Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1888-03-31
TO CREMATE THE DEAD
THE PROGRESS OF INcINERATION
IN THE UNITED STATES.

Eleven Crematories in Operation
How Peoples Bodies are Reduced
to Ashes and Stored in Jrns
Referring to the fact that a cremation
society is about to be organized in Chi
cago, the HeroI. Of that city. saw: :
There are no fewer than eleven cremato
res IN the United States, some Of them
perfect works Of their kind and almost
daily called into use in giving scientitir
assistance to nature in the performance
OF one of her slowest and abhorrent pro
cesses- an assistance which substitutes
almost instant publication for gradual
patrefaction and decay.
The crematorium at Buffalo, recently
completed, is a fair type Of American
structures designed for that purpose,
though its architecture moro resembles
that of church or chapel than is com
mon. The building is reached by
spacious roadway running to a porch,
and then passing around to the door Of
the mortuary chamber. Those who &C
company the body alight at the porch
and pass thence to the auditorium. The
body is removed from the hearse to the
mortuarv chamber and there placed upon
car. The car IS then moved by ma
chlnerv, nolselessly, into the chancel,
where, if it is desired, the body may re-
main in sight Of those in the auditorium
during the progress Of such services as
may be desired. At the proper time the
same mechanism moves the car noiseleSs
Iy through the doors which lead to the
incinerating- room, and the doors close
| behind it.
In a natural gas crematory at Pitts
! burg incinerations are performed within
! an hour or 50 at very small cost. The
average cost Of inc1nerations in the
United States is said to be So, though
many of the societies find the cost to be
much less. Cremation societies are
/, springing up all over the country, and it
is estimated that no fewer than fifty are
either building or preparing to erect
furnaces and suitable chapels and col
umbariums. There are handsome Gre
matoriums at Detroit, New York, Los
Angeles, Lancaster, Pa, Cincinnati and
else where.
In the lie Moyne crematory, at Wash
ington, Pa, cremation is performed in a
fire clay cylinder or retort, which Is
three feet in diameter by seven feet long.
This retort is heated to red heat by a
furnace fire of coke, which IS built
underneath and kept burning for twenty
or thirty hours before the cremation is
to take place The body is placed in
an iron crib made in the shape of q
coffin, and this crib slides into the re-
tort. In addition to the ordinary burial
garments the body is covered with a
wet cloth, with solution of alum
which, even when burned, retains
its form No flames enter the
. retort. only the intense heat, and the
body is not burned, in the proper sense
of the word, but is reduced to ashes by
the chemical application Of intense heat
This. the cremationlsts claim, is simply
substituting one of natures decomposing
agencies for another, the one being
quicker and more cleanly than the other.
All the gases resulting from decomposl-
ton are consumed, as is the smoke OF
the furnace, and nothing can be seen
issuing from the chimney but the quiver
# the heat and this heat is said to be
absolutely odor.ess. The process might
De called. SAYS an eyewitness, the
J spiritualization Of the body, the ethereal
Ization of the naterial parts. The time
: required to complete the operation Il
about two hours A very small portion
, IF the remains is ashes, but the mass i
ia the form of calcined bones IN SINAI
: fragments, very white, ordcrlesS. entire y
deprived of animal matter, and may b'
preserved any length Of time without
,hang, There arc from four 70 sever
pounds of these remains. which are easily
Contained in gallon Jar or urn.
no at
ecenty completed, cost only s., 900
It is Of gothic architecture. 3~N+2 feet
! and comprises chapel, toilet rooms ans
furnace room The furnace which COS
but ST. 200. has given satisfaction il
:. seventy-tiv or one hundred cases. COX
! $ used, and 300 pounds IS sufficient
!, i've 10 ninety minutes Then in tn
bottom Of the retort ls found the ashes
: consisting Of pure oxide Of lime. Some
oody having claimed that crema'or
gives off poisonous gases, Professo
Baker was employed II analyze III
! case, from the chimney of the Lancaste
c remators Fifteen jars If gases wer
Q collected while there was nothing IN Ii
;. furnace but the burning coke and tittee
"a more during incarceration Of a man VII
= iied from dropsy He could not dete-
II any difference between the gases coliee'
q Il during and before cremation
4 The Chicago Crematory AssocatIo
;. will doubtless build columbaiium. {
=, place for storing the .urns cont4inln
!. ashes, in connection with tae crematorl
small. vel arranged building vi
,ontain thousands 81 urns. each ftshlone
Eor1jnr 10 the taste Cf re at}ve< Dt