The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-10-24
New York CottonLMarket.
JONATHAN REEDS TOMB.
Also His Home. Although 1t Contains
His WIfe's Corpse.
CFrom the New York Tribune. J


Among the features Of Evergreens
Cemetery, Brooklyn, there is none that
has caused more comment than the Jona-
than Reed tomb. 1t contains the body OF
Mary E. Reed who died in March, 1888
and is also the home of Jonathan Reed,
who was her husband They had been
married thirty-hye years when Mrs. Reed
died. On her deathbed Reed promised
his wife that she should never be buried
out of his sight, but that he would have
her body where he could see it. This
promise he has carried out. The metal
lie coffin which contains the body has
been so placed that he can see the face at
will.
The handsome tomb was built soon af-
ter the death of Mrs. Reed and was ar
ranged to accommodate only two collins.
The one containing the body stands at the
right as one enters the tomb. and on the
left is an empty coffin OF the same pat
tern resting on marble slabs. The inte-
rior of the tomb S arranged with a view
to making it 'cozy and homelike." The
walls are decorated with the handiwork of
the dead woman, pictures. bric-a-brac,
etc. The floor is covered with rugs, and
the exterior is tastefully decorated with
growing plants IL costly vases. In speak
ing of the man who reared the tomb and
who occupies it most Of the time a man
who knows him said:
There is considerable Misrepresentation
regarding the motives that induced him to
take up his present residence. The casual
observer would suppose hat he is possess-
ed of d peculiar state ut mind bordering
on insanity, though one has only to engage
in conversation with him for few mo,
ments, when the fact of his sanity will bs
established in the mind of the visitor He
believes religious sentiment to be the re-
suit OF geographical chance in the matter
of birth. and that the crank is the man
who breaks loose from the ironbound dog
mas of his brothers, and had it not been
for the cranks the human race would have
remained aborigines He does not deny
his unbelief in a future state but says:
| II there Is a life beyond the grave it will
| be all right, but I shall make the best of
| this life, and be with my wife while | can.
| He thinks the only difference between him
| and his wife is that the spark has simply
| gone out of her body and that she is only
| sleeping or in a torpid condition He does
| not think that God calls any one from
| this life, but that death is simply an act OF
| nature and that he cannot accuse God q;
| being a murderer
Mr. Reed possesses sense of hui
| NOR that will save a man from becoming
| Respondent He laughs like a man who
| lives amid scenes of mirth, instead OF
| enc who spends most of his time in and
| about a tomb His memory is as extraor-
binary as his life. He takes pleasure
in relating the experiences of his past
! life. the humorous as well as the s.
| side of it. and his manner CT expression
| makes it the more interesting He lives
| as he does because he enjoys it, ard
| possessing his theories CT life, he ceuld
enjoy nothing else. To be separated
| from the one when he loved woa:d
make him most miserable and wretch
ed
= picture of his wife hangs On tn
| door of the tomb. and under this tbs
| following inscription has been placed:
Let those who seek not knowledge
| 2ass by this tomb, and these who tai
| &c learn the secret of life in death Ge
| 12rt.-Reed.' -