Cremation in the United States, 1891-1901

Cremation Increasingly Popular

April 4, 1901, The Conservative, Nebraska City, Nebraska 

It is cheering to note the steadily growing popularity of cremation in the United States. While at the Fresh Pond crematory of New York city there were incinerated in 1900 about six hundred bodies. A newly organized cremation company anticipates that by introduction of improved methods it will be able to increase the number more than a hundred per cent. With the furnaces at present in use by the Fresh Pond crematory, to consume a body requires from two to four hours.  The directors of the new company guarantee to do the work in half an hour. Truth to tell, it has hitherto required three days to transact all the business involved in a cremation. Upon application to the incineration authorities, arrangements were perfected for conversion of the body into ashes on the following day. The next step was to convey the body to the crematory and deposit it in the retort. "On the third day one could call for the ashes. " In the language of a director, you can, under the new regime "call him up over the 'phone in the morning, bring the body over immediately and in an hour go home with the ashes." 

Cremation societies have been greatly handicapped by popular prejudice, but that has now been largely overcome.  They affect to have discovered that their two worst enemies are women and the church. We quote from the New York Sun : 

"Louis Lange, president of one of these societies, says that men often come to him and tell him how they pine to be cremated after death, how they have labored with their loving wives to bring them around to the same view and of how dubious they feel about the future. The burning question with these men seems to be, how to get the wife to agree to the burning. They say she'll be sure to bury them if they happen to die first. The conviction a man may have, that he won't lie easy in his grave under those circumstances doesn't help him much.  But apparently, in some cases his uneasiness reaches the widow. For Mr. Lange says that women often come to him and say: 

"'I can find no rest! My husband wanted to be cremated, but I, basely persuaded, put him in a grave! Now I want him disinterred and cremated.' Hard is the way of the transgressor!" comments Mr. Lange. 

"North Carolina and Virginia During the Civil War"

I recently helped go through the possessions of a deceased relative, and found this booklet "North Carolina and Virginia in the Civil War" published 1904 by the History Committee of the Grand Camp Confederate Veterans of Virginia.  As far as I can tell, there is no transcription of this booklet on the internet at this time.

The handwritten inscription on the front cover reads:  "E. C. Haas, Co. F. 10th Va.  This book is for my boys to read and it is a true [official report].  Take good care of this as I never expect to be Reconstructed to Yankee-ism.  E. C. Haas"

Boy Without Limbs Exhibited at Zoo, Rockcastle, 1899

Previously:

Click here for a list of my other Pulaski/Rockcastle/Laurel County KY articles

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[January 20, 1899] -

Mrs. J. A. Franklin, of Conway, this county, has been engaged by the Cincinnati Zoo Garden at $15 per week and expenses for her family to exhibit her two-months old boy baby that was born without arms or legs.  The child is strong and healthy and bids fair to grow up to manhood.  This remarkable freak of nature, should it live, will be exhibited throughout the world as it is the only known instance where a child was born without limbs and lived. [1]

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[1] Excerpt from "Local and Otherwise." Mt. Vernon Signal, Mount Vernon, KY. January 20, 1899. Page 4. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86069561/1899-01-20/ed-1/seq-4/

Burial of Leon Czolgosz, Quicklime and Sulphuric Acid

After Czolgosz's execution, government officials wanted to destroy his corpse in order to negate relic hunters. Those tasked with destroying Czolgosz's body first used quicklime to hasten deterioration, but later decided to pour sulphuric acid into his grave to completely destroy the corpse. However, there was a small controversy over the effectiveness of this method, as illustrated from the following clipping from the Richmond Dispatch of Richmond, VA, printed November 2, 1901.

Warden Mead Made A Mistake

Czolgosz's Body May Be In Plaster Cast

New York Herald. It is possible that if the body of Leon Czolgosz were exhumed today it would be found well preserved in a plaster of paris cast instead of having been dissolved and disintegrated by the action of the quicklime and vitriol with which it was covered when interred in the prison burial lot at Auburn on Tuesday afternoon.  It had been determined by Warden Mead and Superintendent Cornelius V. Collins to bury the body in a bed of quicklime, so that no trace of the assassin should remain as a possible incentive to relic hunters.

To make certain Warden Mead a few days before Czolgosz was executed placed a piece of raw beef in a jar containing an equal amount of quicklime, but when the Warden opened the jar he was surprised to find the meat practically in the same condition.

Warden Mead and Superintendent Collins then decided to add to the mass of quicklime over Czolgosz body a quantity of vitriol.

This was done. When the body was interred on Tuesday afternoon a layer of quicklime had already been placed in the grave. On this the coffin, the lid of which had been removed, was laid, and the body was then covered with two barrels of quicklime.

