar plant at the Mt. Auburn Cemetery; nevertheless, it was shown at the annual meeting of the society today that the number of bodies disposed of, 188, was more than in 1898 and only forty-two less than in 1899. President Dr. James R. Chadwick presided and made a brief introductory address, after which the reports were read. The total receipts of the year were $12,686 and the expenditures $11,877, leaving as cash on hand $809. Included in the expenditures, however, was the cost of completing a chapel on the crematory grounds, and this alone took about $5000 out of the fund.

Prominent among those cremated in the past year were the following-named: Captain John Codman, Dr. Charles C. Street, Charles K. Whipple, Edmund Dwight, Barthold Schlesinger and Hugh K. Norman.

The following list of officers were elected for the ensuing year: Clerk, John Homans, 2d; treasurer, John Ritchie; directors, James H. Chadwick, John O. Marble, Augustus Hemenway, Babson S. Ladd, Robert H. Richards, John Ritchie, John Homans, 2d; John A. Higginson, Richard W. Hale.

RACE PREJUDICE IN A CEMETERY — The ladies of the Cemetery Association of Jackson, Miss., are going to ask the Legislature to pass a resolution authorizing the removal of the remains of James Lynch, former secretary of state, from the grave that they now repose in in the old city cemetery to another grave in Mount Olive Cemetery. The ladies some time ago applied to the council for the removal of the remains of the dead secretary, but the council was unable to do anything in the premises because of the fact that the State bought and paid for the lot and built the monument over the grave. The ladies think that the request that they will make of the Legislature is a reasonable one. They hold that the location of the monument in the most prominent part of the cemetery is objectionable to some of the white people who own lots there and have their loved ones buried there, and that the colored people want his remains buried in the colored cemetery. The ladies have been working on this for some time, and they are terribly in earnest about it. They feel that it is a request that the Legislature should make haste to grant. The resolution calling for the removal of the remains will likely be introduced some time next week or the latter part of this week, and the ladies hope that no senator or representative will vote against it.

The monument over the grave of Lynch is one of the handsomest in the cemetery, and is the only monument erected by legislative enactment in this State. The appropriation which built this monument was made by a Republican Legislature, and the bill was signed by Governor Ames. Lynch, who was from Cincinnati, came here during the carpet-bag regime and floated into office with the alien crowd which held high revel in this State then. [Jackson (Miss.) News.

FIRST CREMATION AT MT. AUBURN — The New Crematory There Was Used for the First Time This Afternoon— Building was Formerly the Chapel — This afternoon the new crematory at Mt. Auburn, which is in the building formerly the chapel, was used for the first time, the body cremated being one which has been in the vault for a few weeks. The new crematory is thoroughly equipped according to all the latest knowledge upon the subject, and is thought to be as fine a one as has yet been constructed. A specially notable feature is the careful provision for making the ceremony of cremation as impressive and as free from any feature objectionable to the friends as possible. The old chapel did not have a basement, and in order to provide one the floor has been raised several feet. This upper part is finished in brick, in a manner very similar to the new chapel; it is finely furnished, and is tastefully decorated with potted plants. Around the upper part there is a mezzanine story, of brick, which is intended to be used for the deposit of urns containing the ashes of bodies cremated, if the friends desire them placed there. Exastly in the centre of the main floor is the opening for the lift, upon which the casket is placed and lowered to the floor underneath, in front of the furnace. This is intended to be preceded, usually, by the committal service, and the friends can then, if they desire, stand around the opening and watch the consigning of the casket to the furnace. There are two furnaces, practically alike, and the process of incineration is accomplished by means of kerosene flames, driven into the furnaces at a high pressure. The process occupies about an hour. The cremation today was performed under the direction of Superintendent Scorgie and Asistant Superintendent Allen, and the equipments were found fully to meet every requirement.

April 18, 1900

47

CHAPEL TRANSFORMED — Becomes the Crematory at Mt. Auburn Cemetery. — Demands Made Upon It Are Beyond Expecations. — Skill of Both the Architect and Builder Shown. — About two weeks ago—April 17, to be exact—the new crematory at the Mt. Auburn cemetery was completed. THe old chapel was a convenient place, and in the hands of the architect has proved to be an admirable one for the installation. It was planned by the trustees in response to a certain, though only a small, demand which those familiar with the cemetery forecasted would probably amount to about 25 cremations in a year. There were eight cremations in the first two weeks, thus giving promise of at least considerably more during the year than the original estimate.

