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Trinity Church Is Powerless to Stay the
Decree of the Court of Appeals,
Although Relatives of the Dead Will
Make a Fight—Views of Assembly–
Man Walker and S. V. R. Cruger—
The Names of Hundreds of the Dead.
It is likely that the city will soon have
10,000 dead bodies on its hands, including
those of many people who were among the
builders of New York, and the city authori–
ties haven't yet any idea what to do with
them. Since the Supreme Court of New York
State decided in favor of the act empowering
the city to convert the historical St. John's
Burying Ground at Hudson and Leroy streets
into a public park, the Park Board has been
busy preparing for the completion of the pro–
ject.
"The Park Board is now at work on the
maps of the property around the cemetery
for assessment purposes," said John P. Dunn,
Clerk of Street Openings, yesterday, "and
as soon as they are ready I will call together
the Board of Appraisal appointed for this
task, and it will take the proper steps to con–
vert the cemetery into a park. I haven't any
idea yet what the land in the cemetery is
worth. That depends on the Board of Ap–
praisal. But it will be settled very soon, for
I will call the board together in a few days."
"Do you know what will be done with the
10,000 or more bodies that have been in–
terred in the cemetery?"
"No, I do not. I suppose the Trinity Church
Corporation, which owns the cemetery, will
look after that."
Mr. Dunn was reminded that Trinity con–
sidered it the duty of the city, having appro–
priated the cemetery, to look after the bodies.
Then he said:
"Well, perhaps it is incumbent upon the
city to do it. But I haven't the slightest idea
what provision the city will make for them
or where it will place them. But it ought not
to be a difficult matter. I don't think the
Trinity Church people should make so much
opposition to the conversion of the cemetery
into a park. There hasn't been a burial there
now for about forty years, I think. It is but
a small place, half a block or so. More than
ten thousand persons were interred there,
and they must have been put in five or six
deep. There could be no harm in removing
them now."
The Board of Appraisal on St. John's cem–
etery, as it is generally known, is composed
of ex-Senator Eugene S. Ives, Joseph Ullman
and Richard Deeves, with Mr. Ives as chair–
man. Mr. Ives said yesterday:
"We are waiting, but just as soon as Mr.
Dunn calls us together we will proceed with
the work of appraisal and assessment. We
intend to carry out as speedily as possible the
intent of the act converting St. John's Ceme–
tery into a park.
"I understand, however, that we are likely
to meet with further opposition. I have
heard it said that the people who have rela–
tives buried in the cemetery intend to take
the case to a higher court than the Court of
Appeals of New York State. They will fight
the act to the last. They will, according to
what I have heard, induce some lot owner
who is not a resident of this State to bring a
suit. Being a non-resident, the case will
have to go into the United States Courts and
then they will carry it to the Supreme Court
at Washington. But even if it is thrown
into the United States Courts we shall go
right along with the work unless they get
an injunction against us.
"As to the cost of this conversion from
a cemetery into a park I cannot say anything,
because I have made no investigations. I
don't know what will be done with the bodies.
I suppose the city will have to find a place
for them, but I really do not know where."
Mr. Dunn, like Mr. Ives, had also heard of a
plan to throw the case into the Supreme
Court of the United States, but he couldn't
say whether it would really be done, as he
had received no communication from Trinity
Church on the subject.
If the matter is carried to the Supreme
Court of the United States and an injunction
is obtained against the city it may, according
to Mr. Ives, delay the establishment of the
park eight or ten years, even should the city
eventually win the case. If the change is
finally made, one-half the expenses will be
paid by the property-owners in the vicinity
benefited."
Assemblyman William H. Walker was the
originator of this park scheme. He intro–
duced in the Board of Aldermen in 1887
the resolution to appropriate the cemetery
and make a park out of it. The Trinity
Church corporation employed good lawyers
and appeared before the committees of the
board to fight the resolution. But the Alder–
men passed it and then Trinity appealed to
the Supreme Court and was again defeated.
Another appeal was taken to the General
Term and the city authorities were again
victorious. Judge Morgan F. O'Brien then
appointed the present board of appraisal,
but another step was taken by Trinity. The
case was carried to the Court of Appeals at
Albany, and this state court of last resort
recently decided that St. John's Cemetery
could be appropriated by the city for park
purposes.