Over this a carboy of vitriol, or sulphuric acid was poured, two more barrels of quicklime was thrown in, and over all the earth was shovelled until the grave was filled.

It was anticipated that as a result of the action of the sulphuric acid and the quicklime the body would be dissolved within twelve hours, but it is improbable that this has been the case.

When quicklime and sulphuric acid are combined, the chemical result is plaster of paris and water.  This is the chemical formula:

Ca O plus H2 SO4 equals Ca SO4 plus H2O.  Ca O is the quicklime, H2 SO4 the sulphuric acid, Ca SO4 the plaster of paris resulting from the chemical combination, and H2O the water left over, which, in the course of time, would evaporate.

"It is entirely possible that Czolgosz's body is enclosed in a plaster of paris cast, said Professor Charles F. Chandler, of the College of Physicians and Surgeons and of the University of New York, last night.

"Plaster of Paris would result from the combination of the sulphuric acid and quicklime, but to have the effect of each of them as a solvent entirely neutralized it would be necessary that they should have been combined in exactly the right proportions.

"There is undoubtedly a large amount of plaster of paris surrounding Czolgosz's body if he was buried in the manner described by the newspapers, but there was undoubtedly either too much sulphuric acid or too much quicklime, probably the latter, to make a perfect chemical combination of the entire mass.  There would be enough of either the quicklime or sulphuric acid left over to dissolve the body in the course of time.

"In order to make a plaster of paris cast it would be necessary that there should be ninety-eight parts of the acid to fifty-six parts of the lime--that is, if the acid were absolutely pure.  The vitriol of commerce, however, contains about six and one-half parts of water to ninety-three and one-half parts of pure acid.

"A carboy, as I remember, contains about 150 pounds, which would not be sufficient to entirely neutralize the quantity of quicklime with which the body was covered.  Quicklime would not, under any circumstances dissolve the body in twenty-four hours, but there is undoubtedly enough of it left to do the desired work int he course of time."

This letter, bearing on the matter, was received by the Herald yesterday:

To the Editor of the Herald:
I have just been reading about the cremation of the assassin Czolgosz, and the way Warden Mead expects to destroy the body.  If your account is correct Warden Mead evidently did not know that his modus operandi will cause the body to be kept forever preserved in a matrix of sulphate of lime or plaster of paris, and that he might as well have placed the body in alcohol.

Of course, the action of the oil of vitriol on the lime will produce intense heat, but probably the body will be preserved by that very fact, as the vapor produced around the body will act as a protective layer, or cushion, between it and the surrounding quick-setting plaster of paris.

All this is very elementary, and a tyro* in chemistry could have pointed that out to Warden Mead.  His purpose would have surely been attained with the oil of vitriol alone, or, better, with a strong soda lye (a solution of caustic soda or potash), the latter having been used by a certain criminal in Chicago to effectively destroy the body of his wife.

Newark, N.J., October 30, 1901
CHEMIST

* A tyro is a beginner/novice

Girl and Man Fight a Duel

Mt. Vernon Signal - Aug 18, 1899

Girl and Man Fight a Duel
Mt. Vernon Signal, Friday Aug 18, 1899 

Elwood, Indiana, August 15--George Niccum, who shot Miss Neal Everling, the bullet going through her shoulder, was captured Monday and bound over to court.  Niccum and the girl had a duel, he firing three shots and the girl one.  The bullet from the girl's revolver lodged in Niccum's hip, and can not be located.  He was intoxicated, and while so, visited the girl's home, and insulted her.

Three Men Reportedly Killed While Whipping Old Woman, Rockcastle, 1887

Previously:

Click here for a list of my other Pulaski/Rockcastle/Laurel County KY articles

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[June 11, 1886] -

Saturday night at Wildie, Ky., the ku-klux had another "hickory tea party." This time it was given in honor of "Trib" Bryant, Bud Pruit's wife and mother, Jennie Pruit; Bob was not present to partake of the refreshments. It is supposed if he had been he would not only have had tea, but a more delicate viand--rope. [1]

