Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-03-08
PAUPER BCRIALS.
How They Have Been COnducted-The
Necessity for q Chaplain.

To The Editor Of the Dispatch:
Will you allow me to state a few facts
concerning the chaplaincy of the city
almshouse, which facts, think, are cal
culated TO throw some light upoD the
question. and are not generally known?
/ think that il was some time in 1856
that / first heard casual mention of the
manner in which the funerals of paupers
buried at the expense OF the city were
conducted. Believing that the reports
which had reached me were, as Is often
the case with such reports, gross eXag-
gerations, and vet such as, if true IN the
slightest degree, TO call for a radical
change in the manner of conducting
these funerals, commenced to inquire
into the factsOf the case, and for once In
nv experience found that the reports had
not been exaggerated, but that ilsteadth
truth had not been fully told. found
these facts to exist.
The bodies of paupers dying at the
alInshouse, or in the city at large, were
not carried to the cemetery as common
decency would demand, one by one and
as soon as p,opriety and convenience
would allow, but were often kept at the
almshouse Tor some days after death,
and were then, seUcr0l at a time, put
into a wagon and hauled out to Oak
wood.
But this was not all There was often
no way Of notifying the keeper of Oak
wood cemetery OF the proposed burials,
and it accordingly happened frequently
that not until the wagon reached the
cemetery did the graye-dlggers com
mence their work. Then, OF course, the
wagon.driyer could not be expected to
wait until the graves were ready. So
the collins were lifted out and placed on
the ground there being no receiving
house for their temporary keeping and
remained there, in the rain and SNOW OF
January or the fierce heat OF July sun,
until the graves were dug, and then the
interment was made.
Now, MIR. Editor, these were facts-
stubborn, ugly, repulsive facts-of which
the then officials at the almshouse and
Oakwood cemetery put me IN posses
sion; facts appealing to MS not as mem
bers Of or affiliated with any particular
denomination, but. If not otherwise, in
a purely secular way, as citizens, with
some little regard for the properties OF
lie. however humble, and with more
pride in the reputation OF our commu-
nifty than TO have it known that such
things were OF almost daily occurrence
IN our midst.
Not liking a sensation merely for the
sake Of a sensation, | did not ask the
Council TO appoint a special committee
10 investigate and report upon these
facts. bat contenting myself with the
practical correction OF the abuses, intro
duced an ordinance providing for the
more decent and orderly conduct of the
funerals, and making an appropriation
for the erection and maintenance OF tele-
phone communication between tho aims
house and Oakwood cemetery, 10y means
of which ample notice could be given OF
the burials aud the necessary prepare
tons made. This ordinance was adopt
ed by both branches and IS now a law.
About this time Rev. II. NJ. Jackson,
hearing OF the tendency OF the measure,
asked me to endeavor TO have a chaplain
for the almshouse employed by the city,
whose duty II should be not to force bis
denominaiional or religious views upon
the inmates OF that institution, but,
when sent for, TO discharge the duties OF
his Office towards the living, and 10 see
that, when dead, they received something
like the burial they would receive but
for their misfOrtunes. That was all.
And distinctly remember that DR..
jackson expressed 10 mo his complete
indifference as 70 the denomination Of
the chaplain TO be employed, and laid
stress only upon the necessity for some
step Of the sort.
AS i did not wish TO imperil the
chances OF the adoption OF the other
features mentioned, / introduced this as
q separate ordinance. II was referred 70
the Committee on Relief Of the Poor
and there slumbercd peacefully Tor
eighteen months, until recently il YIELD
cd TO the awakening touch of some OF its
friends, and was reported to the Council
with q favorable recommendation. Its
subsequent history is familiar and need
not be here repeated.
/ was absent from the city on the
night OF its consideration in my branch
Of the Council, or should have asked
nv colleague and personal friend, Dir.
Cay, who saw in the measure such an
alarming tendency towards the union Of
Church and State, Why he did not see the
same hobgobljn Of ulconsiitutionality