Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-19
PORTO RICAN BURIALS
Queer Features of the Cemeteries in
Our New Possessions.
COFfINS And GRAVES ARE RENTED
Visit to the San Juan Granary OF
Human Bones.
CHURCHES AND TEACHERS

fCopyr;chted 1899 by Frank G. Carpenter.'
sner,al Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
SAN JUAN Porto Rico, August d. 1851
Brave lodgings for one!
Brave lodgings Tor one!
A few feet of cold earth
When life Is done;
A stone at the head
And stone at the reef,
\ rich Juicy meal
For the worms to eat.
Rank grass overhead,
Cold clay all around,
Brave lodgings FOR ohe
These In holy ground
so Dickens wrote of a cemetery OF Eng
land. He could have added some verses
more horrible had he visited Porto Rico.
ri. cemeteries here are veritable lodging
houses. The graves are not owned III Zee
sirnple and the corpse which has not friends
TO paw its rent is taken out and thrown on
the home heap. 1 don't know whether Uncle
Sam or the cities of Porto Rico get the
revenues from the cemeteries, but there
Is undoubtedly a large revenue coming In
steadily from rented graves. There are
different classes of graves. some dug in the
ground some in a mason work of pigeon
holes above the ground, others under the
chanel but all are rented for so much
year.
In the San Juan Cemetery.
visited the San Juan cemetery this
morning 1t lies right under the MIL upon
which MORO Castle stands on the edge OF
the sea 1t is peaceful spot, so quiet that
YOU would not imagine that you were close
TO the city Of San Juan. The grass grows
groom as II ALWAYS does in well-filled grave
1ar,s ana the waves of the Atlantic make
music as they dash themselves against the
rocks. ,o
Tho cemetery consists of a wall of pigeon
holes faced with marble, which runs around
of tOnhStODeS, or a Cndp"i anu
of many mounds of graves me piSeoh-
holes are in four tiers, rising one ABOVE an
other. and ranged In regular oruei ap'u'
the field of the dead within. Eacn pigeon
hole has an opening about two feet square
and is six feet deep. 1t is just large enough
10 hold a coffin. The box containing the
deceased is showed in and the opening her
meticallv sealed. Then the name OF the
occupant and the time that he took posses
sion is carved on the outside. "A RECORD -
also kept in the cemetery DOCKS. ana 1Ihs
is pro,,erlv credited from time to time Inc
,1f,lannhoIes are where the rich are put
away.
The Graves of the Poor.
The graves of the poor and moderately
x,eu-to-1o are in the ground. The poor
are buried simply and little money Is spent
On collins This is the only place nave
ever been where you can rent a CONN Ior
a day. They have them here with sliding
bottoms. which the pallbearers can pull out
while the CaSkct rests over the grave ana
drop the dear departed into his last rest
ing place
Most Of the collins are made of pine COW
cred with black cloth and cheap Grnamen-
tations Such cOffins If you buy them out
right will cost you all the way from y TO
$40 In many cases they are carried on
the shoulders of men to the cemetery.
1t is only the rich who have hearses. The
average funeral procession is not large.
Women do not follow the remains to the
grave and often there is no one beside the
undertakers and grave diggers.
When | entered the San Juan cemetery
today l noticed that the open graves were
singularly narrow and l wondered how
good sized coffin could be squeezed into
them. While L waited | saw four men
bringing a box. They laid it down beside
one Of the open graves and then took out
something wrapped in long sheet and
dropped it into the grave. They threw in
quickime and then filed the grave with
cIods The coffin was taken back to the
city
As / went through the graveyard / no.
ticed the new holes which had just been
dug They were really carved out of bones.
Here the spade in going down had cloyen