Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-02-18
DESPERATION.
nepIor-'l'e Condition of 'he Old Come

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 The CrrIzES iu it's issue of yesterda, ! had occasion t1 call the attention O ' those concerned to sacrileeiuus act. that were being committed in the New 1 Cemetery. To-day occasion demands that it go step further and invite notic, to the deplorable condition of the olC cemetery on North Stone Avenue, wher, under municipal authority monument, are broken. head boards torn down graves leveled of, vaults dug op sn, theil contents trampled undsrioot and mixed with the debris Of the destroyed tomb then carted away and used as street filing.
 That the city needs the land for othe. purposes Is no palliation fer great wrong. That the friends O. the dead had been advised tO have the bodles re, moved and that many of thera have not complied with tLe mandate of tue law excuses DO one. Other cities have so grown that their early cemeteries havd from homes oI dead, become the very heart of life, but preparatory to tue transition the dead have been reyeren. italy removed, ana Ii needs be, rem tered at the public expense. l. then remains with Tucson to commit an act of shame that has no like Tn the present century.
 As the old cemetery had been in use for many years II is well filled, and III time agOne appears Go have been at tended with great care. A hISh adobe wall had encircled the entire square, and many of the t0mbs, constructed of brick and mortar, apparently as enduring as time, were evidently prepared, consider ing the resources then at hand, with much labor and expense. Now they are being dug down and together with their contents used for the purpose named
 At intervals during the past year peo- pie with more curiosity than decency nave broken open vaults tail Of which are above groundJ either m the hope Of a little gain or to satisfy morbid de- sire that does credit 10 DO one In one vault, open for months, the mOulderlng skeleton Is, or was d week since, plainly visible. as was the Lccaying coffin and black lace with which the coffin had been adorned, and as II to add insult to injury, some vile wretch had thrown in a dead dog that vet remains unless the vault has been torn down during the past week and all shoveled into com mon hole.i
 Adjoining the old cemetery and shar- Ing the same Unholy fate. k another known as the Soldiers burylng ground in which sleep fully one hundred brave defenders of the flag That they too should be treated as dead dogs, and every mara Of their resting place obht- erated and trOdden under foot, should reach further than the corporation limits of Tucson, and touch nations pride, f r they Of all men, are deserving of 8 better remembrance.
 At the head of one stood marble slab lthe only one la the cemetery) erected by his company to perpetuate the name ot cOmrHde, a yOuag Englishlnan, aged twsuty-three, but it Is now broken In pieces and She grave Is to be leveleu off. In rowe on either side, sleep scores of others, who perhaps were not less merl- tOrious or brave, bIt whose mounds, marked oniy by tue regulation board, which time has scanned and worn till not line remains tD tell who they were, how they fought and where they fell, and should the mandates of the au- taorities be enforced not even heap oi earth will show where underneath they rest.
 That branch of the Grand Army of the Republic claiming organization here vi ] prove recreant to their trust if they a. low the graves Of their dead comrades to be thus wantonly detiled. The matudl sharing of privarion and dangers should not be so early forgotten. lf the arten- tion Of the proper authorities jI Wash ington be called to the matter they wOuld, In all probability, give the ease their much needed attention, and until such things can be done the city should not be allowed Go level off their graves as purposed.
 The condition of the cemeteries as a whole. has hardly been half told. but enough has been said to reveal a coEdi- ton uf things unknown in time of peace in Huv other city in Chri-teuGofn