Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-05-25
GRAVE DESPOILERS.
Dust of Poor People in EImwood Cast
10 abe Wandering Wind.
The Dirt Upon Their Graves Carried
Away for n Roadbed.

Dissertation or obliteration of graves in
any civilized community is looked upon
with the gre attest of horror, and when an act
of the kind is committed every means within
the scope of law is generally resorted to to
punish the offenders. Our own Elmwood
Cemetery has warning boards posted through
out its length and breadth, threatening Of
tenders with the direst of vengeance; but a
visit to this same place yesterday afternoon
must strike the beholder with greater horror
than the
SCRATCHING OF ToMBSToNES,
the trespsssing on lots, the plucking of flow
ers, or other acts, when compared with the
rule now being enforced by the "one-man
power" and that is the leueiinc nth the
earth Of all single graves public pLats, leav-
ing no signs OF these last resting places, save
a post with number, and throwing to the
winds all floral decorations. The flowers and
rose-bushes and soddings of the graves al
ready leveled were thrown into the washes
made in the roads. and dirt thrown upon
them to make firm the ground. Single
graves newly sodded, ornamented with
shrubbery, and otherwise made to show the
respect of the living,
ARE ALL TO GO,
was the substance of the answer 10 an in
hJY
was answered by the Don't know; only
it's the captains orders" And why,
Monsieur lie Captaine, this dissertation?
Nearly all owners of these single graves are
people of no means sufficient 10 inclose their
dead loved ones ia any of the high priced
lots of the cemetery, but they do sod their
graves regularly and pay the cemetery office
for the work, plant flowers and decorate with
shells. They have paid all Indebtedness on
these graves, for no one can be buried in
this cemetery unless expenses are paid for in
advance, and why is it at this day that the
people shall see their work of love cast In
the roads and
DIRT THROWN UPON IT
to bury it from the sight of men and
make a smooth driving road for vehicles?
Is it because they are poor people and have
no rights that this 'ene-man power" shall
respect? Is!it because the president, superin-
tendent and others supposed to form a body
corporate desire to make a pasture-ground
where the point of the scythe in cutting
grass will not be driven
INTO THE LITTLE MOUNDS
that mark the resting place of poor per-
son? Or is it because this self
same "voice of lot-owners" wish to
speculate anew in these graves once
paid for, by making new burial ground?
1t ls SAID, also, tnat secuon IN lheir charter
permits this dissertation. Why is it this
section has not been published broadcast, SO
that these people could have made other ar
and not confined it to pamphlets,
which are distributed only among lot own
ers? If it is new law, why has it not also
been printed SO that the people could have
had time to remove the dead, or conferred
with the "bosses" of the cemetery. Let the
people of Memphis who have loved ones
buried in single graves, on these various
plats, protest against this distinction in cast,
and dissertation of graves. This leveling of
graves will be confined to those lying on the
public plats, while those in private lots will
be attended TO at the cemetery's regular