East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1910-04-14

II is wholly commendable, the
movement initiated and promoted by
the patriotic ladies of Pendleton to
improve and preserve the old North
side cemetery on West jackson street,
which now, with its crumbling and
broken monuments, stands itself as a
monument TO neglect and ruin. There
has ii stood, a little plot OF bare
ground, dedicated TO the grim reaper
for over half a century, and beneath
its uneven, weed grown surface lies
the dust of those whose hands first
opened the gates of an empire. With
in the narrow boundaries of that des-
olate area,
where heaves the turf in many a
mouldering heap,
Each in his narrow cell forever laid,
The rude forefathers OF the hamlet
sleep"
and by their bones, long since decay
ed and crumbled, is that spot conse-
Grated and hallowed and made for
ever sacred.
1t has been written to 'let the dead
past bury its dead" but that command
does not enjoin a complete forgetful-
ness and disregard for that which
has gone before, for, in the graves
of the past are the roots of the tree
of the present, and he is almost a
criminal who fails in his inherent OBJ
legations to cherish the things by
gone. History with its narrowed
pages can touch but lightly upon its
multitudes Of makers and thus, the
duty is imposed upon each commu-
nifty 10 perpetuate the names of those
whose toll, sacrifice and martyrdom
secured for it the peace and prosper
ity it now enjoys. And the least it
can do is to show some external re-
spect and reverence for the last rest
ing place of these dead heroes.
To the stranger who, from curios-
ity allows his footsteps to lead him
within this silent city of the dead"
as he moves from mound to mound
and reads the few Inscriptions carved
in marble there, those scattered graves
may be but scattered graves with no
other significance; or if he be of a
meditative cast or gifted with an i'm
agination, he may guess something of
what lies hidden there within; but to
the few remnants of that pioneer
band who saw this land as a wild from
tier. those earthen billows mutely
speak of a thousand incidents of 9TH
er times. From out Of those tombs
rise spectres of former friends, and
before their Retrospective vision are
enacted scenes in a drama which tells
of an empire in the making.
1t was the body of Ella Bailey that
was first inferred in that historic
cemetery. She was a daughter of
Judge G. w. Bailey, and sister of
the present D. W. Bailey. who is still
a resident of this city. She fell a
victim to pneumonia late in the sos
when only the Bailey and Goodwin
families constituted the sole popula-
ton of the area whereon now dwell
1000 people. After her death the few
acres which now comprise the burial
ground were decided to the county by
NJ, E, Goodwin, and soon other graves
appear 1ca ,,',.nii ~.....i its confines.
Many of these were strangers to the
few people who then inhabited this
section, Oftentimes train of immi-
grants would draw sadly to this spot,
bearing in their midst the body of
one of their number, fallen on the
journey, q victim TO disease accident
or violence. A grave would be hastily
dug. a few simple words would be
said and the lifeless form of one held
dear lowered into the earthen cell. A
few tears would be dropped as the
dirt was gently heaped over the corpse
and then with one last lingering look
behind, on to the west, to the prom
ised land where hopes and dreams
We're to be fulfilled. Often rude
slab was erected to mark the spot and
the name and years and perhaps a
homely verse carved thereon, all oi
which have long since been erased by
time and the warning elements. Those
rugged pioneers, with their uncertain
futures, were given neither time mol
opportunity for the funeral rites ant