Burial of the Dead in Cities at the South [pp. 358-360]

BURIAL QF THE DEAD IN CITIES AT THE SOUTH. 359
as 1690, and has been a burial-place for one hundred and sixty-nine years. Its
measurement is about 20,000 square feet, capable of giving separate interment
to one thousand bodies, allowing 20 feet to each 2 feet 6 inches by 8 feet. A
considerable portion of this ground is protected by monuments, &c.; yet, as
near as can be calculated, over five thousand, possibly nearer ten thousand
bodies, have been placed within those narrow precincts.
The Baptist church-yard has been in ase since 1685, but the interments have
not been so large as in some other burial-grounds. St. Michael's church-yard
has been used since 1690. Formerly burials were numerous, latterly very few
The Huguenot church-yard was opened about 1700. The First Presbyterian or
Scots church was founded in 1731, but probably burials did not take place in
their present yard, until 1771, or 1772, as for forty years that church was
united with the "Independents." Burials have been made in Trinity, Bethel,
St. Mary's, Unitarian, Lutheran, Second and Third Presbyterianl, and one or two
other church-yaras for periods varying from forty to sevenjty-five years, and are
all more or less crowded with the dead. Somie of them under the system that
has prevailed have yet some spare room, but a measurement of their grounds,
compared with the number of their interments, will show that the one dead
body has too often invaded the resting-place of another. But these are calcula tions, measurements, and inferences, We will proceed to actual demonstration.
and prove by witnesses that many of these yards are full-that the graves of the
dead are desecrated-that there is no repose for those who do not sleep beneath
the sculptured stone, and that some of the horrors we have read of c(nelcerning
other cemeteries, have their counterpart here. We shall not recite all that has
come to our knowledge, but so much as will show to churches, pastors, citizens,
and council, the necessity of legislation and supervision. We have competent
proof for all that we shall relate.
'ISTURBIN TaHE REPOSE OF THE DEAD.-Not long since on digging a grave
in the -- church-yard, the coffin of a female was struck. The body was not
fully decayed —it was not removed but was split into two parts, one half re maining in the old grave, the other half thrown out. Within six months a
place of interment was sought for in church-yard for the remains of a
lady. The sounding iron was freely used, to find an unoccupied spot, and at
length a place was selected as the most suitable that could be found. On dig ging the grave, however, five previous interments were disturbed. Not long ago
Mr. —- determined to remove from -- church-yard the remains of his wife,
Who had been interred some tea years. On opening the ground in a lot which
he had bought as being free from burials, it was found that older interments had
been cut through, so that the remains of two or more bodies and coffins were
so mingled as to present doubt in relation to his wife's grave, and it was only by
an accidental circumstance that the identity was secured. In churchyard
the following scene occurred not a great while since. A funeral procession
of a lady was approaching. The witness in this instance had preceded the
hearse by a few minutes. On reaching the grave he found that it had been
dug precisely over another coffin, and that the grave digger had broken up the
top, taken out the remains, part of which were on the ground, and a part at
the head of the grave, while the black sides and bottom of the old coffin were
left yawning to receive its new occupant. Horrified and disgusted- the gentleman ordered the instant breaking down and covering of the remains"of the
coffin, and its former tenant, and only succeeded in securing them from public
view, as the procession entered the yard. It was ascertained afterward that the
person so disturbed had died of yellow fever. A vault was constructed not long
since in -- church-yard by which fourteen bodies in different stages of decomposition were cast out of their resting-places. A gentleman having given
orders to open a grave within his private lot in church-yard on visiting
it near its completion, discovered that it had been opened upon a previous interment, and actually took up from the side of the grave his own mother's
skull. A gentleman owning an old private lot in -- church-yard about
eighteen feet square, of the capacity of sixteen proper burials, informed a member of the committee, that to his knowledge there had been buried there already between thirty and forty persons, and now, when there is occasion to