The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-06-16
THE GRAvEDIGGER.
"A CHICAGO REPORTERS VISIT TO
THE CEMETERIES.

ter es-A Busy ftms--'Work aoh N"Eos'
How "ramiiiAeity breeds Contempt"
A witherei. bent and gnarlcd old man was
digging leisurely away at grave IN Grace
land cemetery. The old man was John Kane,
the oldest active gravedigger in the United
States iic Is IS, and when lie walks ms
back is at an angle of - dogs. But there is
lots OF life IN old John Kane yet, and he may
well live Co complete his four score ana over.
Il have buried great many IN my lie
tmany thousands said the old man. i've
been here, IA grave digger, making good
living at IL, since 1860 when Graceland GENE
terry 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 my family. and ME and my boys used to
do great deal of hard work in this GENE
tery. Its ali old saying that grave digging
is healthy trade and that a grave digger
lives longer than most other people don't
see exactly why it should be 50, fer ore often
digs up poisonous gases IN removing bodies
elsewhere But it's open air work, and II
has to be done IN all sorts OF weather and at
Ell seasons, and thus it makes "a man tough
and not liable 10 give in 10 small ailments.
There has never been, as far reliable
data are ut hand case Of burying alive In
chicago cemeteries. Ii was rumored that
there was, some time ago such case at
lWaldheim. the great "FriedhoR' literally
peace ynr,D Of our German fellow citizens
Hut q visit paid there and diligent inquiry
made failed 10 bring out any cOrToboration
of the rumor. That's all boshn said Theo-
tore llarks, the superintendent of the Ger
man Lutheran cemetery adjoining Grace
land. 81 have buried thousands and have
opened many collins years afterward, when
the bodies. for some reason or other, had 10
be placed elsewhere. | have always found
the bodies exactly in the same position iii
which they were laid to rest Al this talk Of
buryng people alive is nonsense IL don't
happen and lcs might as well dismiss that
fear from their mindsn
Glaccland has the largest silent population
of all Chicaso's twenty-six cemeteries. IF
the 5000 who le there so quiet could rise up
again, hale ard hearty, what a population
there would be added to Lake Niew' ex
claimed the plilosophizng car driver, as his
car ra,'lod on through the thinly settled tracts
surrounding Graceland There ere 5000
buried IN block 3 alone OF the twentysix
small, and only twelve are Of fair sized or
large dimensions. Graceland, however with
1OOacreS Of ground, Calvary and Rose Hill
seventyfive each, and Waldheim with a
territory Of just about the same extent, to
gether with Concordia and st. Boniface, hold
just about the bulk Of dead Chicagoans.
Altogether probably some 10000 are laid
away in all thcSe-a large number for a
young city like ours But there is room for
another 800 900 IN these burial grounds La
view Of the large number buried, and of the
hundreds that die every week, 1t may sound
strange when it is said that there are al
together less than one hundred gravediggers
employed at the twenty-six cemeteries.
The shovel, pick and spade, together with
the strap 10 lower the coffin into the grave,
form the complete outfit of tools Cor the
gravedigger. During tho warm season 1t
takes but an hour to dig grave in ordinary
soil, and of the regulation size, l. e. four
and hall to five feet deep and about seven
fee; long 1t is different in the winter time
The pickax is then necessary, and even with
Ats help it takes from three 10 four hours to
make the hole, with the frost often three feet
deep i'm the ground The busiest time for the
gravodiggers is the early spring, generally
about the middle Of April, when all the
bodies that have been stored away ia vaults
during the winter are inferred At Grace
land, for instance, 10 many as thirtytwO a
day have been buried This is of course,
nothing in comparison to the dread periods of
epidemics passed through during tie last
fifteen years smallpox, diphtheria, etc.
Then there were days when 200 bodies were
handed over in one day to the authorities Of
one cemetery alone for interment During
such times OF stress extra help has, OF course,
to be employed
IL is mistake To think that th- grave
digger earns big wages A regular monthly
pay OF so, or $50 to s., when hired and
paid by the day, is about all these men re
ceive Tor their hard work But, Of course, it
does not require much skill nor much pre-
vious training to become good gravcdigger
Any one used to handling the spade or shovel,
and able TO dig ditch or square hole can
do the work well or course. in adliition to
the digging of graves, these men have TO do
the sodding of the graves, and have to care
besides for a large number OF them after the
planting etc has been done by the florists
and his assistants One grayediggcr, besides
digging probably daily average of two
graves all the year around, has tD mind a
couple of hundred graves. The watering Of
the plants and turf which is done with the
hose, takes uf a large portion OF his time
II seems chests chuck full Of Spanish doub-
looms. old ttmuli harboring the bones of a
hero long dead and his golden ornaments as
well and all such buried treasures, are
mighty scarce around these digeings here
spoken of Nothing of the kind ever has
been found in Chicago cemeteries. That's
not 10 be wondered at, after ALL lecause its
all virgin soil Not even ancisnt Indian
weapons nor the skeletons of dogs or men
have been found underground
1t is said that familiarity breeds con
tempt" 1t is therefore not to be wondered
at that grave digger, by dint Of handling
bodies all bis life, becomes callous and looks
upon the dead body of his fellow beings much
in the same way Ill which grocer looks upon
O dead herring-that Is, as a ware which
must yield him 50 much profit. He tumbles
the dead man in his narrow little house very
unccremoniously into the grave, when there
happens TO be no near relatives about. What
they hate TO do of all things is the digging
ont of q body for removal elsewhere One