The Dickinson press., 1888-08-11
THE VEDIGGER,
A CHICAGO REPORTERS VISIT TO
THE CEMETERIES.

lug Alivc-Chicaso's Twcnty-six Gene.
tcries-A Busy Time-Worls aud Wages,
How Familiarity Breeds Contempt"
~ withcred, bent and gnarlcd old man was
digging lelsurely away Mt n grave in Grace
land cemetery. Tho old man was John Kane.
the oldest active gravedigger in the United
States He is C5 and when he walks his
back is ut an angle of 45 degs. But there is
lots of life in old John Kane yet, and he NAV
well live to complete his four score and over.
Il have buried great many in my life
na"r thousands" said the old man. "Ive
been here, II grave digger, making a good
liNl''s at it, since 1850, when Graceland ceme-
terry ''ist started. I've never dug up any
treasures, and don't suppose ever shall.
Eat I've earned my bread ut it and provided
l"i' my family, and me and my boys used to
do II great deal of hard work in this cemo-
tcry. lts ah old saying that grave digging
Is n healthy trade and that a grave digger
lives longer than most other people, don't
see exactly why it should bo so, for one often
digs up poisonous gases in removing bodies
elsewhere. But it's open mir work. and n
has to be done in all sorts of weather and Mt
al! seasons, and thus it makes man tough
and not liable to give in to small ailments
There has never been, as far rs reliable
da';l arc ut hand, n caso of burying alive in
Ct!cago cemeteries. 1t was rlmored that
there was, some time ago, such Il case Mt
w al'ihcIm, tho great "FrieChoif' uitcrallv
peace yar.D of our German fellow citizens.
EH' Il visit paid there and diligent inuniry
ih'de lailed TO bring out any corroboration
OF 'he rulnor "That's all bosh," said Theo-
loFa liarEs, tho superintendent of tho Ger
,"'', Lutheran cemetery, adjoining Grace
iahL VI havo buried thousands and bnyo
olc,'" many collins years afterwarl, when
.lc bodies, for some reason or other. had to
he placed elsewhere. have ALWAYS fonnd
thH bodies exactly In tho same position in
which they We're laid to rest. All this talk Of
buiynS people alive is nonsense. 1t don't
happen, and folks might us well dismiss tbat
fear from their minds"
Graccland has the largest silent population
"t all Cliicagos tweuty-six cemeteries. "Tf
'hH ,i''ooo who lilo there so quiet could rise ,1p
again. male and hearty, what population
'iirrc would bo added to Lake View!n ex
'E'iInr't The pllilosophizing car driver, us his
car ratified on through the thiny settled tracts
surrounding Graceand There aro 5000
buried i'll block alone. OF tho twenty-sx
cemeteries fourteen arc Hebrew ones. NIL
si'iaii, ana only twelve are of fair sized or
lhi';;,e dimensions. Graceland, however. with
iooacrcs of ground, Calvary and Rose Hill
"eVcnty-fivo each, and Waldheim with n
territory of just about tho same extent. to.
g"thcr with Concorda and st. Bonifacc. hold
lu;t about tho bulk of dead Chicapoaus.
Altogether probably somo 10000 are laid
AWAY IN all these-a largo number for n
N"nns city like ours But there is room for
;'h"ther"o0,ooO in these burial grounds. In
View OF the largo number buried, and of tho
hundreds that die every week, it may sound
strange When it is said that there are al
''''',icr ,cSs tliah one hundred gravcdiggers
employed at tho twenty-six cemeteries.
The shovel, pick and spade, together with
the strap to lower tho coffin into the grave
form tho complete outfit of tools for the
grrvcdigger During tho warm season il
t'es but an hour to dig grave in ordinary
soil, and of tho regulation size, i. G.. four
and half to five feet deep and about seven
lrrt long. 1t is different in tho winter time
lie lickaX is then necessary, and even ySth
lis help 1T takes from three to four hours to
EiANc the hole, with tho frost often three feet
deep in the ground. The busiest time for the
gf.:cdlsgers is tho early spring, generally
about the middle of April, when all tho
hN|t"s That havo been stored away in vaults
during tho winter are inferred. AT Grace.
la'Hi, for instance as many ns thirty-two n
da} have been buried This is, Of course
nothing in comparison to tho dread periods of
'l'd"lhics passed through during tho last
fifteen ycars-smallpox, diphthcria, etc.
Then th"lo were days when 200 bodies ycrc
banded over i'll ono day to the authorities of
% cemetery alone for interment. Duriu,
sdih times Of stress extra help has. of course
tu !c employed
IL,
IL Is "A mistake to think that the grave
'!i@s"r earns his wages A regular monthly
irti Of $40, or $3.50 to 81, when hired and
l'ai'l by the day, is about all these men re-
"eive FOR their hard work. But, of course, it
does not require much skill nor much pre-
Ni"us training to become good gravedgger.
Any one used to handling the spade or shovel
;nd able to dig ditch or n square hole can
do the work well. OF course, in addition to
the digging of graves, these men have to do
the soidlng OF the graves, and havo to care
besides for Il large number of them after tho
planting, etc, has been donc by the florists
aud his assistants. Ono gravediggcr, besides
di. ing probably n daily average of two
graves all the year around has to mind q
couple Of hundred graves Tho watering of
The plants and turf, which is done with the
hose, takes up large portion of his time.
II seems chests chuck full of Spanish doub-
lpons, old trlmuli hurboring the bones of a
hero long dead and lis golden ornaments as
we'll, aud all such buried treasures, arc
mighty scarce around these diggings here
,iol;en Of. Nothing Of tho kind ever has
b"eh found in Chicago cemeteries That's
not to Lc wondered at, after all, because its
all virgin soil. Not even ancient Indian
Weapons nor tho skeletons Of dogs or men
have been found underground.
1t is said that Familiarity breeds con-
tempt" 1t is therefore not to be wondered
1t that a gravo digger, by dint of handling
bodies all his life, becomes callous and looks
upon thcdcad body of his fellow beings much
n the same way in which grocer looks upon
a dead hercins-that is, as u warc which
must yield him so much profit. He tumbles
the dead man in his narrow little house very
uncerenoniously into tho grave, when there
happens to be no near relatives about. What
they hate to do of all things is the digging
ont Of a body for removal elsewhere. One
cannot blame them, for the job is, to put it
mile!ly, disagrccable one. Many a man
wouldn't want to do it for any money. These
men have to do It for few dollars-Chicago
Herald.
Singing Among Persian Children.