Waterbury Democrat., 1900-10-26
MONUMENTS FOR SOLDIERS.
Contractor Maslen. Will Set About 100
 More Before Frost Sets In.

More Before Frost Sets In.
 Contractor Maslen, who has the con- ltract from the state for erecting head stones at soldiers graves all over the lstate. isr hustling to get about 100 now in, s., says. the Courant. The
 state '. has already ordered since the law, was passed 3,61S head stones, all but about 100 of which have been set. Under the present law all headstones are required to be or | marble, and the contract price, SD each, covers setting in any part or the state. Last week headstone was sent out into Litchfeld county, which had to be hauled seven miles over tho
 hills to the cemetery after leaving the railroad station.
 |. Previous to 1881, under the old law, headstones were made of metal and were furnished by the Monumental Bronze company of Bridgeport. When General Goodrich became quartermas- | ter general, he suggested a change in | the law requiring the headstones to be of marble and the law was changed ac- cordingly. One hundred and ninety three of these metal headstones had | been furnished by the state. They were not considered satisfactory and | forty three of them have been replaced with marble stones. Under the law, every honorably discharged soldier who served in q Connecticut organiza- | ton or as a sailor from this state dru- | ing the Civil war, or the Spanish war of 1888, and is buried in this state, and every honorably discharged sol dier or sailor of similar service in any other state who was at the time of his
 death a legal resident of the state and is buried in Connecticut. is entitled to
 a headstone at the expense of the state | provided his grave is not marked by | suitable headstone.
 The receiving of applications. issu | ing of orders for the stones, and keep
 ing records thereof. takes up much Of the time of NJ. J. Wise, clerk in the quartermastergener office, and the | system of paying for the stones, in
 specting them and receiving certificates of the proper setting of the stones, makes considerable work for the | quartermaster-g general and his assist
 ant An excellent system has been in vogue at the office for several years,
 under which it is impossible for dupli-
 cate stones to be orderd. In a copy
 of the Record of Connecticut Men in | the War of the Rebellion" every mans
 name is checked when a headstOne has 1 been erected at his grave and the same
 is done if his burial expenses are paid
 by the state. A book IS also kept in
 which every stone set is recorded by
 the name of the soldier, arranged al-
 alphabetically, with the date and num-
 Der of the order. the date of the cer- | tificate by sexton or Selectman or the
 setting of the stone, and the date of
 the payment to the contractor.
 l An,
 gently when an old soldier walked into the quartermaster-gcn office and
 said that while walking through Ever
 green cemetery, New Haven, he had seen there a headstone erected to his
 memory. Investigation showed thai
 the stone was inscribed with his cor
 rect name but another service than
 that in which he served. He was not
 dead but the other man whose service
 the stone was intended to commemor
 late, bore precisely the same name
 The people i'll New, Haven had go
 those soldiers mixed when they made application for q headstone, and o1
 course the quartermaster-gen and clerks had no way of determining
 which man of that name was dead They simply found that a man of tha name had served honorably in the
 Connecticut organization and supposed
 that the New Haven people knew thai The was dead, as they so declared, anC gave the location of his grave ill tho cemetery The headstone was there
 fore placed at the head of the grave
 of the right man, but the wrong ser
 vice was commemorated. The mat
 ter was soon rectified and the man wht was not dead hopes that he will liv'
 for many years before requiring :
 headstone.