“The Bone Pile”
Throughout the world
there are many, varied and curious
ways of disposing of the dead. In
the mountains of Abyssinia is a people
who believe a man should be buried
where he dies without pomp or ceremony;
neither should the remains be moved
from the exact site of death one foot
more than is necessary.
This practice is thousands of miles
away; let us come to our own country,
and in New Orleans we find another
queer, unique mode of burial. In order
to more clearly understand this mode
of burial, we should first know something
of her cemeteries, which are more
than thirty in number.
New Orleans has the country’s
oldest cemetery, (St. Louis No. 1),
with an area of about one and one-half
acres and an estimated ninety thousand
burials, all above ground. It is correctly
called “A City of the Dead,”
and is still used today.
This unique way of interment was not
by choice but by necessity. In the
days before artificial drainage the
water table was within a foot of the
surface, therefore a standard grave
was out of the question. The problem
was solved with the present system
– a cross between the catacombs
of Rome and a mode used by the inhabitants
of the lowlands along the Northern
Mediterranean Sea.
Of all New Orleans’ cemeteries,
St. Louis No. 1, due to age and quaintness,
is the most interesting. It has one
entrance, facing east, so small a
casket has to be carried, or wheeled
in. The streets, lanes or passageways
between the vaults are paved with
shell, they are narrow and none too
straight and often blind, with an
occasional pomegranate or magnolia
tree.
Most of the vaults have two and four
compartments, called crypts or ovens.
They are privately owned and as a
rule, kept in a fair state of repair.
Others, from the lack of proper foundations,
have sunk practically beneath the
surface, some have sunk on one side
so fat they could easily be toppled
over. Then there are the large vaults,
having twenty-four to thirty compartments.
These are erected by societies of
the city. The fence or wall which
encloses the cemetery forms what is
called the wall vaults and in these
are buried the poorer classes. The
wall vaults are four compartments
high, and are erected, sold and rented
by the church.
Many of these compartments have a
small balcony the length of the opening,
approximately thirty inches. On these
balconies are placed flower pots,
vases and small pieces of marble,
usually with only one word inscribed:
Mother, Father, Wife, Sister or Brother.
Those which do not have balconies
may have a wooden shelf. Some have
neither, their only ornament a home-made
tin flower pot which looks like a
funnel cut in half. In the cracks
and on top of the vaults where dust
has settled grows a species of fern
and occasionally a species of narcissus,
the Star of Bethlehem.
As to how one is buried, let us follow
the sexton as he prepares a vault
for use. Into a wheelbarrow he places
a shovel, rake and a heavy hammer
with a short handle. If it is a top
vault he places the wheelbarrow in
front of it and stands in it. In the
event the vault has not been opened
for a score or more years, he hesitates,
thinks, wonders, and, who knows? There
may be buried treasure. Then, with
gentle blows he loosens the bricks
and takes them out one by one, pausing
to clean each, as they are to be used
again to seal the vault.
The moving of the first brick lets
in the light and suddenly a buzzing
sound is heard which is followed by
an exodus of bright bronze-colored
roaches. Occasionally there is a quite
a commotion within the vault. This
is caused by a rat running over loose
bones and usually making its escape,
as the sexton is by this time busily
fighting roaches of his person.
Holding his nose and shading his eyes,
the sexton peers into the vault and
looks at the future as far as it is
possible. What he sees he will never
forget.
The interiors of the vaults are not
always the same. If the vault has
not been opened in many years, the
casket will have fallen in decay,
leaving the skeleton intact lying
flat on the vault floor. Amid the
casket’s remains occasionally
a skeleton has been found face down,
indicating some one had been buried
alive, which was not unusual years
ago. The people had such a horror
of this that it was customary to place
a bell in the hand of the corpse.
The sexton draws the skull to him
with the rake and smiles or shakes
his head, for at one time medical
students paid ten dollars for a good
skull; then, too, some people filled
their teeth with gold. He searches
the vault and with the rake pushes
the remains back into a corner, where,
as a rule, is a small, neat pile of
bones.
The next vault opened may have been
used in the last two or three years.
In this instance, the greeting is
different, for the casket is found
in good shape if not too cheap. The
sexton then takes his time removing
the cover. This accomplished, the
casket is turned upside down so the
remains may fall out. When the roach
episode, which lasts about two minutes,
is over, the casket is placed in the
sun to dry. The vault is then searched
and the bones pushed back into the
corner. It is in instances of this
kind that one can see that the hair,
toe and finger nails grow after death.
When the sexton opens a vault and
finds the casket in such condition
that it has no value, it is burned.
The remains in a rented vault, when
the rent has not been paid, are taken
out and buried.
A vault can be purchased, or rented
for a year and a day. According to
law this much time must elapse before
the vault can be opened. By this time
there is nothing left to a body but
bones. As many as thirty-odd people
have been buried in the same vault
or crypt. Should two members of a
family die within a year, a vault
is rented for a year and a day for
the second member and after that time
the remains can be transferred to
the family vault. This is done to
save rent for many Orleanians, like
other people, believe it is cheaper
to move than to pay rent.
In most of the city’s cemeteries
the line of creed or color is not
drawn, Jew, Catholic, Mason, Protestant,
white and black are buried side by
side. This mode of burial applies
to rich and poor alike. There are,
of course, some exceptions, but the
majority of the people of New Orleans
believe this is the proper way to
inter their dead.