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[February 11, 1887] -

It is generally supposed that when a person is whipped by the ku klux or regulators for an offense, that the parties so treated would desist from repeating the offense, but it seems that Bale Prewitt, at Wildie, will never take heed and profit by past experience, but must move in the same path for which he has been flogged for on more than one occasion.  The trouble with Bale is he had been running a doggery in Wildie for about two years and often has rows and general disorder in his establishment, thereby annoying and disturbing his neighbors; and his wife, too, it is said, is not what she should be, often appearing on the street under the influence of whisky and raising old Cain generally.  Saturday night the regulators paid Bale their fourth visit.  By some means he managed to make his escape by a back door.  The visitors paid their respects to Mrs. Prewitt and mother-in-law in the usual manner by a sound flogging.  Bale in his flight failed to remember a seven strand barbed wire fence not far from his door and ran headlong into it and made rags of his clothes and got mixed up with the wires and had to be released by his friends after the committee had left.  It will be remembered that on a former occasion when the regulators had visited Bale he made his escape by crawling into an old sugar hogshead, in a vacant lot, which rolled down a little hill with him after the visitors had given up the search. Possibly he is prepared for any emergency and may crawl up the stove pipe when the band calls again. [2]

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[February 18, 1887] -

Seven witnesses summoned appear to before Judge Colyer in the Wildie regulator case, gave no testimony, as far as we can learn, to implicate any one in the whipping that took place there a short time since. [3]

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[March 18, 1887] -

KU KLUX COME TO GRIEF.

Three Knights of the Switch Shot While Whipping an Old Woman.

CRAB ORCHARD, Ky., March 17. -- [Special.] Near Wilde, a small station on the Kentucky Central railroad, in Rock Castle county, last night, three men were shot to death while doing "vigilance duty" by whipping Mrs. Eliza Fish, a woman 70 years of age, who had incurred the displeasure of the so-called law and order society.  Mrs. Fish had a foster son named Pruitt, who had a bad reputation.  Some time ago this young man was whipped by the ku klux and run out of the county for selling beer.  The old lady took up the business abandoned by her son and this is the cause of the outrage.  She had been warned to abandon the business, but had paid no heed to the warning.

Details of the killing are meager.  As near as can be ascertained the "law and order switchers" or ku klux went to the old lady's house late last night about a dozen strong.  She was awakened from her sleep and taken into the yard where she was held by some of the men while others beat her with switches.  In the  midst of this performance there was a sudden fusilade from the road side of the fence, and when the smoke cleared away John Long, Walter Turpin and John Hasty were found dead in the yard.

Who did the firing is an absolute mystery, although it is intimated that several of the most reputable citizens of the town of Wilde know more than they care to tell.  Rock Castle is a prohibition county.  For years there has been ku klux on her borders who have, under the guise of a law and order club, kept up a reign of terror.  Last summer the Moore brothers were killed by them, and numerous other crimes are traceable to the same source. [4]

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[March 19, 1887] -

Didn't Kill Those Ku-Klux.

MOUNT VERNON, Ky., March 19.--The report of the killing of three vigilantes at Wildie, a small station on the Kentucky Central railroad, in this county Thursday evening, proves to be false. John Long, John Hasty and Sam Rose engaged in a drunken row and exchanged a few shots, without doing any damage. [5]

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[March 21, 1887] -

KUKLUX KILLED.

Three Vigilantes Shot While Whipping an Old Woman.

CRAB ORCHARD, KY, March 17. -- Kuklux are still at large in Rockcastle.  Mr. Lair, from the vicinity of Wilde, a small station on the Kentucky Central railroad, between Berea and Livingston, Rockcastle county, reports that three men were killed at that place last night in the yard of Mrs. Eliza Fish, who is over seventy years old, while they were whipping her; that twice before she has been whipped.  A boy she raised, named Prewitt, said to be a bad character, was whipped and run off for selling beer.  The old lady continued the business, and this is the supposed cause for the whipping.  Mr. Lair says whether others were wounded or not is unknown.  The firing on the kuklux was from parties outside of the house.  The killed are John Long, Walker Turpin and John Hasty.  All live in that section.

Rockcastle county has for many years been a prohibition county, but the law has long been openly violated, the county authorities being powerless to enforce it.  Wilde is a small railroad station on Roundstone, in the northern part of the county.  The man Bob Prewitt, above mentioned, is a worthless, half-witted creature who was a tenant of Mrs. Fish's.  He was visited several times by the vigilantes, and finally run out of the county.  About a year ago, it will be remembered, these vigilantes whipped a man named Ramsey int he same neighborhood.  Ramsey was found dead shortly afterward, presumably having committed suicide.  The Huff boys were accused of belonging to the vigilantes, and out of their attempted arrest resulted the terrible tragedy in Mount Vernon last summer, in which the Moore brothers, Tom and Jack, were killed by Lee Carter.  Carter has since been acquitted for killing one of the Moore, and his trial for killing the other comes up next week in the Lincoln Circuit Court.

