Evening star., 1925-03-23
TOUCHING EP|TAPHS.
IN PETS CEMETERY
Funeral for Dogs, Cats and
Other Domestic Animals
Often Elaborate.

tractive headstones and nestled on
hillside near "A grove of trees-but
there the resemblance ends.
| Take, for instance, a typical epitaph
like this:
Born a Dog-Lived a Gentleman"
You viii Live in Our Hearts.
Little Brown Nose"
Or:
Peter Pan Townsend. August %.
1920
Just Little Cat, But Greatly
/ Beloved"
You have guessed it. by this time.
This is a cemetery for four-legged
friends of man. from dog to horse. and
one lot is reserved for a two-legged
pet, an aged parrot, owned by
Maryland family.
BEYOND District Line.
! This strange burial place is located
| far beyond the District line on the
| Brookeville pike, not far from st.
Mary's Episcopal Chapel. 1t is on the
property of r. c. Birney. dog fancier
and breeder, who has witnessed the
| interment there of nearly 500 house
| hold pets.
! A serious business. these interments
| Nothing trivial about them. Some
are simple, though solemn affairs, IN
volving the careful placing of the
deceased in the little hole and sob
or two as the dirt is thrown in. Others
are extremely elaborate. marked by
| ceremony and the shedding of many
tears. Many of the dogs were en-
balmed before burial and some of the
| interments have cost hundreds OF
! dollars.
Some of the owners take things
pretty bad" Mr.. Birney explained
yesterday. One woman was so over
come with grief that she hysterically
| yelled: Don't put him in that cold,
! cold ground. l can't stand to see it,
! lust think-he was never out alone
at night before in his life' With
! that she fell over into the grave In
! a faint and we had hard time re-
| yiving her.
| One Funeral Elaborate.
! Another lady, Mrs. Selma Shook,
! ubo lives on Newton street, has had
| two yery impressive funerals here for
! her dogs. That's her lot there. Last
year we had a regular funerai mere
| Mrs. Shook felt so badly about the
death of her pet that she mad MIN
| placed in an expensive White steer
! lined casket with silver handles' siio
! the Casket was escorted to the grave
| hv score of dog mourners and hon
| orary pallbearers. Mrs. Shook was
| dressed in heavy mourning and she
! went at frequent intervals A bunch
! of motion picture camera men, VINO
had gotten wind of the plans, were on
! hand and took pictures of the process
! sion"
The "Snook" lot, by the way, is
one of the most attractive on the
! grounds At its boundaries are stone
| markers and chain barriers ana Witn-
! in are four marble tombstones, each
| high with the 1OilO"-
| ing inscriptions:
Boots Shook
Born 1905
Died April so, 1871
Dear Old Pal.
Buster Shook
Born February 3, 1909
Died October 5, 1921
Born a Dog
Lived a Gentleman
| Faithful Until Death
Died Beloved.
Trixie Shook
| Born July ), 1913
! Died July -, 1921
Finest Friends l Ever Had
| Sleeping Side by Side
| | Love and Miss You All.
| SNOWFALL Shook
Born April Is, 1908
! Died July S, 1872
Dear Beloved Pet
| True. Faithful Until Death
| Loved Her Dearly,
Cat Buried Outside Lot.
! Just outside the inclosure is another
! Shook grave. This one is of a cat,
! however, and why it was not put inside
| the lot may or may not be in line with
! Mr.. Birney's statement that they would
! never have gotten along together The
| cat was named Blacky, and the stone
! on her grave merely gives her name, the
| dates of her birth and death and the
| words: Il Miss You"
! One OF the latest burials was that OF
| one of dogdom's most distinguished per-
| sonages. He was said to have been the
, first German police dog to be brought
over here after the war. He had been
! in the thick of many battles overseas
! and was the holder of numerous medals
for bravery, Mr.. Birney declared.
Il don't know his name and am not
at liberty now to give you the name
of his owner, Washington man, but
/ understand that a fund of several
! thousand dollars is being raised in
the Army for a monument to him, to
! be erected over his grave here.
Mahogany Casket for Dog.
jeff, another police dog, came from
| New York for interment. He was
buried in mahogany, steel-lined
casket with silver trimmings
Many prominent Washington fam
lilies have buried their pets in this
place. Mrs. Richard Townsend was
the owner of Peter Pan Townsend,
whose epitaph was cited above.
police puppy to which the daughter
of former Attorney General Palmer
became greatly attached has a stone
The Ruiz family" we'll known in
stone to "Our Larry Mrs. Phil Sheri-
dan was the owner of "Biddy," whose
! tombstone is appropriately carved.
One stone, inscribed "Bootsie Barn.
hart" was erected by DR.. Grant S.
Barnhart. Mr.. Birney said.
Only One Horse Grave.
There is but one horse grave. 1t
is that of Vincent, raised by Miss
Bessie Johnson of Richmond, from a
colt. He died at the ripe old age of
"a years, and as he was being low
cred into the ground an old darky,
employed by Miss Johnson, dropped to
his knees and cried piteously. Miss
johnson brought violets from the
Richmond meadow where Vincent cut
capers as a colt and they are start
ing to bloom over his grave now.
Vincent's mate, nearly quarter of a
century old, is not expected to last
much longer and when he dies Miss
Johnson will bury him beside his pal,
Mr.. Birney pointed out.
Each head stone or wooden marker