The Mt. Auburn crematory, however, is good for even a much larger demand, for, as might be expected, there would hardly be a niggardly provision in this regard. In point of fact, it is as large as any crematory in the country and is provided with all that experience has found to be good in crematory appliances. Not that there is so much that is new, as that commendable features in other plants have been grouped.

The most considerable change in the old structure has been in beautifying the chapel proper, where the final services will be held. The result is an architectural work of rare fitness, which may be dismissed for the moment. The crematory called, however, for a considerable task in the building, in order to meet the conditions imposed. A new basement was excavated, the general appointments so far as the public will ever see, of which might be called luxurious. The fittings, designed on the lines of a subdued taste, betray a generous expenditure. The incinerators do not afford a fertile field for artistic treatment, but are wholly divested of appearances that might be disagreeable. [?] necessary machinery is in a lower and rather distant room, avoiding the intrusion of disturbing sounds. — The incinerators are, of course, the essential features, and there are some new things about them that may be better understood by a brief review of cremation processes, which, dating back only 24 years in the modern acceptation of the term, have undergone a growth and improvement that is not generally followed up. When, in 1876, the first cremation society was formed in Milan, Italy, by people who had followed the teachings of Albert Keller there, the crematory process was crude and forbidding. The heat applied was the live flame of coal or charcoal, slow in action and attended with details that would have postponed any wide expension of cremation if left unimproved. Better furnaces were almost immediately devised in Paris and in Germany, by Garini and Schneider, respectively, which, with some small improvements, are in use today. Paris is, perhaps, the greatest cremating centre in the world, but even there, until at least a recent date, the flame of charcoal in one chamber was used.

Technically, this process is one of relatively slow and incomplete combustion, attended with smoke, which latter detail would never do in most of the United States. In this country the use of the burning oil spray has permitted a detail that has removed the objections to the foreign appliances. It is a secondary chamber—an additional retort, as it were—where the products of incomplete combustion in the incinerator are completely consumed. As a consequence of this arrangement, an almost unnoticeable detail, there is nothing apparent to an onlooker suggestive of the process going on within the incinerators. For example, some members of a funeral party watching for something of the kind could not tell where the chimney of the Mt. Auburn crematory was during a cremation a week ago, although within 50 yards of the chimney in full view.

The incinerators are fire-brick lined chambers, 8 feet long, 3 feet high and 3 feet wide. The four burners are each examples of a remarkable mechanical development, attained in the coal regions in other lines of work, where the burning oil jet has been wonderfully improved. The fuel is blown into the chamber in a fine mist that burns readily and completely; a term that implies no smoke. This burning is aided by the introduction of additional air under a pressure of 17 ounces, affording an ample supply of the necessary oxygen. A heat of 3000 degrees Fahrenheit is reached when fully working. To provide, however for a chance of incomplete combustion, the gases escaping from this chamber pass through another smaller one, where the burning jets and the supply of air are duplicated, after passing through which the products of combustion pass into the chimney, ina simple inodorous, transparent form—"purified indeed," as was observed by one of the reporter's informants. — The foregoing may be said nowadays of any first-rate crematory, of which excellent types are to be found at Milwaukee, St. Louis, Chicago and at Forest Hills, though each place is apt to differ in small details from the others, improvements suggested by experience and embodied in the structure at the time of installation, to be perhaps improved upon in later constructed plants. For example, at Mt. Auburn there is a simple provision, the importance of which would not be apparent at first sight, for supplying air under the bier, so that the flame entirely surrounds it. The bier rests on a sort of grating, the bars being of fire clay, hollow and perforated, the additional supply of air coming through the perforations. The device shortens the incineration by 15 minutes, and a subsidiary device of manholes in the side of the incinerator permits of the removal of the ashes within an hour after the beginning of the process. The perfect combustion attained by this arrangement is well illustrated in an experiment made here, when a barrel of excelsior, a very smoky substance when burning, was cremated and nothing found afterward in the retort. Nothing was to be seen coming from the chimney during the process, though it must have been disseminated in very fine dust.

