The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-05-02
SICKEMNG DETAILS
Result Of Dr.. VaIick's In
Vestigation of Jersey
City Cemeteries.
a %DIsGRACEFUL CONDITION
Gives sThe News" an Account Of
His Work, Which Is Published
For the First Time Today.

For the past five weeks President w. W..
Yarick of the County Board Of Health has
been conducting a secret investigation into
he abuses of the non-interment of dead
bodies at the various Protestant and Catho-
&c cemeteries. The work of the doctor and
ais assistants has been thorough and the
buses unearthed are of such o character
rs to make ones blood run cold. The re-
ceiving vaults at the various cemeteries have
been found to be stacked full OF collins con-
tanning dead bodies, which, by reason OF
non-interment and constant exposure to the
air, have decomposed. Rotted collins and
boxes still remained piled one upon another,
the decomposed matter percolating from
one tier of cofins TO the others. The most
Hagrant violation of the health code in this
respect has been found to exist In the old
Jersey City Cemetery, which stands In the
very heart of the city.
sit is disgraceful, it is awful, it is terrible
from every point of vlew," said DR.. Naf1ck
last night. "My Investigations have sur
prised and Mortified me. Bodies of some Of
our oldest residents, our most respected
citizens, which | haV reason to believe
mourning relatives and friends believe to
have been inferred long ago. are to be found
In some of the receiving vaults, The bodies
are decomposed to such IN extent that they
nave rotted the &C fins and boxes. and they
are In such O state at the present time that
IL is almost a menace to health to remove
and inter Them.
DR.. Varick will submit to the Board of
Health, at a meeting TO be held on May Z. a
report of his Investigations, and among
other things he will report the following de-
tails:
OLD JERSEY CITY CEMETERY.
The old Jersey City Cemetery is located on
the south side of Newark avenue, the city's
principal thoroughrare, about one hundred
Yards above the bridge at Seventh street,
which crosses the tracks of the New Jersey
Junction Railroad. At this cemetery, which
thousands Of people pass daily, abuses exist
which will either be remedied at once or the
officers of tho cemetery called upon to ex-
plain their neglect TO the Grand Jury.
The receiving vault at this burylng place
is an enormous structure. 1t is so construct
ed that that there is a wide p~assageway be-
tween immense vaults, which are on either
side. Beside the main p~assageway there are
six receiving vaults, three on either side.
These vaults are packed with collins contain
ing bodies, which are in a terrible state of
accommodation, as some have been In the
vault upward of ten years, and in one or two
instances, which viii not be made public,
twenty years.
The vaults are SO full that the main pas
sage has been pressed into service, and a
rough estimate of the number of bodies there
is IS to so. Among them are bodies of men
who left comfortable fortunes for their
heirs. Their bodies, like the others, are
stacked up in tiers, and in such a manner
that decomposed matter from other collins
percolate through their already rotten cof-
fins. The boxes are covered with a thick
slime, which is decomposition eozed from
other collins.
AN
An instance was found in this vault of a
wealthy gentleman who died about five
years ago. His body is still in that vault.
and scattered promiscuously about in the
other vaults are the bodies of three Of his
children, who died before him. Many such
instances are to be found, and it is a ques-
ton in the minds of the inspectors il the
Cemetery Superintendent has any positive
knowledge of the names OF the persons in the
collins. 1t is feared that on more than one
occasion the wrong bodies have been in
TERED and headstones erected to conlinemo-
rate the life of a kind father, mother or
child, may stand over the remains of some
one unknown to the mourning family. Dir.
Varick has already notified the officers of
the cemetery that the bodies must be in
TERED, and at once. Tn officers are
T. b. Kessam, President; John NJ. Jones,
Vice President; Thomas Stiff, Director; Mr..
Mellor, Secretary and Treasurer. These
gentlemen lay the blame upon the
Cemetery Superintendent, and declare
that they were not aware that such a condi-
ton of affairs existed. The officers were
dumbfounded when shown by papers of in
vestigation that the vaults contained bodies
which had been placed there thirty to thirty
five years ago for interment. No one at
tempts to make an explanation of the cause
of the horror.
~ MI - 4 xx.-x - a Z p
subjects the officers of a cemetery to q fine
of $40 If the body or a person dying of a con- |
tagious disease is not inferred within twenty /
four hours after its reception at the GENE |
terry. The longest time allowed for inter-
ment of a body Is four days. The ~1agrancy
of the violation Of this law is apparent.
The Jersey City Cemetery horrors win be
remedied during the coming week. The I
vaults are to be relieved of their loads of de-
composed bodies.
HUDSON COUNTY CATHOLIC
At the Hudson County Catholic, Cemetery
the condition of affairs is not SO bad. Re-
ports to the contrary nave been grossly ex- |
aggerated. The horrors which exist at the
Jersey City Cemetery were discovered at
the Catholic Cemetery last year The vaults
were emptied at the time, and since an effort
has been made to properly inter every body
received. In the vault there are but eight
badly decomposed bodies, which nave re-
manned in the vault perhaps eight or nine
months at the utmost. The officials of the
cemetery have been notified, and the bodies
will be buried at once. The vault will then
be thoroughly cleaned and fumigated.
NEW YORK BAY CEMETERY.
At the New York Bay Cemetery q deplor-
able condition of affairs exists. The officials
declare it to be the fault Of Superintendent
Kelly, maintaining that he has been fire.
quently directed to utter the bodies in the
HTCT Ar THTC gEAG0N