The Detroit times., 1910-08-01
UhOEnTAKEnss0R
At VAN LERBEnGHE.
Say County 0fioial "solicits Busi
ness" in Moryus, VIII Protest
TO Auditors.

Loren w. Burch. undertaken 1t No.
14io Tort-st. west. has nled = cornr
plant with the Undertaksrs' assoota-
ton Of Detroit against Henry Van
Lsrberghe. county undertaken, No. bS4
Mt. Dlliottave., who has charge OF
the bodies brought to the county
morgue. Mr.. Burch sets forth that
Undertaken Van Lerberghe II guilty
Of uuprofessional conduct. alleging
that he, through his representative IN
tho county morgue, solicited patron
age from one Of Burch's patrons dur
Ing = bereavement.
The association received Burch's
complaint In 4 recent meeting and eD-
pointed the following committee to In
vestigxte: John w. Nancy, G. 70.
Bird, ]. r. @. echmalEriedt. No. 1916
Michigan-ave., Fred q. Marshall, No.
246 Beaubien-st., and Mr.. Burch, the
complainant. The committee viii call
on the county auditors within q day
Of two and lay Burch's complaint be-
fore them.
I'VE want the county auditors to-
tell Mr.. Van LeFbeEghe that he must
not solicit private business In connec-
ton with cases which come TO the
county morgue." said Fred g. Mar
shall, vice president OF the Undertak-
ers' association Saturday. mr.. Van
Lerberghe knows very well that he -
not supposed to canvass for business
among the relatives Of persons whose
bodies come to the county morgue.
To get rid of Just such conditions was
the undertakers' hope In getting the
county morgue established. Before 1t
came into being we were troubled o
great deal by the corOners sending
bodies to their friends who were In
the undertaking business. The open
ing OF the morgue did do away with
the unfair work until the present In
stance. While Mr.. Creedon was do
ing the morgue work we never had
the slightest reason to complain. He
was fair In all his dealings.
And, speaking about the county
morgue, brings to my mind a reform
which ought to be established. At
the present time the morgue is closed
at night, and 1t Is even difficult to get
into 1t Saturday afternoons. Now that
should not be; there ought to be three
clerks for the cor0ner's ONCE, each
working eight hours so that the
place would be always open. That's
the way they do things in other cities,
and we should have the same conven-
fences here. We generally have q
hard time getting bodies into the
morgue at night or on Saturday after
MOODS"
Undertaken Van Lerberghe, who Is
himself member of the Undertakers'
association, says that there Is abso-
luteiy no ground for the complaint OF
Mr.. Burch.
"As a matter of fact said Mr.. Van
Lerberghe, "the party whose patron
age Mr.. Burch says we solicited didn't
mention the name Of Burch to my as
sistant, Robert A. Wilson, In the ooun-
t. morgue. The father of the dead
girl In the case asked Mr.. Wilson for
his price to bury her and Mr.. Wilson
told him we'd do the work for $74.
The price was accepted and we buried
the body.
Later Mr.. Burch telephoned me ut
the morgue and said he was coming
for the body. / said, All right, come
and get it, He didn't come, however.
Then I said to the father of the dead
girl, why, you have been dealing
with Mr.. Burch, haven't your He ad-
mitted that he had, but declared that
he wasn't going to give the job to
Burch and pay $131, which amoupnt
Burch wanted for the burial.
Now that's all there In to the story.
I am not trying TO beat any under
taker out of job; I am dealing fair
Nv with one and all. But I am doing
good business and that's the trouble
with the other undertakers; they're
jealous of me. am going to keep
right on doing business as usual,
though believe In doing business on
fair profit and getting lots to do.
don't 60 on the plan Of charging big
prices and getting about one Job q
month, as many Of the city undertake
ers do. have just put up a nne
building at waterloo-st. and Mt. Ell.
liott-ave. and I guess the other under.
takers think I am getting along too
we'll