The power needed in compressing the air and forcing the oil through the burners is supplied by an electric motor, which, with the air compressors and other machinery, is in a sub-cellar about 40 feet away from the incinerators and reached by an underground passage, the whole being designed with a view to avoiding the intrusion of noise during the final services. The work of incineration begins 45 minutes before the bier is placed in the retort, when the burners in the supplementary chamber are started. Fifteen minutes later the burners in the incinerator are started, the draught having by that time been well established, this step being intended to anticipate the arrival of the funeral party by half an hour. For a few minutes before the insertion of the bier the burners are turned off, the materials cooling down during the interval from 3000 deg. to about 1800 deg., or a condition of blackness, so that a view of the interior does not suggest the intense degrees of heat employed. The incineration is completed in an hour, and though the ashes may be removed after a brief interval, they are not usually removed till the next morning. — The chapel, as renovated, is a triumph in the architectural treatment of a place for mortuary services. The only changes are in the interior, which has been entirely reconstructed, the dominant note being supplied by reddish colored unglazed tiles, that cover practically the whole interior surface, except the floor. The plan of the chapel includes two arched galleries, looking out into the chapel proper, through arches, giving a crypt effect. This detail is understood to be a provision for a move not yet definitely decided upon, of having a suitable place for the deposit of urns and a view of the arrangement will at once suggest that it is a dignified and appropriate attempt at a problem that will probably press for solution before long.

The growth of cremation in the last few years would hardly be believed until one looked it up, so quietly has it come about. The year 1896, appears to have been a turning point, the number of cremations taking a relatively sudden rise and showing a steady increase ever since. Wider information on the subject is probably the prime cause, but it has undoubtedly been helped along by mechanical improvements in the process, especially the use of the oil jet, which removes many objectionable features of the earlier mthods. Considerations of this kind have an especial emphasis in the disposal of the dead, at a time when the most sacred feelings of mankind are most keenly apprehensive and sensitive. Nowadays nothing but heated air touches the body, which retains its perfect shape to the very end, wi en it falls together in a heap of white ash.

There are now about 30 crematories in the United States and a singular incident of their distribution is that they follow centres of the German population. This particularly evident in the

number of cremations. Of the 1360 cremations in New York last year about 900 were Germans and among the best and most used in the country are those in Milwaukee, St. Louis and Chicago. Paris still maintains its place as a cremation centre, but the cremation of paupers keeps up the numbers materially. In this country, the movement is very largely among the comfortable classes, who chose this method for themselves.

Perhaps the most marked result expected of cremation, is that of cheaper funerals. Simplicity is the prevailing note in the preparations for cremation, costly caskets with expensive metal armaments, being altogether out of place. In the West, they have arrived at trolley funerals, the companies furnishing special cars for bringing the party to the cemetery and the cemetery authorities providing a suitable hearse for conveyance to the grave or the crematory, the whole at an enormous reduction in the cost of a funeral. The great expense of a modern funeral, coming as it does suddenly and at a time when among the great body of people, financial resources are at the lowest ebb from the cost of sickness, is expected by those who are identified with cemeteries, to be the great popular incentive to cremation. The cost is more than halved, the expense of a lot being eliminated at once and a costly casket being an almost foolish waste of money, especially at a time when poor people need it most.

Monday Boston Herald May 7, 1900

MT. AUBURN'S NEW CREMATORY. Since the completion of the new chapel, near the entrance to Mt. Auburn, the trustees have reconstructed the old granite, gothic chapel into a modern crematory to meet the increasing demands in this country for incinerating the remains of the dead. By this new method, the modern scientific means of converting the remains of the dead into ashes in an hour replaces the old custom of decomposition to dust in a period of twenty years. Forest Hills has had for several years a crematory, incinerating several hundred bodies, and public sentiment has so changed that in the interest of the living the new method has the endorsement of scientific men and women to this end. It is truly "dust to dust" in an hour rather than in twenty years. In Paris the crematory belonging to the Pere la Chaise incinerates about ten bodies a day, or nearly four thousand in a year's period. In the short time that the crematory has been opened at Mt. Auburn ten bodies have been incinerated, and so perfect is the combustion that neither smoke nor odor can be detected.

The Boston Budget May 20, 1900

[image of crematory with caption NEW CREMATORY AT MT. AUBURN.]

The Boston Budget, May 20, 1900.