The Washington times., 1901-08-18
A CURIOUS BURIAL GROUND
The Old Cemetery in Havana Rare.
ly Seen by Strangers.
Few Visitors to the City Pass Be
meath the Vinc-Coverrd Portals
Collins Deposited in inches in the
WaIIs-OpeninEs scaled by Tablets


Behind the leper hospital, in the San
Lazaro district of the city of Havana,
there lies an old cemetery. Few of the
many visitors to that city know tat
there is such place; still fewer ever
pass beneath It's vine-covered portal.
Thousands visit the Colon Cemetery,
with its massive gateway and its beau
tiful monuments; not one in thousand
sees that city of the dead which was
established by Bishop Juan de Espada
in 1905. For twenty-five years it has
stood unused for burial purposes.
In old Roman days. in the time of the
funeral pyre, it was customary TO gain
er the ashes of the Moderated dead
and place them in funeral urns. These
We're sealed and deposited in inches III
the walls OF special buildings or en-
closures, to which was applied the
name of columbaria, for the reason that
their appearance suggested doVecote.
The general idea Of the columbaria has
been preserved and, though unusual, is
far from unique. The more modern
deposits the cofIined bodies in inches
only different from those of the Roman
days, essentially, in their size. This is
the system of the Espada Cemetery in
Havana.
The opening of a strongly locked and
heavily barred iron gateway gives pas
sage into a high-walled enclosure Of
N
Neither monument nor standing tomb
stone breaks its fiat and grassy area.
A grass grown pathway leads straight
across the plot to the mortuary chapel
upon its northern side. All around are
the walls, four to five yards in height,
showing four tiers of round-topped
inches, some open and some closed and
gateway opens upon a second enclosure
of similar area to the first, though of
different arrangement. A brick-paved
walkway crosses it from east to west,
bisecting a series of interior walls
which extend through its greater
length. If my memory serves me, there
are six of these structures, alternately
open and arching the pathway. Here,
too, the surrounding walls and the inte
rior structures show the four rows of
inches. a little counting and a rough
calculation gave the total number in
both enclosures at about 12,00g.
The ground Immediately around the
chapel. in the outer yard, is largely &C.
cupied by the horizontal slabs which
mark the resting place of those whose
rank. wealth, or influence has secured
for them special interment Here lies
the body of bishop and there lies one
whose coronetted coat-of-arms, carved
in relief on the marble, indicates a
strain Of royal blood. Many of the
stones are broken, all are weather.
stained, bordered with untrimmed grass
and weeds. For the graves of many
who lie here there is no one to care.
OF Spanish birth, their friends and kim
dred have returned to their homes
across the sea.
Many of the wall-nlches stand empty
by reason of an established custom,
prevalent in these countries, of renting
burial space for time only. At the
expiration of that time, the bones are
removed TO a large uncovered recepta-
Gle along the southern wall where they
constitute a CHASTITY heap, seen only
from the top of the wall The vacated
space may then be filled by succeeding
tenants, or by one whose payment in
sures repose so long as the place con-
tinues as burial ground In some of
these now vacant inches beds of dried
grass and discarded clothing indicate
their use by the living There is no
doubt that many of them We're occupied
as sleeping places during TIE days of
the reconstruction, under Weyler.
Marble tablets, often exquisitely cary
ed, seal the openings of the inches, TAX
ing the place of the now more generally
used mausoleums, monuments, and
headstones. Here and there some
wreath or other floral memento, at
tached 10 the tablet, shows that, even
after quarter of a century of sleep in
this unused burial ground. some dead
ars lovingly and actively remembered.
Here and there an English name ap-
pears, but they are very few.
In one of the walls in the western
section a niche is shown in which once
lay the body of a man who. in his life,
had grievously offended a group of stu
dents in the University of Havana At
ter his burial some of these students
manifested their bitterness by the fool
ish prank of desecrating the tablet
which sealed the tomb of their enemy
They were caught and sentenced to
death. A tablet on the face of build
ing near La Punta in Havana, states
that they were there executed, shot by
the bullets of Spanish soldiery. Today
one of the special sights of Havana is
the beautiful students monument in
the Colon Cemetery, and the anniver-
sary of their death is a public holiday.
Deprived of the revenue which 1t for
merly received from the Government,
the Roman Catholic Church in Cuba is
somewhat straitened financially. The
Espada Cemetery Is church property,
and 1t is probable that ere long it will
be placed on the market for sale. The
niched walls will give place to modern
and the living will walk
where the dead have lain.
PAUPER,S GRIEF