Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1869-06-03
EV1 ENING STAR.
O Az HILL CEMETERY.
Repsrtt q ,he Investisating C,mmi,ie

In the 8 TAB CT Wednesday, 2eth ult-, refer
Ing to the rsport of the COMMITTEE of Investi-
CATION apl pDiutsd by the lot holders OF Oak Hill
when was submitted to a meeting 2
Of said lot holderSon the 25th ult., we Published
what we sfaiIoed then, and still clain, 10 be the
! urport that document. That publication
lnotwith' finding II was, rs we have heretofore
'aied, er corSed as an accurate summing mp O {
the easel " one of the In vestigtting COMMITTEE
u ho sig I'd the repor:,) has been the OCCASION
Of vaIio y attacks upon the STAB through the
column iof several newspapers. These, how.
EVER, " ne all evidently from the same quarter
As they had a strong family likeness. In some
OF them ut was boldly asserted tn At ninetesa oU'
Of the fy,Tty. Rres "charges-' made By M
CO-eoI IA against the Superintendent and the
nsuae sment were sustained by the report
Ealsn is men IN buckram resiTirHs. mark
now how plain q tale shall pu. yon
down We have not yet beea furnished with
n copy of the report by those who complained OF
our alb strac, but inde bed 70 the courtesy ofa
lot hoi der for the privilege ofreading IT through
ands lall now lay the result before our readers
who can then judge for themselves whether
our REF bat entirely dispassionate review Of
the II ,port was in accordance with the facts
1t WI Is certainly prepared without any prsju.
dice for or againsteither party TO the controver-
sary,. but merely with the design OF inform.
ing the public as to- the merits of the case,
whi oh we make point of doing in all matters
which msy tie OF interest to any considerable
portion OF our readers. We have quoted the
word charges" above because the committee
have thus designated certain written state-
ments or Suggestions of Mr.. Corcoran number
ed from 1 TO "A, some Of which do contain
charges against various parties, but others are
merely memoranda Of private grievances
Of Mr.. C., and one or two seem to have
no significance whatever. except IN so far
as they show the aninus of the whole
series. II must bs borne in mind that
of these charges some are against the Superin-
tendent, the most serious OF which are not sus-
tanned by the committee, and the others agains.
the management. OF these latter. the commit.
tee sustain those which charge a want of sys-
tenn in the manner OF keeping the accounts and
records o. the cemetery. This defective system
was inaugurated by the first managers-four
in number-named in the charter, twenty years
ego, by Mr. Corcoran himself The present
managers, il is admitted, have improved the
system. and inaugurated reforms. Now, who
are the present mapagersl The only one who
has been associated in the management for so
long term as seven years, is Mr.. Corcoran
himself, elected in 1872. Mex comes Mr.. Geo.
w. Beali, not elected till 1866; Captain W. r.
). Sanger, not TIL 1s6s: and Mr.. A K. Shep-
herd. not till the present year. Nov
! II tnere mas been lcoseness or admins
tratiOn all this time, who is responsible for it,
Those who commenced wrong, and others, who
silently acquiesced in the alleged mismanags.
nent fer all these years. or those newly elected
managers, who coming At q late day and
finding things wrong, are admitted to have
commenced the work Of reforml Nr Corcoran
is entitled to every word the committee has
said ir bis behalf in so far as his munifcenc.
is concerned, and his claim TO the gratitude of
these he has benefited should not be ignored
but IN a matter of this kind, lie, there be fair
play all around. Let us not be dazzled by the
glitter OF the gold so generously devoted to the
public good. The reputation OF those other
men concerned in this controversy are as dear
to them as Mr.. Corcoran's to him, and should
be as carefully guarded.
We come now to particulars The commit
tee set ont in their report with the statements
already referred to. as TO the want Of proper
and rigid system Of Accountability. The blame
for this rests, as has been said before, princi-
pally on the former managers, but /. is proper
to add In the same connection that it has not
been shown that this want Of system has led
in any case to any misappropriations of the
funds Of the company. The report then takes
up the twenty four so.called sscharRes" of Mr.
Corcoran, and the committee say go Charges
Nos. 1, 2, S, 0, IL, ~ II, l6, Is and 10 have been
fully sustained" Now let rs see what these
charges" are that are fully sustained. No.
reads:
.There has been NO examination Of the books
OF the superintendent since the organizatiou of
the company in lsi9, although every effort has
been made 70 include the examination Of his
accounts with those Of the secretary and treas
urer. which was stsadily opposed BY the Board
OF Managers, As the records will abundantly
prove"
Who is this q charge against Which Board
Of Managers has opposed an examination Of
the books J Who made every efort to have the
examination made The committee may have
had more Information than thsy give on these
points, but to an outsider the only thing clear
is, thai the fault. II any, Of the present man.
ayers seems to have been to take things as they
found them. And the same remarks applies
to No. 2, which Is as follows:
"The receipts and disbursements t. AT the Gem.
etery have been very heavy. amounting to
have been made al the end of each month, or
rather about the middle Of the subss Queut
month, IN gross, sometimes only stating the
sum received, without date or item, and IN one
case settlement was omitted for five months
We learn, on inquiry, that the omission of
settlement by the Superintendent for five
months was in consequence Of the illness Of
Mr.. Henry KING, the Secretary Of the Com.
pany, since deceased. And yet this charge is
set down as "fnlly sussainsdr'
IS. Recently an item Of si2U appeared in his
(the Superintsndenrs) weekly return received
be moneys received by him at various times for
vault rents, some Of Is paid him nearly three
years before" efrf
Would II not have been a. well for the com.
mittee TO have added, In explanation Of this
tact, that this el2O cons isted OF twelve sums of
Sl0 each; that being the amount required to 10
advanced by party depositius dead body in
the vaults, 10 be credited pAea tN said body mas
remored
No. requires no comment 1t Is as follows:
.sWhether he (the Superintendent asain) did
not esi siablish o yard for the sale OF monuments
for Q party in Philadelphia, for whom he was
agent, ard by his conduct In this agency deter
other stone.c utisrs In The District from compe
titionl"
No. ie 10 in reference 10 the unsatisfactory
condition Of the lot ledger. and No. Ii 70 notes.
amounting to sI2.Oo0. lying over uncollec,ed
These, Of course. are only specifications on the
general charge "want Of system, already fully
explained. No-l4 is . complaint that the board
voted down q proposition Of Mr.. Corcoran's
that he should nominate the Treasurer, become
his security, and pay his salary. How this
complaint il set down as "eharge," and as
fully sustained )" we cannot understand. The
board had certainly . right TO accept or TO vote
down a proposition offered oy one OF their
Y.s H.