The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1902-02-13
STRANGE. CEMETERY
when Lease Expires Bones Are
Thrown Outside Of Inclosure.
Aaeisnt Ground In Csba whers
bodies Are Placed In N1ches I'm
the Wall Sealed by ExQuis-
ate Marble Tuhlets.

the many visitors to that city know
that there is such place; still fewer
ever pass beneath its vine-covered por-.
tai. Thousands visit the Colon ceme-
terry, with its massive gateway and its
beautiful monuments; not one in Il
thousand sees that city of the dead
which was established by Bishop Juan
De Espada in 1905. For Is years it has
| stood unused for burial purposes.
In old Roman days; In the time of the
funeral pyre, 1t was customary to
gather the ashes of the ihcinerated
| dead and place them in funeral urns.
These were sealed and deposited in.
inches in the walls of special buildings
or Enclosures. to which was applied the
name of columbaria, for the reason
| that their appearance suggested
dovecote. The general-ideA of the co
| ltmbaria has been preserved and
though unusual, is far from unique,
| The more modern system. dispenses
With the burning and deposits the cof
fined body in inches only differing from
| those of the Roman days essentially
in: their sixei, This is the system of
the Espada cemetery In. Havana, says
the New York Post.
The opening ofh strongly-locked and
heavily barred iron gateway gives pas
sage into high walled Enclosure of
| some three OF four acres in extent.
Neither monument nor standing tomb
stone breaks its fat and grassy area.
A grass-grown pathway leads straight
across the plat to the nortuary chapel
upon it's northern side. All around are
the walls, four to five yards in height,
showing four tiers of Handicapped
inches, some open and some closed and
sealed. Midway the western wall n
gateway opens upon a second inclo~
sure OF sihilar area to the first, though
of different arrangement. "A brick
paved walkway crosses it from east TO
west, bisectihg series of interior walls
! which extend through dts greater
length. If thy memory serves me- there
are six Of these structures, alternately
open and arching the pathway. Here,
too, the surrounding walls and the in.
terror. structures show the four rows
of inches. A little counting and n rough
calculation gave the total plumber il
both Enclosures at aboi1t 1900.
The ground Immediately around the
chapel. In the outer, yard, is largely oc-
eupied by the horizontal slabs which
mark the resringPlace of those whose
rank. wealth or influence has secured
for them specialinterment Here lies
the body of a bishop, and there lies one
whose coroneted coat of arms, carved
ih 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 kindred have returned to
their homes across the sea.
Many of the wall inches stand empty
by reason, of an established custom,
prevalent in these countries, of rent
ing burial spaces for d time only. Al
the expiration of that time the bones
are removed to large Uncovered re
ceptacle along the southern wall,
where they constitute CHASTITY heap,
seen only from the top of the wall.
The vacated space may then be filled
by surviving tenants or by one whose
payment insures repose so long as the
place continues asa 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 were oc
cupied as sleeping places during the
days of the decentralization under Wey
Ter.
Marble tablets, often exquisitely
carved, seal the openings of the inches,
taking the place of the now more gem
orally used mauspleums, monuments
and headstohes. Here and there some
wreath or other floral memento, at
tached to the tablet, shows that even
for quarter of century of sleep Ia
this unused burial ground some dead
are lovingly and actively remembered
Here and there an English name ap-
pears, but they are very few.
In one of the walls of the western
section a niche is shown in which once
lay the body of man who, in his life,
had grievously offended a group of
students in the University of Havana,
After his burial some ofthese students
manifested their bitterness by rbe
foolish prank of desecrating the TAB
let which sealed the tomb of their en-
envy. They were caught and sentenced
TO death. "A tablet on the face OF
building near La Punta.. lin Havana.
states that they were there executed.
shot by the bullets of Spanish SOL
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