The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1919-10-03
A Protest From
Departed Citizens

Urgent requests came from citizens
this week for The Times editor to
make an inspection of the county GEM
etery and, if he thought the condition
of those premises call for comment,
those making such request flattered
us somewhat by saying that they
knew we would make the necessary
comment. So, on Tuesday evening,
while driving by that city Of the dead,
we accepted the opportunity afforded
for brief inspection. But while eur
visit there was brief, the surroundings
were so excessively depressing as t.
make our stay feel much longer than
it really was.
For the benefit of the many who
perhaps do not even know where the
county burying ground is-it is in alb
solutely no respect a cemetery--we
will say that it is only about a mile
east of the court house, adjoining at
the rear the Odd Fellows cemetery.
We failed to find an entrance to that
miserable unkept plot of ground, and
were compelled to climb the fence
separating it from the Odd Fellows
cemetery. But from the moment we
set our feet in that tangle of bush and
bramble we began to have trouble
with briars and the tangled growth,
, which several times almost threw us
sprawling. One must keep a sharp
eye on that chamber of horrors" to
avoid falling into a sunken grave, af
ter freeing ones self from the briars
and entangled growth.
| There are many graves plainly in
evidence, while other mounds can but
indistinctly be discerned. There are
/ doubtless innumerable bodies that
/ have been laid there in their last long
sleep of which there is no longer the
slightest evidence of the 2x6 space of
ground to which we are all finally en-
, titled. There are many tombstones
and markers scattered and lying about
half buried, or perchance entirely
buried, but hardly one of them is up
right and in its rightful place. There
are also some new-made graves there,
showing that that mean looking spot
has not been entirely abandoned as a
burying ground. There is absolutely
no arrangement to the graves, it ap-
pearing that wherever the least
amount of matted growth, is selected
for each new grave.
Now, while the chances are that
most of those buried in that miserable
unkept place, were paupers, and per-
haps were buried at the county's eX-
pense, they were, nevertheless, human
beings, and are entitled to some con-
sideration from their fellow-kind. That
they were all entirely dead when laid
to rest (?) in that cruelty unkept
spot there can be no doubt. Had they
not been dead, then a cry Of indigna-
ton must have burst from them that
would have reached the furtherrhost
portions of st. Francois county in
protest against being buried in such
neglected and apparently forgotten
spot. We are convinced that even a
snake would crawl around, rather than
attempt to pass through that forbid
ding place.
just how or why the county ceme-
terry should have been so long and so
completely neglected The Times does
not know. Nor is that matter so ma
terial at this time. The urgent thing
is to correct this oversight, and cor
rect it Immediately, or it must soon
become a public crime. Who is re-
sponsible? Do you ask. We do not
know who has been responsible in the
past for this glaring oversight. But
now that few Of the lamentable con-
ditions are here made known, the en-
tire public must be held responsible
if such conditions are longer permitted
to continue. The Times believes that
suggestion to the County Court is
all that is necessary in order to cor
rect this crying abuse. Therefore we
would suggest that the County Court
Judges visit that blighted spot dur
ing their meeting next week and make
arrangements for putting the county
cemetery in condition that will be
at least not altogether repulsive.