Back When The Grave Diggers Of Greenwood Cemetery Were Heartless And Rude Of Speech

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New York Times Archives
February 1885

First, I found the old photo of the Greenwood cemetery grave diggers circa 1910. Then I dug (sorry for the pun) around the internet and found the article above from the New York Times archives. And here it is, a slice of Brooklyn history. It is fascinating, if a bit macabre!

Heartless Gravediggers

Complaints have recently been made in regard to the manners of the gravediggers at Greenwood cemetery, who are said to be rude of speech and to act at the funerals in the cemetery in a coarse and unbecoming manner. The latest complaint is that of Charles H. Wilson, of Mount Vernon, who too his wife's remains for burial to Greenwood on Feb. 18.
Mr. Wilson says that there was no matting to stand on, although the ground was covered with ice and the day was one of the severest of the present Winter.
The men who carried the casket seemed weak, and they talked as men might who were handling merchandise. There were no boughs or straw to cover the casket and deaden the sound of the falling earth, and to add to the horror of the friends of the dead woman, the grave was fund to be too small to receive the casket. An attempt was made to enlarge the grave, but the sound of the pickaxes in the frozen ground so shocked the bereaved husband that he ordered the body placed in the receiving vault. Three days later,, when Undertaker Davis went to Greenwood to take the body to Woodlawn, he was charged $30 for the use of the vault, $10 of which was subsequently refunded.
Mr. A.W. Adams of No. 117 East Thirty-Sixth Street, who was present at the funeral, corroborates the story of Mr. Wilson and adds that no attempt was made to clear away the snow around the grave. He adds that four weak old men, meanly dressed, and in their shirt sleeves, took the coffin on their shoulders jesting about its weight, although the body was a light one. Mr. Adams and everybody present were shocked at the levity displayed by the men.

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