The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-05-02
sEcOND RAND HEARsEs2s
where They Como From and tho yarior,
Buyers Found for Them.

Buyers Found for Them.
The hearse Ia o long lived vehicl.
Even though put to constant daily uss
on paved city streets a hearse will lss,
fifty years. It la built OF good materials,
to begin with, and is always carefully
driven and handled.
In the course of time. what with cHa.
slant exposure to all sorts Of weaihc"
and with repeated washings, the sprinrs
will rust and the wood decay. and th"rq
comes at last a time when the hesrso !,
practically. worn olit. That doesu't mean
that tho days of the old hearso arc over.
very rarely is II 30 worn o,it TINT il mnti "a
broken up.. Tho old hcarse il sold 10 y
hearse builder or to a carriage and hcarss
builder, who may take It. making .so'rN
allowance for 1t, In part payment for q new
hearse; and then this purchaser may sell
II again Just as IL Is to somebody who can
still get some use out Of II. though com
monty he repairs and refts II first. or per-
haps almost entirely rebuilds IL and tbs,
puts 1t on sale,
So Just as there are second hand pianos,
second hand steam boilers, second hand
almost everything on earth, there arc also
second hand hearses.
An undertaken may GO out Of business
and his stock be sold at auction. At such
q sale only undertakers or dealers in
hearses would be likely TO bid, and, hers
hearses In good or fairly good shape might
be bought at 4 low price. II bought by.e
builder and dealer in hearses they would
be repaired and put In order and sold a.
second hand. "
Stviss change In hen rs"s lust az they dr
in ali things else and the city undertaken
nav want a new hearse OF the latest de-
sign apdrmost modern equipment, IN which
case he would turn In his old hearse
though it may still be a perfectly cool
vehicle, and buy a new hearse.
While It is commonly the city nnder-
taker who ant the most modern thing
In hearses 1t might lie that.the undertaken
in some far isInal Her hut thriving plaes
might come 10 have the same desire. In
such a town there might set up. in business
q new undertaken, with q oon'Plets modern
equipment; including y modern hearsa
TO compete with the newcomer the old
undertaken might bay a now hearse and
give the old in part payment.
SO the hearses sold al second hand
/ como from various sources and some Of
thsm nay hs still very sS1d .sears re-:
builder or dealer who had bought such =
hearse might take OF its roof and puton =
new covering, thus completely changing
rs appearance, undermining II. and upon
any OF those hearses he would expend in
repairs. refitting and reconstruction what
ever amount It's condition might warrant.
| Some second hand hearses are o very.
| cheap, but a thoroughly good second hand
hearse brought into first class condition
| might bring hall as much rs q new hearss
Of the same class.
a.. second hand hearses are sold mostly
IN the country, tn undertakers in smaller
-nra,ptftAu urhpea naa thay SnyEa we'll
and onos such hearses we're sold from
here over q wide part of the country,
, Years ago there was sold in New York n
second hand hearse to 20 to the 1ndian
reservation in; Oklahoma Territory. II
these days, there are in the West pig
out hearses as we'll as other vehicles, and
those establishments now supply hearses
both new and second hand. in the various
regions within their respective natural
shipping distances, no that the business
In second hand 'hearses from here is nov
cculsed largely TO a region within a lev
hunldred miles Of the city. -.
There are sold numbers OF second hand
hearses for export. New hearses o.
American construction 60 to various
foreign lands and 90 do second hand
hearses. For export the second hand
order but they are re6tted and in every
way equipped to meet the requirements
| of the funeral customs of the countries
to which they are sent. Such second hand
as we'll as new hearsee of American mani
facture are sold In Central America, the
West Indies. South America and South
Africa.
Anew hearse OF very elaborate constrle-
ton and with expensive httings might
cost Is, OOo. The great majority Of the
hearses seen in this city cost new from
81, 100 to 81. 600 each.
It is eetimated that there are IN use IN
New York CITY about six hundred hearsee
whose total value would probably ap-
pro1imate a million dollars.