Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1885-03-04
NEW YORK'S CREMAT0RY.
A Building Used Exclusively
for Burning the Dead.
More than Thirty Human Bodies Al
ready Awaiting Incineration.

"New York will soon have a first
class crematory in operation" said the
president of crematory company
while in conversation with a represen-
tative of the Mail and ErpreSS.
GLOW do you propose to celebrate
the completion of the crematory?"
"By Immediately putting to prac-
ticai test its usefulness. At least
thirty bodies are deposited in vaults in
the cemeteries awaiting incineration.
Some of them belonged to very promi-
nent families, but am not yet at lib
erty to disclose their names. The in
cineration will be triumph over pre-
vious records. The furnace will be
heated to $500 degrees Farenheit.
The body placed on the catafalQuo will
descend to the furnace in the base
ment, and in 80 minutes several
pounds Of ashes in beautiful terra
Gotta vases will rise where the corpse
once rested. The audience will not be
aware that the incineration has taken
place, as the catafalque is covered and
the body descends unnoticed. The
funeral services can still proceed and
not be interrupted, The relatives can
wait and get the ashes. Any religious
service in the world can be conducted,
for the crematory will not be orthodox.
Incense, myrrh and high-nayored
spices will not be used. There is no
necessity, as no odor whatever eXhales
from the furnace. Alcady two pot.
terry manufacturers have put in bids
Tor the terra Gotta vases. OF course,
rich people can furnish their own
vases it they desire The crematory
will only furnish the terra Gotta vases.
Two rare specimens Of Etruscan vases
called Tdiculp, over 1000 years old,
will be placed in the crematory office
as specimens Of antique art and taste.
They came from Capua, Italy, and
were purchased by the company at a
round sum of money"
"Will a cOmmon.sized vase hold the
ashes?"
EASILY. There are only four pounds
of ashes to every hundred pounds of
flesh. The ashes will he bleached to a
pearly whiteness by the process of a
superior heat regeneration
GLOW will the prices range?"
"They will be quite low and as pat
ronage increases they will be reduced.
The scale of prices established at pres
ent are &25 for first class and half that
price for children and poor people.
To this may be added, if desired, IS
for an uln and SO for niche in the
Columbarium, where the urn may be
kept, and for an inscribed tablet to be
placed in the wall below the niche
commemorative of deceased, making
the entire expense $50. A burial in u
cemetery will cost three times that
sum.
"Are you gaining many adherents
to this mole of burial?"
"Yes, every day. 1t Is only ques-
tion Of time when the old and un-
healthy method will become unpopular.
Why, even the president of Evergreen
Cemetery predicts that in twenty-five
years lncineration will be the prevail
ing method of disposing of the dead
a great many people secretly advocate
cremation, but because some prejudice
Exists against it they do not declare it
openly. The time will come when
cremation will be as popular as ground
burial now. Perhaps in Union square
some day in the near future, a large
,rematory will be erected and do a
good business. There will be public,
private and charitable crematories
erected, and the chances of epidemics
will be decreased a million fold. New
York must take the lead in such a
great movement, being the chief city
N the United States. The general
tendency Of education is toward i'm
proved sanitary measures, and neces-
sarily the crematory must be recog-
nlzed as one of the greatest agents in
that direction. Popular prejudice lasts
very long, but when revulsion takes
place it amounts to a complete rcyolu-
lion. Science, common sense and the
laws of health are in favor of crema-
lion."