Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1901-07-04
A QUAINT CEMETERY.
WHERE OVER 100 OF THE couNTRYs
EARLY LEGISLATORS SLEEP.

Burial Sites In suburbs of WashinE-
ton That Were Set Apart For the
Free Interment of congressman
Dying Away From Home.
On the eastern outskirts of Washing
ton. where the city, struggling over the
and vacant squares, halts at
the edge of the marshes of the Ana
costa river, stands the old Congress
sional cemetery, with it's eightscore
cenotaphs, memorials OF departed
statesmen. Years ago the tide of pop
ulation surged westward and north
ward, o~verrunning the salubrious high
lands of those sections and establish
ing its burial grounds in the new re-
gions. But this little city of the dead
was left alone in the deserted quarter,
with the jail, the almhouse and the
w0rkhouse for neighborS.
In it are 100 cenotaphS to. dead con-
gressmen, stretching in monotonous
rows through the cemetery, all of them,
with two exceptions, of q uniform
shape and size, and erected at govern
ment expense to the memory of the
SOS eIllIlltll > uSuu lcJlcScillillNc CO.
Some of the stones mark the actual
burying place of the defunct states
men, but others, like those N
| orative of Henry Clay, John Quincy
Adams, Thaddeus Stevens and others,
merely stand in honor of those dis
tinguished names. Since 1876 the prac-
tice of erecting c%enotaphs, begun in
| 1 -nG HOG 1,,n,, oJonlnnnl
When the cemetery was established
in 1868, its projectors thought it would
be a successful idea to secure the inter-
ment in the new cemetery of congress-
men who passed away while serving
their country in the then malarial eli
mate of Washington and that it would
give this mortuary site distinction
above ordinary burying grounds.
So 400 burial sites We're set apart for
the free interment of congressman dy-
ing away from home, and the place
was named the Congressional cemetery.
In those days it was impossible to
transport a body long distances with
out great expense and trouble, and the
purchasing of burial lots was eXpen-
sive, Sc the privilege thus extended
was readily accepted. The funerals
We're conducted with imposing ceremo-
MES, and the departed solons We're laid
away With pomp and circumstance in
the spaces specially allotted and set
apart for them.
AS methods of transportation improv-
ed, however, with the years, and the
families of the deceased found oppor-
tunity to take the bodies home for in
terment, the practice fell into diSuSe,
and ultimately a law was enacted pro-
viding that a cenotaph should be erect
ed in the cemetery to every congress-
man who died in the harness, and for
a number of years this custom was fol-
lowed, so that many of the monuments
merely stand in memory of the con-
gressmen without actually marking the
burial sites.
In 1876 a law was enacted providing
that no cenotaph should be erected I'M
less interment was made in the Gene
terry, and there has not been q burial
Of Il congressman in the plot since that
year.
The cenotaphs are plain blocks of
masonry, covered withscement to with
stand the rayages of the elements.
Each is inscribed with the name of the
dead man, the state he represented in
the house or senate and the date of his
death. Some OF the Inscriptions are
now illegible, but the Oldest one de-
cipherable is on q cenotaph in memory
Of Andrew p. Butler, a senator from
the state of South Carolina, who died
in 1896. AS stated, ali the cenotaphs
are of uniform size and shape. except
in two instances. One is q marble mon
ument to Elbridge Gerry of Massachu-
sets. ut II time vice president Of the
United States and famous in Revolu.
tionary history. 1t is Il pyramid shaped
pile of marble about twice the height
of the other cenotaphs, surmounted by
an urn containing a representation OF
an undying flame. The other is a mon.
ument to George Clinton of New York
also vice president Of the United States
and active in the war OF 1872.
Among the cenotaphs is one to Push
ma-ta-ha. a Choctaw chief. who. the
Inscription states, died of Group in the
siNtieth year of his age while visiting
Washington in 1924. Beneath this in
scription is the statement that the rec
chieftain in his last breath desired the
big guns to be fired owe him. He haG
the salute he desired.
1t might be economy if the govern
ment We're content nowadays merely
to honor the departed congressmer
with a cenotaph, for the 1G0 memorial:
probably did not cost as much as half
dozen modern funerals of defunc
statesmen. Congressional funerals nov
are elaborate affairs. There must b,
q junket with every ceremony. TIL,
body is transported to the home of tn,
deceased in Il special car, accompanie,
by one or two Pullmans, containing
more or less sorrowing congressional
escort, with a well stocked commits
sary, of course. There are carriage
and flowers and mourning and q dis
play of white sashes quite imposing.