The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-05-22
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t-e-------S--------- IuESOAft my 80 49,
!, Board met ct 10 a. Mo prr1'nset e
call. "
Present--Messrs. Wilson, Salisbury,
Alexander, Wallace, Handlan, Simpson,
Jacob and Good. ,-~,.,
.The President then stated that the
object Of the meeting was to take INTO
consideration the following petition Of
Lewis Lunsford and others:
TO The Honorable Board Of Ssperrisers of
Ohio CosRty, Vest VirgiRia: :,
Your petitioners, landowners and
wood Bottom, on Wheeling Greek, about
two miles from the city of Wheeling,
in the said county, respectfully repre-
sent that they have invested at least
-- Thousand dollars in the pur-
chase and improvement of real
estate situate In Leatherw0od Bot
tom; that each of them has pur-
chased or erected dwelling house on
his property, and, now resides in the
same, except the EOff house held by A.
j. Cecil; that since yonr petitioners
purchases and improvements as afore-
said, to wit On the oath day of Sep
TENDER, 1866, Carl Yager and Louisa,
his wife, by deed of that date conveyed
to Thomas 0'Brien, John T. Sullivan,
Josiah +. Updegraff, Patrick kennedy
and Peter w. BOsley o parcel of ground
situated in the said Leatherwo0d Bot
tom, near the residence of yourpetition-
ers, and containing nine acres, more or
less: that your petitioners have lately
understood that it is the intention of
those holding the said parcel of land,
or those for whom in fact it is held, to
convert the same into a cemetery, and
! your petitioners here state that several
| inte: ments have already been made
therein and that arrangements have
been made to remove thereto the re-
mains of one hundred persons now
buried in other cemeteries. Your petit
TONERS further represent that of the said
nine acres not more than two or three
acres are fit for purposes of interment, the
residue being low, swampy, and under
water at every considerable rise OF
Wheeling creek; that the portion which
is suitable for a cemetery Is on high
ground, higher than the residences of
Some of your petitioners, and much
higher than the wells of all of them,
which are so situated that the drainage
from and through, the said cemetery,
and the bodies there inferred, must un-
avoidably reach such wells, from which
alone your petitioners can procure
water for drinking and culinary pur-
poses, thus intlicting upon them per
manent and irreparable injury; that the
establishment of this cemetery In the
midst of the residences of your petit
TONERS, and its proximity to them, must
produce continual annoyance to your
petitioners in other respects, rs by the
assembling of idle and ill-disposed per.
sons, especially on the Sabbath day,
and the commission OF trespasses
on the grounds aud the destruction and
| theft of the fruit, flowers, &c, OF your
petitioners; that by reason of the mat
tiers hereinbefore recited and of the pop
ular opinion concerning cemeteries, the
property of yonr petitioners must be
| Injured and its value decreased to the
amount of not less than $4,000. and
that the county and State must lose the
revenue derived from that taxable value.
Your petitioners further state that the
establishment of a cemetery in the place
mentioned was and is wholly unneces-
sary and unwarranted, not only because
the ground chosen is insufficient and I'M
suitable as before stated, and its
proprietors can only expect to in
crease its area and make it answer the
purpose by annoying and driving away
the adjoining proprietors and purchas-
ing their land "a part of which would
be very suitable for burying ground)
at much less than its value, but be-
cause those for whom the present pro-
posed cemetery is in fact held, possess
and control tract of one hundred acres
on the opposite side of Wheeling Creek
suitable for purposes OF lnterment, at
several places on which a cemetery
might be located with propriety anu
without injury to any one, your Peti-
titioners, therefore, pray your honorable
BODY to take such steps as will prevent
the establishment and continuance OF
the said proposed cemetery, and as III
duty bound, &c.
HELEN s. EoFF, LEWIS LUNSFoRD,
HELENE = ILCHRIsT, CHESTER D. KNOX,
ADAMS DopsoN, GEORGE w. ROSE,
S. NJ. DoDsoN, b. NJ. EoFf,
Mr.. Wallace then read the 9Th section
of"An Act for the Incorporation of Gem
etery Associations" passed by the Leg
islature March I'd, 1864, which reads as
follows:
Sec. ). The Trustees of such associa-
ton shall have the exclusive control
ard management of the concerns there
of; and all elections for trustees shall
be by ballot; but tho Supervisors of
each county may make such regulations
in respect to burials in cemeteries or
elsewhere as they may judge the public
health and decency may require.
Mr.. Peck then appeared as attorney
for the petitioners. and laid before the
Board n map showing the location OF
the proposed cemetery and the grounds
of the petitioners. He then rehearsed
the argument set forth in the petition,
and claimed that the statute read con-
ferred upon the Board the right to pre-
vent the establishment of the proposed
cemetery, on the ground that it was in
furious to the public health.
Mr.. Jacob thought the Board had no
jurisdiction in the matter.
Mr.. Lamb, attorney in behalf of the
defendants, said it was necessary for
people to be bnried, and is always pos !
sible that their burial may prove an in
convenience to some one. In this case,
while you might assume authority in
the matter, it is yet not proper tribn-
nal to make a decision. The Court is
the proper place to complain, and the
aggrieved parties can sue for injunc-
ton, and the defendants, will then have
full notice, and there will he full hear
ing of the testimony on both sides. If
this Board decides it is the proper tri-
bunal to decide such matters, it is like
" that its time would be fully occupied
by the consideration of like complaints.
The section read confers no jurisdiction
on the Board in this matter, according
to the Constitution of the State, the
36th section of article of which says: