The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-12-11
CITY HALL.
Continued from Page Z.


There was falling off In registration
yesterday. Ihe product OF the day was l13
new names making the total up 10 last
evening. 62SS which Is 40 short Of the
tally AT the same time last year. On the
corresponding day last year the clerks
took 230 names making the total 5I33.
The record was, therefore, 6s short yes
terdny There will be n decided gain to-
day as the voters have been lining up In
front of tho receiving cou nter. The
clerks an nticipate that by next Tuesday
evening the record OF last year viii be
reached.
Commissioner of Public Works Robert
r. Smith says that the public seems 10 be
un1er the impression that his department.
Is bureau OF information. "A man
wanted t. know, this morning II uhe could
place a sign.so that IL could overhang tho
street. He was informed that he could not
unless the sign was not over four feet in
extension and at least eight feet above
level OF the sidewalk, Sign placing Is
under the direction OF Spencer Ii. Hop
kina inspector OF buildings, and permis-
sion must be granted by him before over
hanging signs can be located. This ap-
plies TO bay windows also, as the building
laws prohibit any kind of structure from.
oyerhanging the street, unless IL Is eight
or more feet above the sidewalk, and not
over four feet In extension. This is the
meat OF section 20 OF the building laws
All awnings must beseight feet high o
that they will not Interfere with the free
passage of pedestrians.
Poverty is no crime, said Alderman
Reynolds, member of the North Bury
ing ground commission, this morning IN
city hall, land the liking up of 'Potter's
Field is no more than right.
Unti reoently "Potter's Field" has
been little less than "A dump ground at
the. North Burying Ground. but now IL is
| in order. The brush has been cleared
away and tho stones that marked the
graves have been Strengthened To upright
| positions. Tbs soil has been prepared so
that grass Will grow and by next sprinR
| the surrounding OF these graves Oh the
| poor and unfortunate Will bs clad in
| green the same as the bnnes OF those who
| fortunately or upfortu natsiy, as the case
| may bs, left friends and relatives with
more OF TINS worlds goods than fell TO the
! lot of the survivors, OF the dwellers in
| Gods acre
There may be sentiment In the work,
| but a we'll kept grare will he no inceI-
| tive To poverty and IL city as wealthy as
Providence can afford to keep the la Z
| resting place Of its hupoverishe citizei 3
II order. 1he work cannot help but en-
| gender a respect for thu city that IL cou. d
not command from the lowly wLo bad Lo
assurance of sepulture beyond the con-
I, tines o. public CHARITY.
a brush heap for the soor and monu-
| meDts fer the rich In tle last resting
| place is not a spectacle calculated TO ac.
| centuate the profession of che universal
brotherhood Of man, ana so che efforts or
the commission to mai1 POTTER .
Field" respectable meets tan appropa
tion OF all right minded citlzeas
The work OK Improvement g. the bur-
ial place is not confined to tlA spot ro-
| ferred To. For 200 years the & md have
been placed in this cemetery without
much regard to what might happlH in af
| ter years.
| The news has previously takVsf Oc-
! casion To refer To the fact that many lots
have covered the remains OF persona not
| bound by ties of consanguinity. In'seed
were they alive the Inhabitants OF lbe
narrow homes would not know eeh
other. This has been brought about Sy
| selling the same lot To different indivii-
uals at different periods of time. Ownec-
suip has been lost sight Of In the consum-
ing process of 2OU years anu graves have
been forgotten and tho lots have returned
I'D their original state OF apparent un.
occupancy.
In the rsselling other bodies have been
placed in the lots and a deplorabIc condi-
tipD confronted tho commission y few
years ago. The evil has been remedied
Of. late and before long the mixing up
process will be entirely overcome. For a
|
engaged in the work of strengthening out
the complication and now the cemetery is
being plotted into lots so that owners
may know what really does belong to
| them.
Every lot Is 70 be mum bered from one
to the limit of the teri Iitory. i here Will
be only one number for each lot anu
books will be prepared showing the exact
location of each lot so that Interested per
sons can get all necessary information at
The office of tho commission.
During the past 200 years the names { I
I o streets in the burying place have been
changed and this lack Of foresight has CO... :
tributed largely TO the unknown contents
Of the ground. -s
Some OF the lots were found 10 be q
certain width at one erd anu another
width somewhere else. Some lot owners
had less than what belonged TO them and
some had more. Hardly anything was
right. The present commission had a
hard problem when they tegan the task
ofstreightening out mates, but careful
attention and bestowal of much time mas
brought order out Of confusion.