Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-06-11
THE HOODOO HEARSE
An Ancient Vehicle That Pointed
the Way to Death in Maine.
sitter Controversy over Use of the
Conveyance for Carrying Cod
Gsh-Good Health Follows
Its Ostracism.

It's Ostr1clsm.
1t is hoped now that the evil rcpu-
.ation that has marked the late ca
seer of the Holden hcarse has come
70 an end, says the New York sun.
The hearse was made in England
more than a century ago and was
brought over to Massachusetts as
something unusual in the line of fu-
neral splendor.
Having done its solemn duty in
Ipswich, Mass, for nearly quarter
of century it was sent down to
New Wrentham, Me-, and for rs years
was in constant demand for funerals
in all parts of Hancock and Penob-
scot counties, often being sent more
than so miles from home. The body
of the carriage wore out four sets
of wheels, and the revenues which
it earned for. its owners mounted up
to almost $1,000 "A year.
1t had become the custom for the
heaviest stockholder in the vehicle
to drive the kOrsc and attend all the
funerals, Six hcarse drivers grew old
and died in the service. The seventh
brought i'll luck and final disaster.
! Late in the fall of 1896 he was
called upon to take body from Ban
gor to Broolsvllc for interment.
The surviving kindred of the deceased
were poor, and the driver got fee
much too low for profit. TO recoup
himself he bought 600 pounds of salt
Goldfish to take home in the hcarse
and sell. This act plunged Holden
into a neighborhood row, which is
still in progress. His critics said that
the vehicle was for the exclusive use
of the dead. and that if it was made
to carry anything else such conduct
was in the nature of sacrilege.
1t was the bittcrcst fight ever seen
| in eastern Maine. Families became
estrapged over it. and aged men sent
for lawyers in haste and drew up
documents, declaring that their re-
mains must not he carried to the
| grave in such a vehicle. IT seemed
for a time that the owners of the
hearse were sNre to win, because they
showed old contracts with two Gem
etery associations in which the own
ers of lots agreed to employ this par
! ticular hearse at all burials i'll their
/ yards. No sooner were these papers
produced than the anti-hcarse crowd
began to fence off burial lots on their
own land.
For the next six months it is de-
clared that no enemy of the old
hearse died, fearing the indignity OF
riding in a hearse which had once
held Goldfish. Finally the courts up
set the contracts.
From this time the patronage oil
mantled and locked in the hearsc
house to await its own time of bur.
ial. If the enemies of the hearse had
been content to let things rest where
they were, the war would have end
ed there, but the grudgc was so deep
that the boys in the ncighborhoo
amused themselves by stealing the
rickety carriage and hauling it about
the roads at night, leaving it in the
yard of one of its supporters.
1t was soon noticed that wherever
the hearse was left a member of the
household died in short time. As
the hearse was generally run into the
ward of some one who owned shares
in the vehicle. and as most of these
owners were aged and would soon die
in the course of nature, the deaths
were not regarded as remarkable at
first. But when the hearsc contin-
ued to roam abroad at night, and
death continued to visit the homes
where it was left, great fear took
hold of the people.
Several meetings were held by
those who saw an omen of death
in every movement of the hearse, and
the time was drawing near when the
hearse was likely to be burned by an
indignant and frightened people
when the constable caught five boys
wheeling the hearse through the
woods leading to Dedham. They
were taken before magistrate, who
threatened to send them away to the
reform school unless the hearse
ceased to go abroad at night. The
hearing took place in March. The
hearse has not been out since, and all
the people of Holden are enjoying eX-
cellent health. So it is hoped that
the trouble over the hearse is ended