00_1885 Scrapbook of Newspaper Clippings Vo 2, 2005.120.002

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ALTERATIONS MADE Cambridge Tribune — Crematory at Mount Auburn Cemetery Will Be Second to None in the Country—The Plans.

The crematory at Mount Auburn Cemetery, which is considered one of the best in the country, is being extensively altered to suit the needs of the present day, and to eliminate some of the unpleasant features of the o[l?]d construction.

In the first place, the Roots blower, with a small pressure and much superfluous noise, is being replaced with a positive pressure blower made by the General Electric Company. The Roots blower is the kind used to smelt ore at times. The blower is used at the crematory to force a draught on the coffin as it lies in the retort, to aid in its combustion. The new blower has a pressure of from three to four pounds, and is practically noiseless.

The three hand elevators, one of which is used to lower the bier from the old chapel over the crematory to the level of the retorts and the other to raise the huge bricks, each weighing half a ton, which seal the retorts after the coffin has been put in, are being replaced by three electric motors, installed by the Clark & Mills Electric Co. The motors will be muffled so that the slight noise they make in operation will not reach the ears of the mourners in the chapel.

A power house is being built under ground, directly in the rear of the crematory, and will be 25 by 20 feet in size, whereas the old power house was but 14 by 10 feet.

An entirely new feature will be the crypt for the reception of urns, which will be placed in the old chapel. The architect of the crypt is Willard T. Sears, and it will be finished in about six weeks.

The process of cremation is on the increase, as is shown by the records of the cemetery. In 1907 there were 210 cremations at Mount Auburn, and for the first six months of this year there have been 136. Each year has had an increase over the last.

The process of cremation at Mount Auburn is made as easy for the mourners as possible. When the new elevators have been installed the bier will be lowered to the crematory under the chapel after the services with no perceptible noise. The bier rests on rollers that are kept in smooth running order. When the bier has reached the level of the retorts the large bricks that seal the entrance are removed and the coffin is run on rollers into the retort, which has been previously heated to a high temperature, and the heat and air are turned on for from threequarters of an hour to an hour and a quarter, until the coffin and body are entirely reduced to ashes. Then the ashes are removed in such a way that they are all obtained. The coffin nails are removed with a strong magnet. The ashes may be delivered to relatives of the deceased a few hours after the cremation has begun.

Crude petroleum is the fuel used, and forced draughts of air are needed to aid in the combustion, and a heat of from 2,000 to 3,000 degrees fahrenheit are needed. At present there are two retorts at Mount Auburn. The gases from the retorts are carried to a chamber where a high temperature consumes them before they pass to the chimney. Thus no smoke is ever seen, only a slight wavering in the air above the chimney, just as heat waves are seen rising from a radiator.

TO VISIT MOUNT AUBURN CEMETERY.

MOUNT Auburn Cemetery, in Cambridge, Mass., is one of the "show sights" of Boston that few visitors miss seeing. From remote sections of the United States and from Europe the sight-seers come. But it is on Memorial Day that the local throng gather en-masse there, thereby giving evidence that the memory of the noted dead is still kept green. This cemetery was the first burial place to be laid out in the United States as a "garden cemetery," and although the plan has been imitated in other sections Mount Auburn is still the loveliest spot for the interment of the dead in the land, and a celebrated spot too. Various causes combine to bring about this. Its great area, its natural beauties, the age of its trees, the original designs of its gardening taken in connection with the famous persons whose dust lies there, render it a place of great interest to the thousands upon thousands of people who visit it every summer. For the guidance of any of our readers who may see it for the first time next Monday buried there:—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, Philips Brooks, James T. Field, Kate Field, Fanny Fern, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Edwin Booth, Charlotte Cushman, Noah Worcester, Charles Sumner, Theodore Thomas, William Warren, Henry W. Dutton, Jane G. Austen, Erminia Rudersdorf, Louis Agassiz, Edward Everett, Anson Burlingame, William Ellery Channing, John Murray, Hosea Ballou, Robert C. Winthrop, Rufus Choate, Dorothea Dix, Josiah Quincy, Paran Stevens, and numerous other men and women eminent in life, and closely identified with the name and fame of Boston. There also lie buried on various sites several Scotchmen of local repute, among them being Robert Ferguson, John Taylor, Wm. MacDonald, David Thomson, James Kelt, Peter Donald, James London, Dr. W.G. Coale, Alex. McDonald, and 216 bodies of less known Scots who were buried by the Scots' Charitable Society in their private lot numbered 816, containing 1,819 square feet on a leading avenue. The poet Longfellow's lot is on a path named Indian Ridge, numbered 580. That of James Russell Lowell is just below on Fountain Avenue, numbered 323. There is also a fine memorial to John Lothrop Motley, on Indian Ridge Path, numbered 318. Another interesting feature is the Ossili Memorial, erected in memory of Margaret Fuller (Ossili), the famous writer and reformer, who was lost at sea (1850). Our countrymen, Mr. J.C. Scorgie, is superintendent of the cemetery, and is always courteous to visitors, and ready to aid them in finding the various paths. His office is in the chapel on the left of the North Gate. In the vestibule of his office are the statues of John Winthrop, the first Governor of Massachusetts, James Otis, John Adams and Joseph Story. The Sphinx opposite the crematory is also a fine work of art, designed by Martin Milmore, sculptor. The tower on Mountain Avenue is worthy of a visit, the top of which is 200 feet above sea level. From it a good general view of the cemetery and surrounding country can be obtained, and attention may be called to the slope view south of the tower, where a park effect is obtained by the exclusion of tall headstones, and granite enclosures. Mount Auburn is reached by the Cambridge line of electric cars from Park street and Scollay Square, Boston.

