The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-12-20
w Orth More
Than Horse.
st. Johns Cemetery Matter
Again Being Discussed.

! Clinton, Dec. ia startling develop
ment in the ST. Johns cemetery matter
to-day is the fact that the corporation
will take other measures than 1.-THE
bill in equity to compel a conveyance
which has been spoken OF in The Spy.
The Clinton correspondent of The
( Spy has it on excellent authority that
before the corporation instructed Judge
/ Corcoran 20 bring action against Post
master John W. Mcnamara and Martin
Murphy, he assured the corporation the
action was one in. which they must
win, even if the court shall decide that
Mr.. Mcnamara and Mr.. Murphy are
the legal owners of the land. winch The
| corporation claims on the ground that
/ MIR. Mcnamara and Mr. Murphy were
acting merely as agents when they pur-
chased the land.
If the court shall decide that the little
! IS vested i'll Mr. Murphy and Mr.. Nc
Namara, Judge COFcoran win bring suit
to recover for the improvements The
value of the land IS hardly more than
$4,000. The value Of the improvements
I
more than the horse.
This suit. said the gentleman from
whom the information was received.
VIII be based upon the principle in
law that man may not for instance
see another man shingle the roof of the
formers house ard not be liable for the
shingles. He may not have ordered the
work done, but he permitted it to be
done ana he is advanlaged by it,
80 Now Mr. ATff%aT1IVa 1r-itb Mn.
ply has not only permitted these i'm
prOVenlentS to be made or the land
they say is theirs. but they have en-
coura8ed Them Have even superin-
tended them. If il, the land, turns out
to be really their Land, they certainly
VIII be obliged to pay for the improve
ments that have beer made on the
property.
And, of course. if the land does
really and truly belong to these gentle
men, and the court shall so find the
corporation wants them to have what
belongs to them.
We shall say to Mr.. Mcnamara. and
Mr.. MurDhy-'k eep your land. We
don't want it. But just pay for the
improvements We have all the land
we need for cemetery purposes with
out the land that STANDS in their name.
The Fuller estate is enough in itself,
and it is the better portion of the
property"
To realize the sensational character
of this statement, it must be known that
if the corporation should chance not
to use their property and should leave
it in the hands of Mr. Mcnamara and
Mr. Murphy, it probably would not be
worth a very large per cent on the
dollar Of the original cost. 1t would be
I land next to q cemetery and land that
is of no particular use except as it
might be used as a cemetery. This be-
ing the outlook. it is freely prophesied
on all sides tonight that the proposed
action in equity win never come to
trial.
The case is beng discussed in its
ethical aspect today more than it has
been previously.
certain amount of indignation ex-
lists among the people of st. Johns
parish, because of the large element
of irreverence to the dead that exists
in Withholding from them the ground
prepared for the reception of their
ashes.
when the corporation came into ex-
istence," said the informant Of The
Spy's representative, Its members, of
whom Mr.. Mcnamara and Mr. Murphy
were two, realized that under no cir
! cumstances could the remains of more
! than 1000 sacred dead be changed from
one burial place to another without
great injury to the feelings of MANY
persons, who would seem to see in the
errors inseparable from such an under
taking, sacrilege to the remains of their
lost, loved ones. But that any conbina-
ton Of circumstances, in the hands of
any citizens, would ever be used to keep
the dead from their own, was never
dreamed Of.
The corporation is compelled to seem
D IN FaTTH nrra
dead, when it seeks only to procure
them the resting place they should
have and that has been prepared for
them"
If Mr. Murphy and Mr. Mcnamara
have purchased this land with their
own money-they were not required to
do so; it was never intended that they
should. The corporation Of course had
not been formed when options were
secured on the land. 1t was necessary
to secure the options before the rea-
sons for the purchase became public
TO get the land at d reasona BILE price.
Judge Corcoral was practically at
the head of the matter as he was
not only counsel for the cemetery COM
mittee, but was directly counsel for
Bishop Beaver. The committee, you
understand, were at the best merely
agents for the bishop.
AT any rate, it was Judge Corcor-
an who finally arranged E1ost satisfac-
tory terms with the metropolitan water
board. securing from them the sum of
$92, 500 or whereabouts in payment for
the land in the old cemetery, and to
make ready the new; and remove the
bodies from the old. To secure the
great sum of money was an achieve
ment of no small proportions.
Then came the question of money for
the land in dispute. The corporation
not being as yet formed, there arose
the question of money To raise the
money, Judge Corcoran, as l know.
gave his note for $4,000, ample for the
purpose, so that if Mr.. Mcnamara and
Mr. Murphy purchased the land in any
way. they did it on tneir own volition.
And if they did the corporation has
been always ready to take the land
off their hands at what they paid for
it. We all hope the matter may be
settled and that soon"