The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1896-08-26
CI|y OIiCIQE NQke S|QIIing Discoveries While Con-
ducdng investigations IN CQ|v0u Cemetery

deep, producing anything but a Violet
,r, "aor, Gillian Informed them that the
Mcekins, who seems to have had n dlyirs,
right TO raise hogs in the city ccmcturv-
ordered ON The spot that Meekins bc Ims ,ne
formed that he must remove those hogs
within twenty-four hours-sooncr If pos
The committee, wiser, II not saddcr, men,
retired. having seen enough and some
ed out TO the cemetery yesterday and was
shown the sights by Gillinn, who certain
~ deserves credit for the. comparatively
immense Improvement he has wrought in
this Wilderness In the short time he has
been In charge. with the force under him.
for cemetery purposes. lilo had cleared
OF the entire cemetery, burned away the
u,nIergrowth ana introduced other innova-
pers, TO say nothing of regular funerals.
ana he Is putting them more than eighteen
lncnes under the ground, by several feet
me newspaper man was shown the
pile OF relics. the coffinless remains, the
FAMILY OF "squatters," the hogs! He
picked up several pieces of bones, sus-
piciously human, lying around on the
ground; then he turned to Frank GIL
nam: ITS been pretty tough" said
that Individual. pertinently. there's
been pretty lot here. Why, when
went out to the almshouse short time
ago Tor body, one OF the nurses said
10 me, Gillian, they tell me you are
''Si VI tdiNdIy cemetery. You arp
.he stranEest | ever saw to come out
here and handle bodies. They used to
wait so long that some times we would
have to put them in with shovel"
buried TWO paupcrs Sunday In the
same grave. One was John Howle. who
was 54 years old, and died of heart dis
ease. Thr other was Merritt Robinsnn
he had liVed So years and died of old
age. When we buried him he had on n
Sult NJ TO so TO wedding In. He had
Dousht II years and years ago to be
puFied IN He was one OF those old
| through the war"
Jones still thinks he's running this
cemetery. He came out here the other
dav and actually stopped my men from
WORK. dropped n hoe helve on his head
and he left. | am doing all / can IN eat
things Strengthened out here and ia -
Dig loD. The hogs will be taken away
tomorrow don't know when that
iamily Is going TO move There's no
teiiihE how many collins have becn taken
our OF graves here. but there have evil
dentiv been lots of them
"a glance at the hundreds of sunken
graves would indicate that Gillian was
correct. Everywhere one looked could he
seen holes In the earth where there
should have been mounds, and little
more SPADE work may reveal other coar
less skeletons.
Si,ihii aiSo eHHiDlteu Il memorandum
which he had prepared showing that 65
lots in Calvary had been purchased from
ne CIV treasurer, as was proper and
mad been in part paid for. There are
claimants. according to the present
Keeper, to nearly 100 more lots which
Ihef claim 10 have purchased from the
fornler kespers or their assistants.
Whether they did so or not, certain II Is
they have no receipts for the money
and even If they did. would have no
title to the lots. SO II Is that many OF
the colortd people. not knowing that II
was necessary to purchase lots from
the CITY treasurer, thought they owned
cemetery property when they didn't and
humiliating complications have been the
result
Cemetery Committee. was seen at his
nome on York street last night and
smoke Interestingly.
Yes. the committee was out to the
cemeteries Sunday.and saw what you de-
scribe at Calvary" said he. land I don't
know what can or will be done. I be-
!isve the matter. was all aired some
line ago. Gillian has found out where
he decorations went to, and as for the
homes without the coffin, the latter NAV
have decayed I don't know. The ceme-
terV is 10 years old; there are many in
stances of graves being dug too near the
surface in the old West Point ceme-
terv. In fact. nearly the whole tract
is buried over twice. The place should
he closed. 1t is practically closed.
There isn't room there to put anyone
else. except in certain cases where owners
of lots claim they still have room, and
insist on bury!ng their dead there"
when the new lcommittee came In.
II found that there were not enough
tools in all the cemeteries to work a
handful of ground, and II Immediately
purchased two new sets, one for Mr..
Broughton keeper of Cemeteries, and
one for Gillian. The latter has made
splendid progress with the means at his
command. and Mr.. Broughton has, un-
dor adverse conditions, wrought wonder
ful Improvement in E;lmwood since he
has had charge"
The committee is now preparing a COM
muncation which will be submitted 10 the
Councils asking for the additional annual
appropriation of 81 900. making 81, ,OGO This
amount is absolutely necessary to do the
work. The $1,000 appropriation was made
In 1894. Since then there has been a large
increase In territory, and necessity will
cause another and still larger increase
within the next thirty days There are
only several small lots remaining unsold
lin the white cemeteries and the space he
tween Cedar Grove and Elmwood Will have
to be turned over to the committee by the
city for cemetery purposes"
This property has been surveyed and
partly laid off by the City Engineer.
There are ZIG lots and we recommend that
they be sold at $50 a plece-the other lots
have sold at so; The. amount thereby