TOMBS ON Boston [?] COMMON Jan 21-/07 A PERIL — So Says Cemetery Supt. Scorgie, Following Cremation Address — That the old tombs on the Common are a menace to public health was the statement made yesterday by Superintendent Scorgie of Mt. Auburn Cemetery, following a reference made by Albert F. Parsons while addressing a public meeting of the Cremation Society of America in Kossuth Hall.

While speaking of what he calls the dangers of earth burial, Mr. Parsons said: "Superintendent Scorgie can tell stories of Mt. Auburn Cemetery which will make any hearer resolve never to place the body of any dear one in the ground."

When this statement was called to the attention of Superintendent Scorgie, he said, last night:

"I think that Mr. Parsons must refer to the old tombs which the authorities of Mt. Auburn Cemetery have been gradually getting rid of.

"These tombs are without doubt unsanitary.

"I believe that the old tombs on Boston Common are a menace to public health.

"They are built in an old-fashioned way, with a brick arch. A current of air is constantly circulating through them, and the body might just as well be out of doors. A person standing a few feet away can easily detect the smell of a decaying body. Burials in these old tombs should be forbidden.

"We have some of these tombs in Mt. Auburn, but we are tearing them out gradually."

When the matter was called to the attention of Health Officer Dr. D.D. Brough he said: "Though bodies in these old tombs might give forth noxious gases, they would not cause the spread of disease, unless death was caused by smallpox, yellow fever or some other contagious disease.

"Of course, if death was caused by consumption much harm might be done, for the germs would be still active in the lungs of the corpse and would pollute the air near the tomb." — BENEFITS OF CREMATION URGED

When speaking at the cremation meeting, Mr. Parsons spoke of the burying ground as a "constant menace to public health."

"The great argument for cremation," he said, "is for the living. Few people realize what a terrible menace are the cemeteries. There is reason in the instinct to avoid them, for over the graves and tombs float vapors and emanations of deadly power, and all the poets have had to say in the past about earth burial cannot blind the scientist to the gases which fill the air around and above grave yards.

"Terrible epidemics have been frequently caused by graveyards. History shows that epidemics of plague have followed the excavation of ground in which 300 years before victims of the disease had been buried. Flocks of sheep have died from eating the grass in fields where plague victims were buried.

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[Illustration: PLAN OF MT. AUBURN CEMETERY]

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CEMETERY QUESTION Watertown Enterprise March 26, 190[9?] — Feature of Adjourned Town Meeting===Voted Not to Accept $12,000 Offer. — The article relative to the request of Mt. Auburn Cemetery Corporation for a permit to use the Stone estate, East Watertown, for burial purposes, was the feature of the adjourned town meeting last Monday evening. There were many who had opinions on the matter, who did not hesitate to express them, and after arguments on both sides were concluded, the town voted decisively that the corporation should pay to the town a sum of $20,000 for the privilege, and further consent to the passage of legislation permitting the town to acquire sufficient land to widen Mt. Auburn street at the bridge.

When Hon. James H. Vahey arose to make the report of the committee appointed to investigate the matter, all ears were pricked up and listened to Mr. Vahey relate the opinions of himself. Mr. Charles Brigham and Mr. G. Frederick Robinson (the latter [t?]wo also members of the committee). The committee, he stated, had several conferences with some of the trustees and counsels of the cemetery corporation. The committee asked for a larger sum than the $12,000 already offered, arguing that the town had not been treated fairly by the corporation when Mt. Auburn street was widened. The corporation representatives agreed that the town should have the privilege of acquiring the necessary land to complete the widening of the street, but at the last conference held Friday afternoon, flatly refused to pay a cent more to the town than the $12,000.

The committee, Mr. Vahey said, unanimously believed that the town should not grant the privilege at the price offered. The price to be paid the Stone heirs by the corporation for the estate is $35,000, which is at the rate of about six cents a foot. The cemetery corporation, Mr. Vahey stated, is getting on an average, $2.75 a foot for lots, which means, considering that one-third of the Stone estate is devoted to paths and other uses, making it unsalable, that the corporation would be getting approximately 55 times as much for the land as they are paying. The committee believed the price of $35,000 for the land was a just price, but thought the corporation could well afford to pay a higher price than $12,000 to the town.

