The New York herald., 1877-02-18
THE FORGOTTEN DEAD.

DISTURBING THOSE WHO HAVE sLEPr FIFTY
YEARs-ExcAvATING TOMB AT PRINCE AND
MARION sTREETs-No REGISTER KEPT By rHR
cHuIcH-Two HUNDRED AND FIFTY ooErsEs
ExHUMED-sEvENTEEN WITH NAMES AND
BUT ONE CLAIMED
One day last week Mr.. Charles J. Day. general fur
nishng undertaken and the sexton OF the Frst Pres
byterian church, OF this city, began to vault
attached 10 the dlapdacd sacred edice at the
OF Prince and Marion streets rhe building is now used
as FREQ dormitory for impecunious men, Mr..
schehine, tho druggist, having phlanthropically OBJ
tanned permission TO devote the deserted structure
that use. The vault question was supposed to con.
tam 200 or 800 bodies, and had not been touched
the hand Of man for nearly thirty years. The action
OF Mr. Day the melting OF OF the seals OF tho
past HIS authority Tor the resurrcconist act is ound
in the following paper
TA1'" Ds'AHTlasT saw iSn. NS ao as Mos5 81 ss
sIn-A, a mecting held this day 1t was
Resolved That the Register OF Records be hereby
authorized and directed 70 grant permit remove dead
streets Maple Grove cep%sIsiS ,or in.s'%eni. '''
APPEARED
Armed with this doleful paper Mr. Day proceeded 10
the vault question began tear aside the brick
and mortar shroud which had enwrupped tho corses
below Tor half century. Can speak OF his act
nippantly as tho breaking Of the Day? Back OF the
action OF the Health Department Mr. Day had the au
thory ofthc Presby OF tho church. which owns the
building and the ground on which 1t stands
Originally this church was built and occupied
by the First Univcrsaist society of the city
II then sold To the reform Prcsby.
terrain church, when that ourishing theological ostab
shmcnt under the control OF DR.. Mcleod. Time
hv md fba huit priuc
streets fell into the hands Of the shiloh
Presbyterian church tcolorcdl Shortly after
that mutation the Rey Henry Hyand
pit The shi throw the properly into the hands
OF the Prcsbytcry and when they got advantageous
offer they resolved to soil IT, For some three four
years II was utterly idle Tho philanhropc gentleman
mentioned conceived tho idea OF turning its vacant,
orthodox backed pcws into beds, ana during
all this winter The shiloh church, by which name
IT is generally known. has been refuge Tor
about 800 nightly miscrabes. Mr.. Day. who was seen
aught iuture Of corner other than that the
church wos to be torn down and that machine shop
or some other kindred cd,nce o. pu,sating cvznion,
was to be erected upon its site But quite naturally
II became necessary to wake the sleep OF tho dead
the vault on the epst side OF tho building and transfer
them to where they could slumber uninterruptedly
until the last trump
'UNDERNEArH THE GROUND"
Work was begun last week and continued until Fri
day evening, when the last CARLOAD OF ghasy rubbish
was taken away. Five or six men we're employed
constantly Everything was done carefully and with
the idea OF flashing into to-day any legend which
tho corrodcd plates might bear Out OF the $50
bodies removed there were only seventeen that
had the sacred insignia of Identity about them Many
plates were found, generally copper with sil.
yerca surface but they were lying around loose hav.
he applied to the solution Of any story. II
is to be regretted that no memorandum Of them
met with that ncarly all the caskcts
had either disintegrated or In that
touch. The unrecognized bones tendery put into
boxes and taken TO common grave at Maple Grove
In the place that tho descendants readily
them all tho kind Offices which postery owes to the
ancestry that gave IL birth.
SEVENTEEN"
Hero are tho nnmcs OF the recognized ones
Adam Steele (adult) ---.
Mary Jane vanderpooe. died February 10, 1s-,
aged ~ years and IL days
Joel Holden, dlcd 10Th February $780, aged o1 years
Jane Poole, died August -, 1910. aged SO years.
Mary Hail. died september -, 1925 aged IL years
William T. r. Randolph, died November 8, 1883, aged
25 years
Samuel Ncill died November H. 1s41, aged 27 years.
Moses Stephenson, died July g. 1sl4, aged A years
Stephen Peter Lawnc, died October 10, 1924 aged AZ
years. months and II days The only silver plate.
John McDougal, died January 23, 1924, aged 55
years.
- Travis (adultl
Ann Jane Blair died August IS, 1897, aged IA years
Mary Ann Essex, aged 33 years.
Henry d. Colt, died May rs, 1888, aged months and
25 days. This coffin was entirely whole
Philip kcssncr died 4h OF June, 1887, aged "a
years
Catharine Belts, died November Is, 1886, aged 5
months This coffin entire also. Both II and tho
one containing tho RENAME OF Henry ID. Colt were
placed IN separate caskcis
''ARE FORGOT ?''
Ono OF the most remarkable facts about tho excava-
tion Is that there be found register
dead. Az tho time thcy were placed In the vault
tho manner OF their burial tho Of the city,
bu. It seems strange that scratch of Idle pen
used to link them with the present. There was
black walnut coffin found in the vault, which is
chamber about seventy feet long, nine cet high and
ten feet wide. The boxes were either mahogany or
pine, showing c0ncusivcly that the png up had pccn
conducted on the most democratic principles While
the excavation was gong the workmcn
used Kerosene lamps. Originally the church prop
crty had embraced the adjoining lot on Marion
street, but when the Reformed Presbyterian church
built n parsonage there the dead in the graveyard
bcyond were removed to the tomb Just dcspoilcd In
connection with this subject IL may bo interesting
know that all public vaults closed In April 1851
1'ryato vaults had special immunity but IRON that
time dated tho cemetery movement, ms II Is under
stood In the rapidity OF its growth Mr. Day
spoke Of many hundreds Of bodies beng in
vault under the Bedford church and testified
to having removed in his time something like 2 600
from tho ground OF tho Rutgers street Prcsby eran
church. That was done In 1865. or the seventeen
known bodies only one claimed yesterday. II was
that OF Moses Stephenson. and II, anx-
ious TO do tho kindly Offices that the occasion de-
mauded.