The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-28
ODD EXPERIENCES IN CEMETERIES
Mourners Take Away Dirt-A Man
Buries Three Fingers.
From the Chicago Tribune.

Buries Three Fingers.
From the Chicago Tribune.
Lot Inspector Chadband of Rosehill re-
lates number of experiences which he
has recently had with some of his ceme-
terry visitors. zone mystery which we
have never been able to explain" said MIR.
Chadband occurs here quite frequently.
Often after a funeral some of the chief
mourners will take a handful of earth
from the grave and carry it away in their
handkerchefs. After a couple of weeks,
perhaps, have elapsed, they will return
and empty the earth from the haudSer-
chiefs back on the mound of the grave
1t is, in all probability, on account OF some
superstitous notion, but have never
been able to find out just what ii is, Then
we often have queer experiences Win
people who come here and want to find
graves of people whom they have known.
The other day a man came in here ana
said: I wish you could tell me where l
can find a grave of a friend of mine who
is buried here Why, certainly, said l,
as l reached up and pulled from shelf
the grave register. which tells who Is
buried in every one of the $4,000 graves in
our cemetery. What is the mans name?
| asked preparing to turn at once to 1t
and find the exact locality We'll now,
do you know, that is just where you've
got me- said the man I've forgotten
his name OF course, with such a lack
of knowledge as that, the request to ind
the grave was almost idiotic, but, by
asking the man a number of questions
as to when his acquaintance died, and
where he came from, finally succeeded
in finding the grave for him, On another
occasion a woman wanted to find the
grave of a woman she had known, but
all she could remember of the womans
name was that her given name was Car
RE By going over the list of all the
Carries who were inferred here, | finally
found the one she wanted. Once woman
came out here who had buried her little
baby two months before. She was in a
| distressed state of mind on account of
! what she supposed to be the suffering of
| the child. She said when 1t was buried,
it's feet had been tied together with
string, and she knew it was hurting the
little onea, 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. a little woman with Il
| 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 a far-of
corner of the cemetery to the mound over
| the grave of her little boy, who died sew
| eral years ago.ch She plants the tree In
| the hard ground and puts the many col
| ored tapers among the green branches.
| interspersed hero and there with the
bright spangles and gilt ornaments usual
| " put on Christmas trees for children.
| Then she lights all of the tapers and al
| ter watching them through her tears for
a few moments she turns sadly away ana
11rrH,+ la hrrr N n m.
the little tree, which is not disturbed un-
til the next day. when it is carried away
| by the Workmen.
Several months ago "a curious supersti-
ton which had never been heard of be-
fore was noticed at Graceland. An Old
woman who appeared to be wandering
aimlessly about the grounds asked one OF
the employees who came upon her where
| she could find an open grave. The man
| asked her for her reason. She opened her
! hand and disclosed a scrap of paper on
which was written typhoid fever" You
! see, sir" said the woman, IF l take that
and drop it into an open grave and it is
buried the disease will leave the body OF
my little grandchild, who now has tho
| fever" The man pointed out an open
| grave to the woman, and she walked Slow
| ly toward it. For few moments she
bent over the edge and looked down, ap
parently nuttering something TO herself
and dropped the bit of paper into the
grave The poor old creature then return
| ed and thanked the man who had been
watching her and went away completely
satisfied, confident that her little grand
child would surely recover.
Although the custom of placing trinkets
and toys of children and articles used by
other people upon the graves is probably
not so much in vogue as formerly, there
are still some queer things of this ma
ture pracHced. 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 last things he had used. At the
same cemetery there is a grave on which
under glass case, there are a large num-
Der of love letters written by the depart
! ed. Occasionally members of the family
| of the deceased still continue the custom
! of removing the silver name plates from
the caskets and taking it to their homes
! The same people also generally take some
| of the flowers which adorn the casl1et
and have them preserved in wax, after
ward messing them in a glass-covered
| box which is hung in the parlor. In al
most nine cases out of ten the people who
| have removed the name plate return with
| il inside few months and want 1t re-
| placed. The authorities had a rather I'M
| usual experience at this cemetery with a
| woman whose lot was continually robbed
| OF flowers which she had placed on the
| graves. The woman in casting about for
some method to stop the pernicious prac-
tice hit upon the plan of placing poison
on the flowers. Before any one was pois-
oned by the chemicals which she had
| placed on the blossoms she was compelled
| to desist the practice because 1t is often
necessary for the employees to handle the
| flowers placed on the graves.
One day a man came to Mount Green
| wood cemetery with a tiny little caslSet
under his arm, about seven inches long.
| He looked up the officials and purchased
a lot Immediately he had the little oof-
fin inferred. Within the box we're three
| nENTOnEn no TTrAT TIT