The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1899-05-11
PREMATURE BURIALS
Germany's Plan of Preventing Them
Favored in New York.
Too Much Haste In Laying Away the
Dead in This Country - Precau-
lions to lie Prescribed
by Law.

~ tidtl al law llldl W IA prevent
ture interment or cremation. \ bill,
already introduced. provides that in
cities or places where there are 100 or
more iutcrmcnts. each cemetery shall
have a mortuary or mortuarics, TO he
used for the disposal of the dead. which
shall provide rooms of sufficient mum
Der to enable each body that is re-
a certain time.
NO body shall be received unless ac-
companicd by a statement on the part
Of an attending physician or coroner
showing whether he has found these
signs of death:
|. Permanent cessation of respira-
ton and circulation.
,. Purple discoloration of the de-
pendent parts of the body.
3. Appearance of blistering around
part Of the skin touched with red
hot iron.
4. The characteristic stiffness known
as rigor morris.
:. Signs of decomposition
The bill furthermore provides that
no body shall be crematcd or buried
in any of the cemeteries or other places
for the final disposal of the dead he
fore - hours have elapsed from the
time of death. Provisions for eXcep-
lions in the case Of death from iufec-
tiouS diseases are made.
burial alive is about the most ghast-
~ terror of which the human mind can
conceive" says H. Gerald Chaplin, who
drafted the bill. at fills the minds of
nervous people with an ev,r-hau-tiug
dread. There is more necessity for
such legislation as am working for
in this country than there is in Eng
land. 1t is the custom there to keep
the dead above ground for three days
at least, which covers the period mcu-
toned in the bill introduced by Mr..
Redington. But in this country We
bury or cremate our dead with the
same haste and hurry that we do other
things. Climatic conditions make this
Il necessity sometimes.
THE proposed legislation in New
York is based principally upon laws
that were enforced in different German
provinces before the empire. and which
are still carried out to perfection in
Bavaria and SaXony. Amendments to
the laws have been made from time to
time. but only in the direction Of i'm
proVement. There is no additional eN-
pense to people who are obliged to dis
pose of their dead. That is already eN-
pensive enough in New York at all
events. The cost of precautionary
measures suggested are paid by the
municipality, and this has been re-
duced to a minimum i'm Germany.
The laws there are very simple. and
the lichenfrauen- women who take
care of the dead, corresponding to
laycrs-out' in England-are instructed
as distinctly what they may do as what
they may not do. Nothing is left TO
their discretion. y STAFF of phH sicians
are at their call. In many towns these
women assume the duties left to the
coroner in this country. They are
trained to the work, and are appointed
by the municipality on civil service
basis.
There is dead house in every Gem
etery. The law specifies how and
where they shall be built. The rooms
for the reception of the dead are ten
feet long, six feet wide and ten feet
high Even the temperature of the
room is fixed by law. Each room has
door leading into a common hail. or
waiting-room The door is unlocked at
all times. and relatives or frieGds of the
deceased are practically unrestricted,
except in cases of Infectious diseases,
in their opportunity to visit and in
spect the bodies of their dead.
departments are provided in the
building for the lichenfrauen. and il is
their duty to inspect each body in their
charge at least three times every day
for signs of returning life. Electrical
connections are made with each body.
50 that at the slightest movement an
alarm is given to the watchers in
charge. The fact that many persons
have been saved from burial alive by
these establishments in Germany is
sufficient reason for the adoption of
the same system in this country. N.
Y Sun.