Mr. Walker is much elated over the decision
of the Court of Appeals and he considers the
matter as good as settled. In regard to it he
said:
"The Trinity Church Trustees gave us a
very long fight, because they feared if St.
John's Cemetery was appropriated they
would be forced to give up more of their
property. They did not want to set an ex–
ample, and so did everything in their power
to prevent the taking of the cemetery by the
city. Our arguments as to the necessity of
the park were so convincing that the resolu–
tion at once passed the Board of Aldermen,
and all the courts took our view of it."
Mr. Walker said that the city would re–
move the bodies now in the cemetery and
would do it very carefully and in a manner
that could not offend and of the relatives of
the dead. But like Mr. Dunn and Mr. Ives,
he doesn't know where the city will put
these bodies. He thought that perhaps the
Trinity Trustees would make room for them
in some of their other cemeteries.
Col. Cruger, one of the trustees of Trinity
Church, did not seem to think that the fight
against the city would be continued. But
he, as well as others, was at a loss to
know what disposition would be made of the
bodies. But he was quite sure that in the
event of their removal Trinity could not take
care of them.
"We have no place to put them," said he,
"and the city must care for them. All our
cemetery space is pretty well taken up, and
it is out of the question for us to find graves
for more than 10,000 dead. We understand
that the city must care for the bodies after
they have been removed.
"The city will have to make provision. It
may not have any burying-ground for them
now, but we cannot help that. I have made
a suggestion that the city permit the bodies
to remain in the cemetery, and permit us to
lay out walks and build fences. But it is
only a suggestion. Some of the ancestors of
the best known New Yorkers are buried in
old St. John's, and I have heard that there
will be suits brought if the bodies are re–
moved."
Col. Cruger's suggestion about leaving the
bodies and making walks and building fences
around them was afterwards mentioned to
Mr. Ives, but he didn't think that a park
of that kind would be a very cheerful place.
Mr. Duncan, vestryman of Trinity, gave in–
teresting facts about the cemetery.
"Previous to the year 1819," said he, "the
Corporation of Trinity Church set apart a
portion of the block bounded by Clarkson,
Hudson and Leroy streets, for a place of
burial, the churchyard of Trinity Church
and St. Paul's Chapel being no longer avail–
able for such purposes on account of the
large number buried therein. From 1819 to
1852 there were interred in the new ceme–
tery, known as St. John's Burying Ground,
10,672 persons, without distinction of race,
station or creed, though the larger number
were probably Episcopalians. Is that the
crime for which their dust must be scattered
to the four winds of heaven?
"There were interred from 1819 to 1829,
3,629; from 1829 to 1839, 5,451; from 1839
to 1849, 1,304; from 1849 to 1852, 288.
Since 1852 some bodies have been placed in
vaults, but not many. In 1888 the questions
were considered of building an uptown
chapel and of consolidating the work of St.
John's Chapel and St. Luke's Church, upon
the Hudson street front of St. John's burying
ground, on a plot 208 by 162 feet, in which
there had never been any interments. The
uptown chapel of St. Agnes, on Ninety–
second street, near Columbus avenue, is
finished and occupied, and St. Luke's Church,
on the corner of One hundred and Forty–first
street and Convent avenue, is finished and
will be occupied before Christmas.
"The value of property in the neighbor–
hood of these churches has been largely in–
creased, and the city will reap a large return
in taxes. But while this uptown work has
been going on the downtown work has not
progressed, of the reason that the city
authorities resolved to take for a park the
burying ground, including the front on
which Trinity Church intended to consolidate
the work of St. John's and St. Luke's.
"The Court of Appeals has decided that
the city can take the burying ground for a
park, so that Trinity Church must now go
elsewhere and do its work. The city
authorities must remove the remains of the
10,000 interred therein, in such a way as they
and the descendants and other relatives of
the dead, under the direction of the courts,
may decide. Trinity Church is now power–
less in this matter.
"Trinity Church, although greatly sur–
prised and annoyed by the action of the city
authorities (an action altogether unneces–
sary, as other land in the immediate vicinity
of the burying ground could have been had at
a cost not exceeding what must be paid for
the plot chosen), will not neglect the work
before them, and for the present the services
and schools will be continued at St. John's
and St. Luke's as usual."
Many members of the most illustrious
families of New York are buried in old St.
John's. Here is a complete list of the names
on the tombstones:
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