Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1888-08-15
THE GRAvEDIGGER.
A Chicago Reporters Visit TO the
Cemeteries

digger in the United States. He is 56,
and when he walks his back is at an
angle of As degs. But there Is lots of
life in old John Kane yet, and he may
well live TO complete his four score and
over.
~ have buried great many IN my
life-many thousands,n said the old
man. "I've been here, a grave digger,
making a good living at it, since lS6O,
when Graceland cemetery first started.
I've never dug up any treasures, and
don't suppose / ever shall. But I've
earned my bread at it and provided for
NV family, and me and my boys used
To do a great deal of hard work IN this
cemetery. It's an old saying that grave
digging is a healthy trade and that a
grave digger lives longer than most
other PEOPLE. don't see exactly why
IL should be so, for one often digs up
poisonous gases in removing bodies else
where. But it's open air work, and 1t
has To be done in all sorts of weather
and at all seasons, and thus it makes a
man tough and not liable TO give IN to
small ailments"
There has never been, rs far rs re-
liable data are AZ hand, a case of bury
ing alive in Chicago cemeteries II
was rumored that there was, some
time ago, such 4 case ut WaldheIm, the
great ''Friedhof'' (Iiter;Illy peace yardl
of our German fellow citizens. But Il
visit paid there and diligent inquiry
made, failed to bring out any corrobor-
alton of the rumOr. That's all boSh, !"
said Theodore IIarks, the superintend-
eut of the German Lutheran cemetery,
adjoining Graceland. Il have buried
thousands and have opened many cOt-
tins years afterward, when the bodies,
for some reason or other, had TO be
placed elsewhere. l have always found
the bodies exactly i'll the same position
in which they were laid to rest. All
this talk of burying people alive IS non
sense. IL don't happen, and folks
might rs well dismiss that fear from
their minds "
Graceland has the largest silent pop
ulation of all Chicago's twenty-siN
cemeteries. IF the $4,000 who lie
there 50 quiet could rise up again, hale
and hearty, what a population there
would be added TO Lake Niew!" eX-
claimed the philOsOphIzing car driver,
- his ear ratified on through the thlnly
settled tracts surrounding Graceland-
There are =, 600 buried IN block alone
CT the tWeuty-SIN cemeteries fourteen
are Hebrew ones, all small, and only
twelve are of fair sized or large dimen-
siOns. GraCelaud, however, with 100
acres of ground, Calvary and Rose I'LL
seventy-live each, and Waldhelm with
a territory of Just about the same eX-
tent, together with COuCoTdIa and St-
Buuiface, hold Just about the bulk of
dead Chicagodns. Altogether probably
some 10000 are laid away in all these
"A large number for a young city like
ours But there Is room for another
Il In
view of the large number buried, and
of the hundreds that dic every week, it
may sound strange when it is said that
there are altogether less than one hun
dred gravedlggers employed 1T the
twenty-siN cemeteries.
The shovel, pick and spade, together |
with the strap To lower the coffin into |
the grave, form the complete outfit of |
tools for the grIyGdigger. During the |
warm season 10 takes but an hour TO |
dig grave in ordinary soil, and of the |
regulation size, /. e., four and half To |
five feet deep and about seven feet long. |
Ii Is different in the winter time. Tie |
plCkaN Is then necessary, and even with /
its help IL takes from three 10 four
hours to make the hole, with the frost
often three feet deep In the ground.
The busiest time for Il. -ravediggers
is the early spring, generally about the
middle of April, when all the bodies
that have been stored away IN vaults
during the winter are inferred. At
for instance, Is many rs
thirty-two n day have been buried.
This is, of course, nothing in cOmpari-
son To the dread periods of epidemics |
passed through during the last fifteen /
years - smallpox, diphtheria, etc. |
Then there were days when 200 bodies I
were handed over in one day To the au-
thorities of one cemetery alone for In |
terment- During such times of stress |
extra help has, of course, to be en-
ployed.
II Is 4 mistake to think that the |
grayedigger earns big wages. y regu- |
lar monthly pay of $40, or Sl.JO to -,
when hired and paid 10y the day, is |
about all these men receive for their |
hard work. But, of course, it does not |
require much skill nor much previous
training TO become Il good grayedigger.
Any one used to handling the spade or
shovel, and able To dig ditch or a
square hole can do the work well. OF
course, III addition to the digging of
graves, these men have to do the sOdd-
ing of the graves, and have TO care be-
sides for large number o; them after
the planting, etc, has been done by the
florists and his assistants One grave
digger, besides digging probably a
daily average Of two graves all the year
around, has to mind a couple of hun
dred graves. The watering of the
plants and turf, which is done with the
hose, takes up a large portion of his
time.
1t seems chests chuck full of Spanish
doubloons, old tumuli harboring the
bones of "A hero long dead and his gold
en- ornaments rs well, and all such
buried treasures, are mighty scarce
around these diggings here spoken of.
Nothing of the kind ever has been
found in Chicago cemeteries. That's
not to be wondered at, after all, be-
cause its all virgin soil Not even an
cient Indian weapons nor the skeletons
of dogs or men have been found under
ground.
IL is said that familiarity breeds
contempt 1t is therefore not to be
wondered ut that grave digger, by
dint of handling bodies all his life, be-
comes CallouS and looks upon the dead
body of his fellow beings much in the
same way in which i grocer looks upon
dead herring-tnat is, as = ware
which must yield him SO much profit.
He tumbles the dead man in his narrow
little house very UnceremoniOusly into
the grave, when there happens to be no
near relatives about. What they hate
10 DO of all things is the digging out of a
body for removal elsewhere. One can
not blame them, for the job is, to put
Il mildly, disslSreeable one. Many "A
man wouldn't want TO do it for any
money. These men have to do it for a
few dollars.
STEwED CARROTS.-ScTape and boil
until almost tender. Cut into small
dice and return to the saucepan with