Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-03-23
INCINERATION.
Organization Of Cremation Society at
Chicago With Ample Capital
The Furnace 10 be
Started This Year - The Scheme as
Viewed From Sanitary Standpoint
Danger Of Cemeteries.

CHICAGO, March 22.-Much interest is fell
here in the recently organized Crema alton
Society. DR. Oscar G. DeWoif, health com.
missioner of the city, aud one Of the proi.c.
tors Of the enterprise, has been intervie ed
by Nslrs reporter on the subject and liz
answer to questions made the folio wing
| statement:
"Yes, sir, you are right; we have got a
crem auon society in Chic go al last, and
am glad Of il. We filed the necessary pa
psrs in Springfield Saturday under the in.
corpor tied name of the Cremation Society
of the Northwest, with capital of 500 900.
and naming Francis ]. LeMoyne, the famous
cremstiouist of Washington, Pa, William
| g. Stephens, Rufus G Hail, O. J. TrGesdaII,
Charles I. Psrkes, c w. Purdy, and myself,
as inco-pnraiesz W. propose to buitd an
I oven for the incinera;ion of human remains
Ia Chicago, and ] am quite sure we shall
| have The establishment running during the
| present year"
How did you come 10. be interested in
| such schemep
Because believe il is necessary to the
| health and happiness OF the living 10 do
away with The buryiDg Of the dead. Not
that l suppose incarceration will at once be-
come the popular mode Of doing away with
the dead, bu! the time has come when peo-
pie must consider means OF doing away with
the dead other than burying. The fact ia
We have no longer room for the burial OF the
dead within sale distance Of the living. Five
years age my attention WAS called to the
| danger of cemeteries by case in Grand
Rapids, Mich. Let me read you an extract
from the report Of the secretary OF the Michi-
gao State Board of Health He ssys:
Unfortunately we need not go TO France to
learn what is the Influence of graveyard
water on the public health. 10 February,
1875, l received letter from DR.. Chapman,
| OF Grand Rapids, cslling my attention 10
the serious sickness which had prevailed in
families liviog in a certain alley in that
city. From this letter / gather the follow
ing facts: There is a graveyard in Grand
Rapids called the Fulton Street Cemetery.
The soil in-this cemetery to the depth of ten
or fifteen feet is gravelly aud sandy, and
beneath this porous soil is a tenacious
clay which dips 10 the east, toward the
| alley, on which are ten houses. The people
living in these houses derive their water
from wells, which penetrate two or
three feet into the clay. In seven OF
these ten houses sickness of typhoid or ty-
pho-malarial type prevailed, the sickness
lasting from fifteen 10 thirty FIVE days. In
the family which has lived the longest the
| alley, OF six persons, five had The fever,
three Of them in very severe form. Some
OF the wells were rot more than twenty feet
from the graves. The impervious clay here
served IS water shed 10 convey the filtra-
| ton of the graves directly into The wells,
and these poor people were drinking cold
infusion Of death. Well, / went there and
Investigated the matter and found it
precisely as the Michigan officials re-
ported it. What more OF an in
centive could an intelligent man have for
aaak in fo ~ fal h. Ioi,
such daugers? Then, again, know of fully
twenty neighbOrhoods in New England,
country places, where people have been
actually murdered by tie drainage or seep-
age from cemeteries when they had every
good reason to believe there WAS no danger.
| But, they built their houses on knolls, their
ofal houses in the rear and their wells in
front, taking the surface topogrsF hically as
their guide and never investigating beneath.
| So, you see, as the general public must in
| time, II becomes necessary, for sanitary rea-
sons, 10 consider the propristy of cremation
| as a meaDs OF disposition of the dead"
| "But the objections 10 cremation-"
THE general public offer two objections"
interrupted DR.. DeWclf. "The fret is the
destruction of all evidence of violence done
| the body and the administration of poison
The second is the sentimental objection. My
answers TO these objections are: First, if
in csses of suspected poison complete and
thorough examination OF the tissues of the
body were made before the cremation, the
| objection is removed"
And the sentimental obiectiou?"
81 suppose long time will elapse before
cremation is universally accepted as the
proper method OF disposing Of The dead. The
idea that the destruction of the body by
| crem alton is Dissertation will long retain
its strong hold on The public mind. For my.
self, the incarceration of the body after death
by hot air is infinitely preferable to the slow
destruction by decomposition"
care you willing thSt your body should be
crema;ed after deathW
81 am, so far as my personal wishes are
concernrd; but that is a matter l should
| leave with my family"
SIS the process 10 bs used in Chicago the
same as that used by Dr.. LeMoyne at Wash
ipgiou, Pap
'No; decidedly not. The process we pro-
pose to use is great Improvement over that
now used by Dr. LeMoyne. There is mis-
| apprehension regarding the present method
of treating the body by iucineration or Gre
nation. The body is not exposed to the
direct action OF the fire. 1t is exposed to
The action Of sir, heated to 1000 degrees
| Fahrenheit, which reduces the body rapidly,
and without offense, to a handful of ashes
| lnefe ls ansOiutely nOtnlnS IN tue process 10
shock anybody"
when do you propose to begin building
| and what will the establishment cost?"
81 am sure we will begin pretty soon, bat
Just where the place will be located l do not
know at this time. l think $4,000 will b.
plenty to construct iurpace and buildings
ample for all present needs"
"What will be thsTcost OF cremating hu.
man bodyP
THE cost will depend largely upon the
number of bodies ready at any one time
| After the furnace is made ready, suppose
body could be cremate3 for very sun all cum.
"Whst encouragement will the movement
meet with in Chicagop
Gar greater than you imagine. Many
very many, people have expressed 10 M
their regret that such an institution is no
now in operation. Every day, time aud timt
again, people have come to ms and volun
teered hearty support of the cremation
scheme. 1t mast become popular in time
and in my opinion will eventually take th
place of burial"
Cremstsd.
PITTsBURG, March 22.-The remains 0
Charlss Soehner, a noted Gsrm IN reyolu