The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1890-09-06
QUEER FUNERAL NOTIONS.
How the Eccentricities Of Some
Men Find Play.

The story is told of a certain
Frenchman who had been a great
collector of coins, says a writer in
Cassell's Magazine. By his will he
directed that his obsequies should
be performed with every accompa.
niment calculated to inspire mirth.
full feeling. His body was to be
wrapped in tanned pigskin and bur.
ried cofhnless in a standing posi-
ton upon pile of charcoal. Laurel
branches were to be carried by the
mourners, and on returning from
the church they were TO throw open
the chambers in which his treasures
were deposited, and all corners were
welcome to help themselves as they
pleased to the contents. 1t was a
sore disappointment to the public,
however. to find that before they
were admitted the servants Of the
deceased had decamped with every
thing that was portable.
The wishes of curious character,
who was named Hilkington, better
known as Squire Hawley, were
fully carried out few years ago at
a place near Dorchester. He was
buried in his own garden, amid the
graves of his. own cattle which had
been stricken down by rinderpest.
He was laid out in full hunting
costume, including spurs and whip,
and was laid in stone coffin weigh
ing upward of ton, which had to
be lowered into the grave by means
of a crane. His old pony was shot
and buried at his feet, and at his
head were laid the bodies of his fay
orite dog and an old fox. All his
property was left to his groom on
condition that these funeral ceremo-
MES were fully carried out; in de-
fault the estate was to go to the
priest Of Dorchester for the benefit
Of the Roman Catholic Church. The
groom, however, did not suffer the
bequest to himself to lapse.
1t is related that certain crotch
ETY. old Yorkshireman some years
since left directions that on the day
Of his burial a great public break
fast should be given in the town
where he might die, and that his
coffin, slung upon towels knotted |
together, should be horne along by |
relays of men and bumped" three
times upon particular heap of
stones, and that The Lamentations
of Sinner" should then be sung.
a still more important provision
was made regarding the presence of
in the churchyard. Every
man, woman and child who entered |
the ground with or after the process
sion had to receive a dole of six
pence. Never before or since, we
are told, was that churchyard so
full of people.
a Sussex gentleman named Jack
Fuller ordered his executors to bury
him in a pyramidal mausoleum in
Brightling churchyard. His reason
for desiring to be inclosed in stone
above ground was his unwillingness
to be eaten by relatives--a process
he considered inevitable if buried
in the ordinary way. 1.-THE worms"
he declared, would eat me, the
ducks would eat the worms, and
my relatives would eat the ducks"
A gentleman named Underwood
left $4,000 to his sister on condition
that she had him buried in a par
ticular fashion. Six gentlemen were
to follow him to the grave,
where they were to sing the last
stanza of the twentieth ode of the
second book of Horace. Mourning
vas forbidden to be worn, no bell
had to be tolled and no relation was
70 follow the corpse. The six chosen =
gentlemen were to be the ONLY
nourners. The coffin was painted '
green and the deceased was buried
With his clothes on. Three copies =
If Horace were placed in the grave c
With him, together with Bentley's n
Wilton and Greek Testament. t
Atter supper the six mourners sang u
he ode, all being in strict accord i,