Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-05
Chief Brown Takes Action to Prevent
the Secret Destruction of
Bodies in Pittsburg.
CARNATIONS MUST BE REPORTED.
Certificates to Be First Obtained From the
officials of the City Bureau
of Health.
coycEALMESr OF MURDER POSSIBLE.
cc-crr Mcdowell Wants q State Registry Law
Passed

Cremation will no longer be allowed to be
carried on secretly if any law can be found
to prevent it. Chief j. o. Brown, OF the
Department of Public Safety will hold a
consultation to-day with City Attorney
Moreland relative to the enactment of some
law requiring an official report 10 the
Bureau of Health of every body cremated.
he Chief is not certain as to the law on the
gaestioD. but recently developed cases where
HOdies were disposed of secretly and the
bet kept from the public ear for months
lave set him to thinking. If there is any
kaw to back him the Chief will issue his
4 orders at once. If moi, he will endeavor by
p Councilmanic ordinance or State act to
secure the power he desires.
In speaking of the matter yesterday he
said: 81 will consult the legal department
aud see whether the Department of Public
Safety cannot have a voice in these crema-
tions. / believe there is some law by which
VIC can require u report of such cases. Ii
there is not, hope to be able to have one
enacted.
The Danger of Secret Cremation.
Cremation in secret may be allowed in
other cities but it will not be in Pittsburg
i'll can prevent it. The present regulations
in regard to ordinary burials, by which a
permit is required from the Bureau Of
Health, have proved of great value in pre-
venting and detecting crime. 1t is even
more necessary in case of cremation. Burial
means the disposal OF the dead, and one
manner of disposition is just as much
burial as another.
''It is Hot NV desire TO comment unfavor-
ably on the actions of the proprietors of q
local crematory. L have no reason to be-
lieve that everything is not conducted there
in the most honorable manner. But the
recent disposal of the body of Emma Abbott,
which was kept profound secret for several
weeks, serves to illustrate what l mean.
This was a case where relatives and friends
did not desire publicity in she matter. That
is all right, and in many cases 1 agree that
for the sake of family feeling the public in
general should not know of it, but the De-
partment of Public Safety should and must
have report of such cases.
Possibility of Concealing Crime.
'I believe cremation is becoming more
popular every year. Within a reasonably
short period there may be three or four es-
tablishmerts in Pittsburg. Suppose an un-
scrupulous man starts a crematory here.
For every body of a person dying in this
cly he must have burial permit from the
Bureau OF Health, but in case of q corpse
brought from anoih her city nothing is required
PresuminG that he was a rascal, he might make
many good stake by consuming the bodies of
murdered people brought here from other
ii,
pieces and concealing them in trunks deposited
III sewers or rivers will give way TO the more
effective plan OF converting them to ashes. 1t
is argued that railroads will not carry bodies
unless provided with the proper death certif-
cate of physicians. But it is well known that
physicians certificates are not difficult to get
A few hundred dollars will secure the necessary
papers from some medical fraud. and then the
way lies clear for the transportation and cre-
nation of the body.
Destroying Evidences of Crime.
Murders have often been ferreted out by
unesrthing buried or hidden bodies and identi-
fying them by means of articles found on them
Cremation prevents this by destroying every
vesIlge of body or apparel For this reason l
argue that the Department of Public Safety
should have a report of every body cremated
whether resident OF the city or not containing
full description OF the deceased, who they
were and where they came from, with the reg
nlailon certificate as to the cause of death"
superintendent Baker. of the Bureau of
Health, when Seen about the matter said n
burial permit was necessary for cremation
when the person is resident of the CITY but not
when the body is brought from a distance. The
bureau has no record of these latter cases.
The question Of disposing of dead bodies Is
Just now being considered by many people
There Is bill before the Legislature presented
February providing for the proper registra-
ton OF deaths and births. 1t provides for
oughs and townships not already possessing
them under the act of May %, 1889. One of The
special duties of this board will be to register
all deaths, including the cause and a descrip-
ton of the deceased. This registry must be
kept by the board and duplicate sent TO the
Bureau OF Vital STATISTICS Without the con-
sent and knowledge of this board nobody can
be buried, removed or disposed of in any man.
ner.
Need for a General Registry Law.
Coroner Mcdowell referred to this bill when
spoken to yesterday. "Pittsburg PHILADELPHIA
Allegheny and McKeesport" said be, "are the
only places in the State know of where any
record is kept of deaths. In other places the
doctor makes out his certificate, on the strength
of which the undertaken buries the body and
that's the last there is Of il. The passage of
this bill will necessitate the full record of
every death favor cremation, as sanitary
measure more than anything else. don't
See that there is any danger from the custom.
man who runs crematory could scarcely
afford to endanger himself and his business by
burning body whose death was not properly
certified.
'-Of course, it would be possible for the body
of a murdered man to be hauled to PIttsburg
in wagon, escaping the strict requirements of
the railroads, and then taken to a cremarory
and destroyed. With dishonest man at the
head of the establishment such a thing might
be successfully carried out, but it would be de-
cIdedly risky"
The disposal of Emma Abbott's body in
PJtsburg rs still the cause of considerable in
ferest. The employees al Samson's crematory
on inspecting the slab on which her BODY Law
discovered small lump of gold. Il was all
that renamed of the costly dress she wore
which had been interviewer with threads of
gold