The herald., 1896-07-05

ernment free of charge, to his relatives
or to the post to which he belonged, it Is
but right that these veterans should re-
ceive that to which they are entitled.
So when Mr.. Adams, commander OF
Kenesaw post informed me rev weeks
before Decoration day that for several
months there had been government
headstone lying at Evergreen which be-
longed to the grave Of Lieut.. Redona,
who is buried in the Catholic cemetery,
/ drove over to Evergreen after getting
the necessary order, obtained the marble
slab and brought it to where II De-
longed.
After l had been shown the grave by a
member of the lieutenant's family, l
visited Mr.. Hook, officer of the day OF
Kenesaw post, on last Memorial day to
place it in position, and while we were
there another member of the post, ac-
companied, l believe, by one or the
ladies of the Relief corps. placed n
wreath on the tomb of DR.. Gelcich. 1t is
also true, as Mr.. Mussey asserts, that
three members of the post went there
one evening prior to Memorial day to
search for and mark the graves OF vet
Grams. l can vouch for the truth OF that,
as ! accompanied them, by Mr.. Adams
request. I believe, however. that Mr.
MuSsey was mistaken about those TWO
tombstones which he mentions having
been placed in position. This mistake
might easily occur. as have never seen
him in the Catholic cemetery, and he
knew simply by hearsay what took place
there. The only headstone that was not
in position was that of Lieutenant Re
dona, and it would have been set in
place on that evening had we been able
to find his grave. There was head
board that l lifted in position in order
to ascertain if the name on 1T was the
one we sought, but the inscription prov
ed to be llegble-though 1 afterwards
discovered the right one in another part
of the cemetery.
But these were all preliminaries, and
the real question in dispute is concerning
what was done in the Catholic cemetery
on Decoration day. | was there from
Q a. m. until l p. M, and the total num-
Der of members of the G. A. r. whom L
saw there during that time was four.
Two of them belonged to Kenesaw post.
and the others, believe, were members
of John A Logan post, who came to dec
crate the grave of Capt. John Reardon.
formerly a member of that post, duty
which they performed last year also.
There were several of my friends who
were in the cemetery during my visit,
and they will corroborate this state
ment 1t is possible that there were five
or even six members of this society pres
ent, on that day, but we certainly did
not discover them, and when we compare
that handful with the crowds compris-
ing the organizations that filled the other
cemeteries it is not to be wondered at
that even many of those who have no
affiliation with the Catholic church
should express such sentiments as those
contained in the following editorial
which appeared in the Los Angeles
World of June 2, 1895:
The managers of the exercises on
Memorial day certainly owe the Catho-
lies of this city an explanation, why
the Grand Army posts visited the City,
Evergreen and Rosedale cemeteries and
decorated the graves of the dead heroes
with abundant floral tributes and neg
lected the departed defenders of the ma
tion who lie in the Catholic cemetery.
There are seventeen dead soldiers in the
consecrated burial ground on Buena
Vista street Up to last year Kenesaw
post, G.. a. r., was given the sacred
duty of decorating the graves of these
soldiers, but this post combined with
Frank Bartlett in the services at Ever
green, stanton post officiated at Rose
dale, Logan post conducted the services
at the City cemetery. The Catholic Gem
etery, with its dead veterans, was never
thought of apparently. Was this the re-
suit of carelessness, or was there deep
er, more significant reason for the
slight?"
The services on last Memorial day in
the cemetery were even more abbreviat-
edh than they were this year. Now there
is no special obligation on the members
of Kenesaw post to decorate those
graves, and as they have burial plot
of their own in Evergreen 1t is to be ex-
pected that they should go in a body to
that cemetery. After the services were
over in Evergreen the officer of the day