The Portland daily press., 1897-11-13
IN THE CEMETERIES.
Odd Things Seen By the Keepers Of
Gods Acre.

Lot Inspector Chadband Of Rosehill re-
lates a number of experiences which he
has had with some OF his cemetery visitors.
lone mystery which we have never been
able to explain said Mr. Chadband, 'oc-
ours here quite frequently. Often after
funeral some of the chief mourners Will
take a handful Of earth from the grave
and carry it away in their handkerchiefs.
After couple of weeks perhaps have
elapsed they will return and empty the
earth from the han6kerchiefs back on the
mound of the grave. 1t is in all probable
ity on account of some superstitious no
ton, but have never been able to find
out just what it is. Then we often have
queer experiences with people who come
here and want to find graves OF people
whom they have known. The other day
man came in here and said, l wish you
could tell me where can find a grave of
friend of nAne who is buried out here
WHY, certainly said I as I reached up
and pulled from shelf the grave register,
which tells who is buried in every one of
the 10000 graves in our cemetery. .tWhat
is the man s namep' I asked, preparing to
turn at once to it and find the exact local
ity. Well, now, do you know, that 10
JuSG WHcre you We SuO iiiS3 ooAA U1io 1lidA.
I've forgotten his name
"Of course with such a lack of knowl
edge as that the request to find the grave
was almost idiotio, but by asking the man
q number Of questions as to when his ac-
uuaintance died and where he came from
finally succeeded in finding the grave for
him On another occasion woman want
ed to find TIN grave of a woman she had
I,.,A III could bor@ oft bo
woman's name was that her given name
was Carrie. by going over the list of all
the Carries who were inferred here final
ly found the one she wanted. Once a
woman came cat here who had buried her
little baby two months before. She was
in q distressed state of mind on account of
what she supposed to be the suffering of
the child She said when it was buried
it's feet had been tied together with
string, and she knew it was hurting the
little one We finally had to take up the
remains and cut the string. The woman
then went away satisfied.
A remarkable and extremely pathetic
incident occurs every Christmas at Grace
land cemetery. Early every Christmas
morning as regularly as the day comes
round each year little woman with a sad,
wan face comes to the graveyard with
tiny Christmas tree in her arms. Noticing
nothing and paying attention to no one
she makes her way to farof corner of the
cemetery to the mound over the grave Of
her little boy, who died several years ago.
She plants the tree in the hard ground and
puts the many colored tapers among the
green branches, interspersed here and there
with the bright spangles and gilt orna-
ments usually put on Christmas trees for
children. Then she lights all of the tapers,
and after watching them through her tears
for a few moments she turns sadly away
and departs. The lights are left burning
on the little tree, which is not disturbed
until the next day, when it is carried away
by the workmen.
Several months ago a curious superSti-
ton which had never been heard Of before
was noticed at Graceland. An old woman
who appeared to be wandering aimlessly
about the grounds asked one of the en-
Llosees who came upon her where she
c5dld find an open grave. The man asked
her for her reason. She opened her hand
and disclosed scrap of paper on which
was written typhoid fever" 'sYou see,
sir, =" said the woman, if / take that and
drop it into ap open grave and it is buried
the disease will leave the body Of my little
grandchild, who now has the fever" The
man pointed out an open grave to the
woman, and she walked slowly toward it.
For few moments she bent over the edge
and looked down, apparently muttering
something to herself. Then she stretched
out her wrinkled hand and dropped the
bit of paper into the grave. The poor old
creature then returned and thanked the
man who had been watching her and went
away completely satisfied, confident that
her little erandchild weuld surely recover.
Although the custom Of placing trinkets
and toys Of ehildrep and articles used by
older people upon the graves is probably
not SO much in vogue as formerly, there
are stin some queer things of this nature
practieed. Some weeks ago a widow
placed upon the grave of her husband at
Mount Greenwood cemetery his shaving
mug and brush because, she said they
were the lastefhings he had used. At the
same cemetery there is grave on which,
under glass case, there are large num-
Der OF love letters written by the departed.
Occasionally members of the family of the
deceased still continue the custom of re-
moving the silver name plate from the
casket and taking it to their homes. The
same people also generally take some of
the flowers which adorn the casket and
have them preserved in wax, afterward in
casing them in glass covered box, which
is hung In the parlor. In almost nine
cases out of ten the people who have re-
moved the name plate return with it inside
of a few months and want it replaced.
The authorities had rather unusual ex-
perience at this cemetery with woman
whose lot was continually robbed ofgfiow-