Selectman Walter C. Stone followed Mr. Vahey, and stated frankly that he was interested in the sale, as he was one of the Stone heirs. He stated, however, that further than that he believed that town should grant the privilege. He said that the selectmen had spent a lot of time considering the matter and consulting the cemetery authorities and had succeeded in raising them for $7,500 to $12,000, which amount, he thought was as high as they would pay. He was sorry, he siad, that the special committee did not see it in this light, but he felt that their report showing that the corporation had refused to pay more than the $12,000 was a compliment to the judgment of the selectmen. Mr. Stone pleaded that the town needed the $12,000 this year, it meaning that the tax rate thereby would

be about a dollar less. Even the finance committee, he said, in their printed report had counted on the receipt of this sum. Mr. Stone suggested that a compromise be made, and the town offer the privilege for $15,000.

Mr. Charles M. Abbott opposed the granting of the permit even at the price of $20,000. He believed that the town should receive a much larger sum. He pictured the possibility of the estate, if not taken by the cemetery, becoming a second Whiting Park, or Otisville, bringing high taxable property to the town.

Mr. J. Winthrop Stone, another of the Stone heirs, and who now rents the land which the cemetery people propose to buy, spoke in favor of granting the permit. Referring to idea that this piece of property might some day be valuable residential property, he stated that it is situated almost between two cemeteries and that the land was not fit for farming. "If God Almighty intended this land for anything," he said, "it was for a grave yard." As to the cemetery being forced to purchase the land sooner or later, he claimed that at the present rate of burial, partly because of the number of cremations, the corporation have enough land to last them sixteen years.

Mr. Charles F. Fitz believed that the town had already too many grave yards and that this permit should not be granted at any price.

Mr. John E. Abbott differed from his son, and favored the $15,000 suggestion, believing that the sum was a fair price.

Mr. Charles Brigham spoke in defence of the report of the committee and rather criticised some of the speakers for not confining themselves to the serious side of the matter.

Mr. Vahey again spoke and this time particularly emphasize the defiant attitude taken by one of the trustees at the last meeting. He ended by amending the motion made by Mr. Stone, changing the motion to read $20,000 instead of $15,000 and adding the clause relative to the widening of Mt. Auburn street. The question was then put to the voters and carried.

Selectman Charles A. York reported for the committee on the purchase of the new truck and told the meeting that the machine had been placed in commission.

Article 12, the drainage question, was indefinitely postponed and article 13 on the acceptance of Adams street was stricken from the warrant.

Under article 14, $2200 was appropriated for the building of Fayette street for a public highway.

The proposal of the selectmen to sell all the unused land at the town farm caused a great deal of argument. Chairman Cunniff spoke in favor of it and Herbert Coolidge, John G. Hegberg, G. Frederick Robinson, C. M. Abbott, James Madden, Chester Sprague, Walter C. Stone and Frank H. Barnes took part in the debate. The whole matter was finally indefinitely postponed.

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THE WESTMINSTER ABBEY OF AMERICA ATTRACTS ITS HUNDREDS OF VISITORS Jan. 18—1903 Boston Sunday Journal MOUNT AUBURN CEMETERY is characterized by Edward G. Sanger, formerly of Cambridge, as the Westminster Abbey of America.

He writes as follows:

"In every land there is some spot where its great men lie buried, and toward which they took in life with satisfaction as their resting place. Not that great men are not entombed elsewhere, but that this central spot is justly regarded as the one famous place where is gathered the noblest dust of the honored dead.

"In England, Westminster Abbey is the Mecca toward which the world makes its pilgrimage, especially among English-speaking peoples. There sleep is stately marble grandeur, English Kings and warriors; and there its great poets and statesmen, they who have truly made England great. As one has rightly said, "They honor their burial place more than they are honored by it,' but so long as Great Britain maintains its supremacy in the eastern world, so long will Westminster Abbey be the proudest spot for monuments to its heroes and benefactors.

"On this side of the water, no single building compares with Westminster Abbey, but in the great cemeteries of America are gathered the dust of her great men. The most famous of these is Mount Auburn, in the city of Cambridge and State of Massachusetts. The city itself is one of the most historic in the land. Here at the very beginning was laid the foundation of Harvard College, which still lifts its head above all her sister universities, justly holding the first rank among American institutions of learning. Here Washington, under the elm tree still standing, took command of ther American army. Here Longfellow and Lowell lived, and here Oliver Wendell Holmes was born.

"On the borders of this city, about four miles from Boston, lies Mount Auburn. Like Jerusalem of old, beautiful for situation, and though retired from the hum of business, yet easily accessible. It does not seem like a cemetery, but rather like a garden, so admirable is its plan and so perfect its keeping. The ground is undulating, its highest point crowned with a beautiful granite tower.

"Here sleep more of America's illustrious men and women than are to be found in any other single enclosure. Notable among these are Edward Everett, Charles Sumner, Henry W. Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, Anson Burlingame, Louis Agassiz, Rufus Choate, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Nathaniel P. Willis, Robert C. Winthrop, Phillips Brooks, William Ellery Channing, Charlotte Cushman, John Lothrop Motley and Jared Sparks.

"Hundreds of visitors every day wander through its beautiful paths and stately avenues, seeking the resting place of those who have added to the world's fame, and drawing inspiration from their deeds while living. To sleep at last amid surroundings like these makes one feel that he would not be forgotten, and is itself an inspriation to a noble life."