Mrs. Eliza Fish, who was being whipped by the vigilantes at the time of the wholesale killing last night, is a very old lady of somewhat erratic mental organization.  She is fairly well-to-do and is respectably connected.  Certainly none but a pack of ruffians could have attempted violence on this old woman, and if the story is true the three men met a deserved fate.  Long was a farmer in the neighborhood.  Hasty was a day laborer, generally regarded as a harmless fellow of very little account.  Turpin was probably a railroad hand. [6] 

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[March 22, 1887] -

A report was telegraphed from Crab Orchard Thursday night saying three vigilants were shot and killed at Wildie while whipping an old woman.  Messages were received from the various papers to their correspondents at this place asking for particulars.  It turned out to be nothing more than a drunken row between John Hasty, Sam Rose, and John Long, when one shot was fired accidentally, no one being hurt.  It is hard to understand why such reports are made when there is no truth in them.  It is claimed that a man named Lair, living near Wildie, gave the information.  Some of the papers and many of the citizens would like to interview Mr. Lair or the person guilty of such mean misrepresentation of facts. [7]

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[1] Excerpt from "Mt. Vernon Department." Semi-Weekly Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. June 11, 1886. Page 3. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1886-06-11/ed-1/seq-3/

[2] Excerpt from "Mt Vernon, Rockcastle County." Semi-Weekly Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. February 11, 1887. Page 1. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1887-02-11/ed-1/seq-1/

[3] Excerpt from "Mt Vernon, Rockcastle County." Semi-Weekly Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. February 18, 1887. Page 1. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1887-02-18/ed-1/seq-1/

[4] "Ku Klux Come to Grief." Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH. March 18, 1887. Page 1. Genealogybank.com.

[5] "Didn't Kill Those Ku-Klux." Elkhart Daily Review, Elkhart, IN. March 19, 1887. Page 6. Genealogybank.com.

[6] "KuKlux Killed." Wheeling Register, Wheeling, WV. March 21, 1887. Page 3. Genealogybank.com.

[7] Excerpt from "Mt Vernon, Rockcastle County." Semi-Weekly Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. March 22, 1887. Page 1. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1887-03-22/ed-1/seq-1/

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1886 Earthquake felt in Macon, GA

This newspaper clipping comes from the Mount Vernon Signal in Rockcastle Co., KY, although it's about Macon, GA. The date of the paper is October 31, 1902.

Frank Pickle (from Vicar of Dibley) would have totally done this:

Mt Vernon Signal, October 31, 1902

 An old town official of the city of Macon, Ga., says in Short Stories that during the night of the earthquake disturbances of 1886 the City Council was in session.  When the quake shook the City Hall from Basement to attic the Councilmen run out, thinking the house would topple over.  Whereupon the wag who kept the minutes of the meeting, concluded his record with the following sentence:  "On motion of the City Hall, the Council adjourned."

Fatal Train Collision in McDonough, GA, 1905

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution on February 3, 1905:

Two Trainmen Killed In Head-On Collision

Engineer Wilhelm and Flagman Calvin Archer, Both of Atlanta, Met Death at McDonough, Ga., Yesterday Morning.

AJC - February 3, 1905

R. C. Wilhelm, engineer on the Southern railway, and C. C. Archer, Jr., fireman of Atlanta, were killed yesterday morning in a head-on collision between freight trains Nos. 54 and 83, at McDonough, Ga.

Train No. 54, which is a fast freight, went into the side track at McDonough, to allow No. 83 to pass. The engineer on the latter train thought he had the right of way, and sent his train speeding around the curve. He saw the red lights warning him of an open switch too late.

The lever was reversed, the whistle blew, the sand was applied, but all was in vain, and soon the two trains met. The engine attached to No. 54 was wrecked and the engineer instantly killed. The fireman, Archer, had both legs severed from his body.

At 8 o'clock yesterday morning the engineer, Wilhelm, dead, and the fireman, Archer, dying, were brought into the city. The body of the deceased was taken to the parlors of H. M. Patterson, undertaker and the latter to the Grady hospital for treatment.

Within four hours the fireman had breathed his last, and his body was laid beside that of the engineer in the undertaking parlors.

R. C. Wilhelm was 36 years of age. His home was at 115 Crew street. He was married, and is survived by his wife and two children--one girl, Mary, 4 years of age, and one son, Fred, 7 years of age. He was a prominent member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and was well known throughout the city.

Funeral services will be conducted at 2 o'clock this afternoon from the residence, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers having charge, together with the Gate City Lodge of the Junior Order and the Knights of Pythias. The internment will be at Westview.

C. C. Archer, Jr., made his home at 31 North Moore street. He was 27 years of age. He was single. The deceased possessed many admirable traits of character, and a host of friends mourn his untimely death. His funeral will be held Friday at the residence.