The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-12
THE CITY AND THE CEMETERY.
THE COUNCIL COMMITTEES PLANS
FOR THE Old BURYING GROUND.

| Bur VIII oppose Its BetuE Crossed
by streetS-EEistOry of Cemetery
Litigation
Tt is believed that the effort OF the
! city 10 secure the Improvement Of the
/ old South Broad street cemetery is likely to
I meet with more success than previous ef-
4 forts on this line have met with
The officers of Christ church, which
. claims the title 20 about one-eighth Of the
/ cemetery, are believed 20 be willing 20
enter an amicable compromise with the
! city regarding the improvement Of the
/ cemetery though 20 what extent IS uncer-
tain. The proposition 10 remove the re
mains in the cemetery TO Bonaventure or
some other point is likely to be opposed
/ however. by the majority Of the board
/ Of wardens and vestrymen OF the church.
/ Alderman Garrard. chairman Of the
/ committee appointed by Mayor Myers, fin
] accordance with the resolution of council
I upon the cemetery question adopted
/ Wednesday night, called upon 1Ir. W. G.
/ Charlton yesterday and discussed the sub
| ject with him. Mr.. Charlton is a member
/ Of the vestry of Christ church, and was
/ one of the counsel for the church when
I the attempt was made by the city sew
/ eral years ago to straighten Abercorn
/ street through that portion of the Gene
/ terry claimed by the church. Col Car
| rard Is also a member of the vestry but
/ does not take the same view of the ques-
ton as that held by Mr. Charlton. Incl
dentally. it may be mentioned that of the
/ present board of aldermen eight are
/ Episcopalians, three are Catholics and one
/ is a Lutheran. This gives another ground
| for believing that an amicable settlement
may be reached by the city in its effort TO
] H..
Improvement of the old cemetery
Col Garrard. in his talk with Mr.. Charl-
/ ton outlined the plan Of Improvement
upon the same line as that published in
yesterdays Morning News, the main
feature being the proposition TO remove
the remains Of those inferred in the Christ
church burial ground to Bona
venture Upon this point Mr..
Charlton entered very decided
dissent. To a Morning News reporter,
who called upon him later in the day for
information on the subject, MIR. Charlton
said:
Il viii never give my consent to the
removal Of the remains from the ceme-
| terry, nor to the opening Of streets
through it. The city could have improved
I the cemetery long ago had this been all
I that 1t desired TO do Christ church Of
| fered no opposition TO the simple removal
| Of the wall around the cemetery. In fact,
/ the courts stated that the city was at lib
\ erty to remove the wall and otherwise
I place the cemetery IN good condition If il
/ desired TO 40 So What we objected to
| was the deliberate attempt of the city to
| deprive us of our property, run rough shod
| over Us, in fact, destroy the graves of our
] ancestors and remove distinguishing
/ marks generally. Had the city been al
/ lowed TO carry out its plan of widening
/ Abercorn street as il proposed to do. the
/ sidewalk would have been run right over
hundfeds OF graves. among them the
/ graves of many Of the most distinguished
men of Georgia The fight begun on a
resolution adopted in council in July, 1881
/ which begun by stating that with view
+ to the preservation OF the old cemetery
/ on south Broad street. between Lincoln
ana Habersham streets, for the purpose
/ II was originally designed" the committee
7 on streets ana lanes was authorized 10 go
ahead and tear down the wall on South
7 Broad and Abercorn streets and straight
en- the sidewalk on AbercOrn street In
other words, beginning with a statement
OF an intention to preserve the cemetery
/ Tor the purpose for which it was originally
4 designed, the resolution proposed to go
ahead and destroy it, for that is Just
what would have been done had not Christ
/ church applied for an injunction against
] the city. An injunction was also applied
/ TOT by private parties. The Injunction was
/ heard by Judge Tompkins, who decided
that the title did not rest in Christ
| ehurch, but still granted the injunction.
/ Both sides carried the case TO the supreme
! court, which decided that Christ church
was tit successor OF the colonial ChnTCh
ana inherited its property. including the
4 cemetery, unless the title had been since
| lost by prescription when the cemetery
/ was closed by the city in 1854"
/ The matter hung fire until 1887 or 1888,
| When the night was resumed by the city
and the bill OF Injunction brought by the
GnuTch was heard by the late Judge A.
Pratt Adams In the superior court. The
cnufch was represented by Hon Robert
Falligant and Mr.. Charlton; Mr.. 5. 3.
Aoahs represented the city and Mr. j.
| r. Saussy, the county which also claimed
an interest in the cemetery. The case
I was a very interesting one. The colo
I NAL records were gone back to and many
/ interesting facts in the early history of the
colony were brought out II was shown
by the attorneys for the church that an
act was passed in the colonial legislature
/ IN ll0S that the church already erected
m SaNahhan ana the ground used as a
cemetery or burial place thereto should
be the parish church and cemetery OF
I Christ church, and the rector, Rev. Bar
I tholOmeW Z0uberbuhler, as such, with the
right to hold all church properties in
! Guiding the cemetery. the same rights 10
be continued to his successors In 1863
by act of the provincial assembly the.
cemetery was enlarged. being extended to
the line of Abercorn street on the west
! and 10 feet to the south, making the
whole space allotted to the cemetery 210
feet square In 176S the provincial body
again enlarged the cemetery, authorizing
the wardens and vestrymen of Christ
church to lay out an addition OF 10 feet
in length from the common 10 the east
ward of the then cemetery. This gave
street BY 30 feet on Abercorn street, the
area a present claimed by Christ church
The cemetery Is spoken Of however in
this act as public burial ground. Later
however. 100 feet to the eastward and 2aj
feet to the southwark of the parish Gem
etery which was specifically stated as a
public burial ground for Christians of all
denominations and not for the exclusive
use of Episcopalans, members OF Christ
church. In 1859. after the close of the
revolution, Christ church was Incorporated
by the state legislature. and its church
properties continued to It, II is upon these
records and the fact of the continued use
up TO the time Of the closing OF the cemete-
ry in 1854 of that portion Of II by Christ
church that its claim was and is still based
These facts We're CLEANED from a persuqi
of the brief presented by Christ church's
attorneys. Messrs. Adams and Saussv
held, however, that at the time these acts
were passed the state was divided into
parishes and that Christ church parish
| embraced the whole present area of Chat
ham county and more, and that the Christ
! church cemetery was the public burial
ground OF the whole parish or county
and that the intention of the acts was
simply to provide public burial ground
II was also shown that the cemetery was
closed by the city and that Il had been
under the control OF the city up to The