Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1890-01-24

bility that this might happen, have
never known a single instance of It In
oil my experience. These people insist
upon my promising to observe the ut
most precaution, even so far rs to run
red hot needles into their bodies, and
other equally barbario treatment, before
they are finally consigned TO the earth.
About four years ago q young man
called upon mo one morning, in
q terrible state Of agitation.
He had dreamed the night
before that his sistcr, who had been re-
Gently buried, had come to life after
being placed under tho sod tried TO
provo to him the utter improbability OF
such an occurrence, but without avail.
He insisted that her grave should be
opened, that he might be satisfied. l
was actually horror-striclIen at the sug-
gestion, not that had the remotest idea
that his dream could prove true, but the
thought flashed across my mind that If
1t should be so the shock would make
him q raving maniac. / tried to per-
suade him to defer the matter until tho
following day, but he positively refused.
Finally, as there was no other way out
of 1t, / consented, and, having obtained
the necessary permit, the body was ex-
humed, and to my inexpressiblo relief
the absurdity of the young mans dream
was proven. The effect on him was
magical. He looked sorrowfully on the
face of his dead sister moment and
then burst into flood of tears, and,
throwing his arm around my neck, he
wept from pure excess Of joy.
"Some people have peculiar notions
about burial. | have oftentimes been
requested to place the coffin in the grave
with the head pointing toward the north,
or vice versa. Once was asked II the
coffin could not be placed standing up
right In the grave--a request which, OF
course, / was unable to grant.
Some people, too, are superstitious
about being buried on certain days
of the week, and leave special
order that their funeral shall take
place on certain day. Then there are
peculiar fancies in regard to flowers and
the hymns which shall 30 sung. Such
matters as these are, of course, within
reason, and are always complied with.
Tbs queer and outlandish tastes of some
people are exemplified in the case of
Joe Beef, well-known Montreal char
acter, recently deceased, who on the
occasion Of his wife's funeral some years
ago, ordered the brass band which ac-
companied the funeral procession to the
cemetery TO play The Girl Left Be-
hind Me- on the way back.
"a custom which has sprung up re-
Gently, and which in many respe Is a
good one, is to have stenographer
present at the funeral services to take
down the funeral GRAFTON, prayers, and
80 on. These are afterward type-writ-
ten in appropriate form, the hymns be.
ing incorporated with the report.
know of at least one stenographer In
this city who makes speciality Of this
line of business, and as he has but lit
tie competition he makes good thing
out of it. His minimum charge is if
teen dollars, and frequently he receives
rs high as fifty dollars for his services.
He watches closely the obituary col
umns of the daily newspapers and
regularly calls upon q number OF UNDER
takers.
GAS rule no unpleasant incident oc-
ours to mar the successful carrying out |
of o funeral ceremony. OF course, the
director must have his wits constantly
about him and must be thoroughly ex-
perienced. had one experience, though,
which was most embarrassing and which
,aused no end Of trouble. 1t was through |
he carelessness Of one OF my assistants
md the assistant OF one of my competi- |
ors. / had received an order to send |
me Of my wagons to the Grand Central
Depot to meet corpse which had been
from Albany. Itappears that
ny competitor had also received an or
Ter to get body from the same train.
Both OF us dispatched q man to attend
o the matter, and, as neither of them |
thought that there might be more than
me corpse, they took no especial pains
o ascertain whether they got the right |
me. AS a result of this carclessness
zach of them got the wrong one, and as
10Th bodies were those of men the mis-
AXE was not discovered until the lids |
yere unscrewed ct the funeral for the |
and friends TO take the last
ook at the dead. The hlunder had a ter
ible effect, and as the first mourner gazed |
ipon the features Of an entire stranger
he gave one wild shrek and tainted |
lead away in tho arms Of her escort
This prccipitated matters, and for |
While every body was p anic stricken. / |
vas dumfoundcd for moment and al. |
most speeches. with modification. As
,oon as could recover my senses I or
Tered the removal Of the body, and the
minister closed the services with pray
sr. then set out to hunt up the lost
corpse, and my work was facilitated
from the fact that my COM
potitor had boon driven we'll nigh crazy
by much the same experience at his
funeral. AS the other body had been
aiken TO Jersey City for intormcnt, it
took US over three hours to straighten
he matter out, and the burial services
N both instances had TO be postponed
nntil the following day. | didn't get
over my mad for over week, and the
Ilrst thing did was TO discharge the
fellow Who made the mistake. My COM
petitor's assistant also got his walking
papers at tho same timo. Neither OF us
had nerve enough to put in bill for
our serviccs."-N. Y. Sun,