Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-02-16
A crime Against Future Generations.

by the press, and much more by medical
journals, to condemn the present mode of
disposal of our dead; but thunder tones
speaks the narrowing news that young
lady of West Virginia had been buried
alive. In the press dispatches of the 18th
inst was an account of the burial of
young woman Mary Cox near Springfield,
West Virginia. She was given two doses of
morphia for neuralgia of the stomach, and
soon after her death was announced, and
two days later she was buried. lady
friend at the funeral insisted that the girl
was not dead. and urged that physician
be sent for. That night the dogs of a man
living near the graveyard stationed them
selves near the tomb and kept up per-
sistent bowling Next day the grave was
opened. and to the horror of all it was
found the girl had been buried alive. The
lining was torn from the sides of the coffin
and the pillow was in shreds. The poor
girl had literally stripped the clothes from
her body. Her arms and hands were torn
and bleeding, her lips bitten through and
handfuls of hair We're torn from her head.
The girl had come to life and evidently
made a fearful struggle to escape. The
ror,n says the dispatch.
If this is the possibility to which we sub
iect our dearly-beloved ones, may God have
mercy on those who do not strain every
nerve in their body, who do not tax their
brains TO their utmost capacity TO accom-
plish reform. If anyone supposed that
burying alive happened at very great inter
walls only, let him examine the press dis
patches of the last six weeks, where there
are no less than three such cases reported
from three different States. Let us, how
ever, suppose for a moment that only one
such case happened out of million inter
ments. The reader of this may furnish
the next one out of that million, for the
chances are for all alike, who are supposed
to have died a natural death. But let us
reflect Il little more upon the scarcity of
such cases. If we consider that in the
aforementioned three cases the discovery
that thepersons were buried alive was made
by mere accident-as, for instance, in the
case of Miss Cox, where the dogs, by their
superior sense of hearing, recognized the
cries of the victim in the grave-it fortifies
the conviction that If all the graves of
cemetery could be opened and examined
dozens of victims would be found whose
position and surrounding bear undisputa-
bic evidences of their having been
buried alive But" it is often said,
lis it not possible also that a person
might be cremated alive" The answer is
At q properly-conducted crematory no; ,
for the following reasons One of the APP
purtenanceS of such crematory consists of
room in which high degree of temper
AZURE is maintained. In this room the
dead body is placed upon an apparatus that
would ring an alarm at the very slightest
motion of the body, and attract the atten-
ton of the Waterman. The high degree of
temperature serves the double purpose of
tending TO bring the body to life if it is case
of suspended animation, or, if Of real
DEATH to bring about a speedy decomposi-
ton. The body remains there until unmiS-
taxable signs of decomposition make their
appearance, for that is the most absolute
proof of death. But if there were no such
safeguard connected with 4 crematory, then
we would have the choice between two
evils either of being cremated, without q
chance of suffering any agony whatever, or
of being buried, and then living few
hours more in the grave, only to die there
the most horrible of deaths known to man.
Take your choice.
am aware that a great many people
turn with a shudder from such reading
But to ignore is not to apply remedy.
The press, the pioneer of progress and
light, ought to take this subject up with
more energy than has been exhibited so far,
with few exceptions; otherwise the people
will be too slow to comprehend the
enormity of the outrage committed against
the dead and the living by burial. We do
not recognize ignorance upon q subject of
such vast importance, particularly not
when confronted in u representative body
of the people. This is evident from the
careless manner in which Assembly Bill
No. 400, relating to cremation, was per-
mitted to sleep in care of the clerk for
fully ten days before it was turned over to
the committee to which it was assigned
The mishap may yet be remedied if that
bill is taken up on special order and put
through. At least a beginning ought to be
made with what is so all-important to every
family and every community, and that has
in it no politics and only the affirmation of
the right of such of us as choose to cremate
rather than bury our dead. The results of
scientific Investigations, as explained in the
interview published III the RECORD UNION
of February 18th make it plain: that
whenever dead human body is placed
underground, or in vault, a crime is COM
mitted, not only against the present but
also against future generations. To them
the present graveyards Will be pestilence-
DreeulnS Spots, inherited as Il curse from
their forefathers, for cremation will as
surely be the mode for disposal of their
dead, as that the earth is moving and in
telEgence broadening. The very monu-
ments over the graves will then tell of the
criminal blindness and prejudice of our
time
Until that age is reached, it would be
we'll for parents to keep at least their living
children away from the graveyard. 1t is
proved by science to be a dangerous place
for them as recreation-ground,o or even
for casual visitation. The foul air and disease
germs that penetrate the entire soil cannot
easily be noticed, but they are there never
theless, and eager to attack their little vic
tins and sow the seeds of diphtheria or
typhoid fever. This is beyond dispute. |
trust that word to the wise is sufficient,
and that California will by her Legislature
do what the chief cities of the Union have
done already and permit cremation.
Yours, MAX LEVY,
Secretary First Cremation Society of San
Francisco.