The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-06-26
GRAVEDIGGERS' YARNS.
That's What the Beckers
Say of the Reports
About North Bergen
Cemeteries.
But INVESTIGATION GOES ON.
There's No Doubt About the Horrid
0dor, But 1t May Not Come
From Graves

just before the Hackensack plank
road reaches the foot OF the western
slope Of the Hill In North Bergen it
passes between two picturesque burying
grounds. The one on the south has tho
appearance OF having been deserted It's
graves and plots are all grass grown. and
the wen kept flower plots aud borders
show that they have not been disturbed
in many day.
The place. however, strikes one as be-
ing crowded; headstones and monuments
seem almost to lap over each other. aud
many of the mounds appear 70 be uneom-
fortably near their neighbors- Then,
too, the paths seem narrower than Ii
common, and as one walks through he
treads carefully, fearful lest he step upon
the last resting place OF some ones dead
Notwithstanding this. the place has an
attractive appearance. It Is admirably
kept In fact its close clipped grass. we'll
trimmed trees and neatly arranged flower
beds show that more care and attention
has been bestowed upon IL than 10 orflf-
narfly given 70 large cemeteries
SAID TO BE NUISANCE
This is the Weehawken Cemetery of
which the Town Council of North Bergen
Township has complained to the County
Board Of Health and 70 the Grand jury.
set forth in the JERSEY CITY News yes-
terday.
1t was alleged upon the complaint Of
two discharged workmen that bodies
were buried dangerously near the surface
OF the ground. and that the odor which
comes from tbs place on a}warm evening
is simply sickening.
On the north side Of the Road is the
new cemetery called the Palisade, which
the company bought and opened to the
public about i've years ago, when Chan
cellor Runyon restrained the company
from burying any more bodies in the old
cemetery. The new place contains hut
comparatively few bodies. and has gem
erzl SIR OF newness about Il. II " char
acterfzed by the same well kept appear
ance as the old one, and il is much
frequented by the people in the neigh
borbood.
Away up on the hin back Of the new
cemetery. peeping out from the tops Of
the trees which surround II, there stands
trap rock mansion built after the style
of the traditional castle. with its fmifa-
ton battlements and towers. The house
fronts beautiful lawn relieved by flower
beds. fountains and statuarY. the whole
being q magnificent piece Of landscape
gardening. The house is occupied by
Mr. Louis Becker, the reputed owner Of
Becker. Jr.. who is the superintendent
Mr.. Becker, Jr., II . nervous, excitable
young man, who became fncenEed when
showed him yesterdays record of the
charges In THE JERsET CITY NEWS He
was about to give me his side Of the con-
troversv when mis- wife, q determined
young lady with a preposseEsing appear
ance led him into the house. snanpfng
at me as she did so:--sThe newspapers
never get anything right and the best
thing TO do is to say nothing about it. +"
OLDER AND WISER
The elder Mr.. Becker, however, was
more communicative. He denied the
charge. He said that ne did not own the
cemetery; that it was owned by a stock
company TO which he had sold the land,
receiving in part payments some OF iEs
bonds.
No bodies had been inferred In the old
cemetery during the past fVe years ex-
eepe IN private plots which were exempted
Dy the Injunction granted BY Chancellor
hunyon nve yeaas ago. restraining the
company from burying any more bodies
IN the place No single lots or plots had
been sold since then, he declared, although
one-third Of the old cemetery was stln
unoccupied-
He considered the present charges %
have been made out of pure spite by the
two discharged grave diggers. They
were discharged BY the superintendent
-
When the committee OF the Town Coun-
Gil came to the cemetery to investigate
the charges made by the two men they
examined a grave which they found TO b
two inches snort of the four feet required
by law 70 be between the top of the out
side coffin and the surface OF the ground
The superintendent asked the committee
to examine more graves. but they re-
refused The short grave, Mr.. Becker
says. WAS poin ted out by the discharged
workmen and was one dug by them At
the time they were digging It his son told
sisted it was all right. Mr.. Becker de-
clared emphaticaily that the company had
not disobeyed the Chancelior's tn5unc-
ton.
One Of the complainants against the
cemetery was said 70 be Charles Pinnsn,
Chairman of the Town Council Mr..
Pinnen lives at the foot OF the hill in
pretty, white stoop house, from the porch
OF which the white shafts and slabs loom
ing up in the old cemetery directly acrnSs
the road appear in the gloom ike SO many
spectres. When | called upon Mr.. Pinnen
last night and asked him about the cendi-
tion OF the cemetery he declined TO talk
upon the subject, saying that as the mat
ter was now undergoing judicial inyes-
tigation the Town Council did not think
1t was proper time 10 speak.
When told him thar Mir Becker had
not been disobeyed, he said that would he
for the Chancellor to decide. He also adj
nitted that the odor complained OF did
not come from the old cemetery but from
the new.
Mr.. Pinnell did not seem disposed te
blame the Beckers for the condition OF
affairs as much as he did the owners or
lots who insisted upon putting more peo-
pie into a given space than it could pos
sibiy hold.
also saw Mr. Otto W. Meyer, who
keeps hotel adjoining the new cemetery.
and he said that he had not detected any
unpleasant odor coming from the ceme-
terry Several other OF the residents IN
the vicinity said the same thing. whiie
there were still others who said that ie
was every bit as bad as il was declared to
be-
There certainly is bad stencil in that
neigh borh ood or was last night, but is
came from a ditch alongside Of the road
through which great deal of drainage
which ought 10 flow through a covered
sewer was rushing 70 the foot OF tbs
slope.
Fair and Cooler
WAsHISGroS, June %. 1891 Weather
indications for twenty-four hours for East
Xawt fzrS<av and r<1~fprl1