The suburban citizen., 1901-04-20
CREMATION'S ODD PHASE
WAY IN WHICH PEOPLE DISPOSE
or THE ASHES OF THEIR DEAD.

"A good many queer things have hap
pened In connection with cremation
but perhaps the strangest of them all
was the case of Mrs. Matilda France
fort, relates the New York Sun. Ma
tilda ate her husband, which sounds
Oannibalistic, but isn't.
In 1896 Mr.. Francefort left his
sphere of usefulness in Brooklyn and
his soul, it is to be hoped, scared to a
better world. As for his body. they
took it to Fresh Pond and cremated it.
Then his widow went after the ashes
and took them carefully home with
her All widows do not. Some don't
even buy a niche for them at the Gre
matory or pay storage for them in the
cellar.
But Mrs. Francefort was different.
She got the ashes of the late Mr.. Il.
and carried them home in a japanned
tin box, like a tea canister or a spice
box. Perhaps that was what sug-
gested to the sorrowing widow the dis
position she should next make of them.
At any rate she decided to eat them.
There was much to be said in favor Of
this plan. 1t was economical She
would save the expense Of an urn and
a niche and monument by being all
that herself. Then, too, she and the
dear cremated had lived together for
thirty-One years and she was lonesome
without him. She was informed that
the ashes would enter permanently
ffafn hnrs al to I,o
clear case Of eating your cake and
having it too. Anybody could see that
under the circumstances it was the
only way of keeping the family to-
gether.
Having decided to eat her husband
the next question was the manner in
which he should be served. Mrs.
Francefort went over his qualities
with n sorrowful heart. He had been
a witty man, there was always a spicy
favor in his conversation. Mrs
Francefort made note: "Spice."
Then she defied anybody to say that
he had not been the salt Of Che earth
Another note: "Salt" Still she had to
admit that he had a bit of a temper
Note number three: Pepper" But
then he was always sweet to her
Final note: Sugar" Clearly, Mr..
Francefort's post-mortem specially
should be in the condiment line. Mrs
+. determined to make seasoning.
So she put pinch of him in her cof
fee at breakfast and sprinkled him
lightly over the boiled shad. At lun
cheon he went into the tea, and con-
tributed distinction to the lamb stew
At dinner-well, at dinner the supply
of Mr.. Franceforts ashes went down
in more ways than one. And what
ever the gentleman may have done in
life, there is one thing sure, he never
disagreed with his widow when he
was dead, though a little of him did
perhaps go a long way.
People who eake to cremation seem
to have a fondness for having their
ashes scattered to the winds There
was the first man who was cremated
in this country. That is to say, the
first in recent times. Toward the end
of the eighteenth century a Southern
er by the name of Lawrence left a re.
quest to be cremated. His sons built
furnace especially and the first crema-
tio~-not Indan-took place on Ameri-
can soil.
But in 1876 Baron Won Palm was
cremated in Dr. Lemoyne's private
crematory at Washington, Penn, and
his ashes were scattered upon the Hud-
son River. Then there was Ernest
Rosin, who, in 1897, stood on the Eads
bridge over the Mississippi and poured
his fathers ashes into the stream be-
low. In both cases the dead men had
asked to be thus thrown adrift 1t is
scid that Joaquin Miller has made
similar request.
Another case Of the same kind was
that Of William Petersen Appleby, an
officer in the Mexican and the Civil
wars. His body was cremated at
Fresh Pond in 1898 and the widow
took the ashes to her home in Hemp
stead. Her husband had asked her to
scatter them abroad on the first windy
day after his cremation. She waited
until gale was blowing, and then in
the presence of some Of her husbands
friends held the ashes out by handfuls
and let the wind blow them away.
At Bromberg. Germany, in 1897, the
ashes Of one Robert Arons were sold
at public auction for $3.75. The pur-
chaser was not a member Of the dead
mans family The records stop short
there, and one is left guessing who
wanted the ashes badly enough to pay
$375 for them. 1t would seem, too,
that there must have been more than
one bidder, for 1915 would hardly
have been offered as a starter.
The remains of Abbie Sage Richard
son, the writer. who died in Italy,
were brought to this country to be Gre
mated. Tbsy were incinerated at
Fresh Por1. Her brother died from
the shock and was cremated on the
following day.
Kate Fields body was also brought
home to be burned. She died in the
Sandwich Islands and was buried
there. 1t was long time before her
friends got the money together to
bring the remains to this country, but
a a