The evening times., 1898-12-01
THE PLAGUE. spot
Op lGEORGETOVN
Old Presbyterian Cemetery a
Menace to Public Health.
CITIZENS EXPRESS VIEWS
Open Graves Filled With Decayed
Animal and Vegetable Matter.
The Situation Demands Immediate
Action on the Part OF the Dis
trict Authorities.

Much complaint is expressed By resi-
dents against the old Presbyterian ceme-
terry, which is located in one of the most
thickly populated portions of George
town. 1t Is alleged to be a constant
menace to health. Over 1000 bodies are
within the square occupied By the grave
yard. They are piled one above the 9TH
er, the records showing in many ca.es
three in one grave. Many of them az
the remains Of cholera victims, inferred
hurriedly during the canal plague years
ago.
Such a mass of rettenness as here ex-
lists would not be tolerated in Washing
ton for week" said Mr.. j. Barton Mil
ler the secretary of the First Co-opera-
tive Building Association to Times re
porter. The recent diphtheria -nd ty-
phoid epidemic over here centered about
this SPOT. There are half-opened and
wholly opened graves. filled with stag
nant water nearly All the time. The
rankest weeds of the Dist let are II be
found here both In growing and d cIyei
states. Half the houses that skirt is
borders are without sanitary arrange
| ments.
mo sexton has welded u scythe witain
its borders since 1875. The health depart
ment ignores the place, yet ii is hot-bed
for all that is detrimental to health. The
fences are down, there are no paths
through It. 1t is disease breeding. Both
above and below the surface is decay
animal and vegetable. Ii is a bar TO the
/ fl.
Georgetown has no park, no reservation
of any kind within her borders. The
church authorities controlling il would
be glad to rid themselves of the response
bility Of control, but they will not with
out c6mpuision put il in a presenta Die
condition, for il brings no revenue. Most
of those living who respect their dead
have had the bddiesI removed. The re-
mains Of two thousand more friendless
and nameless ones~stin lie there nrowied
| over by dogs. The District generally
would be benefited and Georgetown re-
! lieved of a curse through its purchase
! for Il park. Georgetown is entitled to at
least one reservation.f
JPhysicians have condemned it," said A
Lee Lowe. It's a disgrace to a civilized
community The heath officer neglccts
his duty in overlooking, ii"
Samuel H. Wheeler said: The typhoid
| and diphthera pidtdfds posted up all
about this place constitute an unanswer-
/ able argument in favor of its complete
abolishment."
IT'S a vile place. = said George ".
King. 1T deseorstea The dead and men
aces the living. LsbEiievA tito he large
( ly responsible for the sickness that exists
more or less the whole year in its imme-
diate vicinity
W. A. Cunningham, when asked for his
views. replied: That place should be
looked into by the health department by
all means. 1t is the District Governments
duty 10 buy the site and wipe the grave
yard off the earth. If The Times begins
the crusade against il Georgetown will
be deeply grateful
THE graveyard, in its present condition,
is a sore in the eyes OF the community"
said DR.. Spreckels. The District author
titles should no longer neglect a duty
which they owe the taxpayers in the vi
cinity by allowing this plague spot TO go
| on unattended to. 1t is my opinion that
the place should be thoroughly cleansed
and converted into park as Georgetown
! has no public reservation"
TeIepho ne Injunction.
The First Cooperative Building Asso-
citation of Georgetown today filed through
their attorneys. Birney and Woodward
the sixtieth injunction against the Ches-
apeake and Potomac Telephone ComBa-
ny 10 restrain them from removing their
instrument. The building association has
rendered the legal rate of 500 per annum
for telephone service, in accordance with
the recent act of Congress. An agent,
representing the telephone company, sub
mitted to the building association the
proposition to pay the Sl2O rate under pro-
test, stating that should the companys
rioyiof To cbl, 1,afr Il
ctded against them upon appeal to the
courts. the telephone company will re-
fund the difference.
The telephone agent. however, could
give no satisfactory information as TO
when this law would be tested. George
w. King, the treasurer of the Building
Association, acting under the authority
! of the board of directors of the associa-
| ton, met this proposition with the argu-
| ment that under such conditions the tele-
| phone company could accumulate a very
| large sum made up of these various over
| payments as to make it profitable to the
| telephone company promoters TO place
| the company in the hands of receivers or
manipulate its affairs in other ways at
! the expense of the subscribers who had
paid mope than the legal rate prescribed
| by Congress. 1t was claimed by Mr..
| King that Congress, which gave the tele-
phone company life, has the right to regu-
| late the charge for telephone service and
therefore the $50 rate fixed by Congress
! is beyond any argument a legal rate and
| should be respected and subscribed to by
every individual and corporation.
Mr.. King claims thaE. should the tele-
! phone company take tue case to the Su-
preme Court that ltribsinals work is SO
| far behind that ttie Subscribers money
! represented in theF over payments would
/ be tied up an indefinite number of years,
which would enable the telephone COM
| pany to add very largely TO these over
payments and materially assist in the
| temptation to turn the company over TO
receivers when the law fixing the rate
| of $50 was judicially affirmed. The build
! ing association made the proposition to
| furnish a bond to the telephone company
binding itself to pay the difference be-
| tween the Congressional and the tele
| phone company's rate should the Supreme
| Court overrule the legality of the rate
| fixed by Congress for telephone service.
The petition of CHARLES G. Warden, of
Cleveland Park, asking that the grade of
Linthicum Place be readjusted has been
denied by the Commissioners. The Com
| missioners base their action upon the re-
port of Assistant District Engineer Rich
ards, which states that the present grade
of the street cannot be changed unless
the maximum per cent of a safe grade be