The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-10-22
CREMATION OF DIR. GROSS.
Tho First Authoritative aud Circumstan-
tlal Account OF the Inoineration Pub
lished.
baltimore Day.J

EnO uhh
tlal Account OF the Inoineration Pub
lished.
BIB baltimore Day.l
Among the papers read at the session Of
the State Sanitary Council at the Blue
Mountain House this week was one by DIR.
st. George W. Teackle, entitled "What
Shall We Do With Our DeadT In the
course of the lecture he read letter from
Benjamin F. Horwitz, giving detailed
account OF the cremation of the body OF
his father-in.law, Prof. Gross, of Phila'
delphia. Extracts from the letter follow:
~ had often promised DR.. Gross that II
/ outlived him, as, considering the dis
parity Of our ages, ii was likely l should,
that would accompany his remains to
the Lemoyne Crematory. 1t was simply
a perfect spring day; the sun shone
brightly, the air was balmy, the birds
were twittering in the trees and the low.
ing herds were grazing peacefully on tho
hillside. The building was divided into
two apartments, one reception or rather
preparation room, and the other contain
ing the furnace and retort. The coffin was
taken from the hearse by Mr.. Gross, DR..
Horwitz, my son and myself acting as
pall-bearers, and placed on a table ar
ranged for It's reception in the preparation
room. Every one then withdrew except
the undertaken and the body servant. The
coffin was opened, the body taken out, dis
robed and placed In sheet saturated with
preparation of alum, intended to pre-
vent the singeing or scorching Of the
body as It was placed In the
oven. The body was then placed on
what is called an iron crib, that Is, an
iron frame, with small bars about -four
inches apart running along Its entire
length, which Is about seven feet, and II
stands on feet about six inches high. The
oven door was opened, the crib, with ths
body on 1t, was run In, tho door closed ant
the process of .incineration at once began
The Lemoyne Crematory, which lis Of
rather a primitive character, costing fol
the building, retort, furnace and every
thing complete s., 500, requires twenty y-fou
hours heating before 1t is In condition
| for the incineration TO properly begin;
this, In DR.. Cross case, had been.attended
to before our arrival, consequently there
was no delay. .... ...
D "The incineration began as soon as tn,
door Of the oven ,closed. About two hour
and half after the body had been PLACED
| In the oven Mr.. Dyer, the Superintendent
informed us that the incineration wa
complete. We looked through a small
hole, placed in the door for tn
purpose Of enabling the superintendent b
watch the progress of the reduction t
ashes, and found his report to be correct
There was not a vestige Of the body to b
seen. Mr.. Dyer then informed US that
would require twelve hours for the fur
mace to become sufficiently cool to permi
the removal Of the crib and the gathering
Of the ashes. We we're present either II
the building or In the grounds surrounding
1t, during the entire time occupied by tn
incineraton, and there was not the leas
unpleasant odor or anything calcu
lated to shock in the slightest degree th
tenderest sensibilities Of the most refine
human being. On the contrary, every
thing passed of in such q way tina
death and burial seemed to be robbie
of more than half their horrors. W
left for Washington about three o'cloc
in the afternoon, after seeing the cr'
matory locked and giving instruction
to the Superintendent to permit no on
to enter until our return the next (Friday
morning at ten o'cl ock.
awe returned at the appointed time al
found the furnace sufficiently cool. II
crib was removed and then the ashe
which had fallen through 1t to the bo
tom (which is made Of fire.bricks) OF I'll
oven, a distance Of about six feet, wei
carefully gathered, placed In a metal r
ceiver, which was then covered and car
FULLY and firmly soldered. The ashe
which in fact we're nothing but carb'
nate OF lime, were OF course as clean m
nice as pebbles freshly gathered from III
seaside, all impurity and everything ca
culated to make dead body horrible al
disgusting having been resolved !uto the
: original elements. DIR. Gross was a ma
: six feet two inches in height and well pr
porti ned, consequently his ashes weighC
: about seven pounds, the average weigl
: being five poun Is. We drove away wi
: the precious ashes In charge, all tboroug
ly convinced that DR.. Gross had added q
other laurel to the chaplet which 81
) rounded his brow, by his advocacy In Ii
l and example In death Of the revival Of cr
; nation"