12

THE PAST-THE PRESENT-THE FUTURE.

Physician; but even they are much inferior to the Undertaker. There is much death where there is but little surgery; but the Undertaker can nowhere be dispensed with. To him, therefore, ought the Committee to have repaired, had they wished for the true statistics of comparative mortality. We happen to know something of this class; we have also ascertained the opinions which prevail among them concerning this Bill, and the evidence by which it professes to be supported; and we assure you, that they designate the former as an impracticable absurdity, and the latter, as far as Mr. Walker and his grave-diggers are concerned, as a mere jumble of nonsense, folly, and falsehood.

"Another ground of complaint here, is, that no means whatever were taken by Mr. Mackinnon to ascertain the true condition of the Dissenting burial-grounds, and the effect which his Bill would have on Dissenting property. His object being their destruction, he required, of course, only the knowledge of their existence. His conduct here is exceedingly aggravated by facts to which we are privy, and by which we can prove that he was fully apprised of the ruinous results of his Bill to many of the most important congregations of the Nonconformist community. He laboured not in the dark; he seeks to perpetrate all the injuries with which his Bill is fraught in the full light of the clearest and most abundant information. Its fatal influence to you is his boast and his glory. He is, therefore, your declared adversary!

"Dissenters of England! awake to your danger! This Bill is very largely a question of property; it is still more largely a question of civil and religious liberty. If you allow it to pass, the day on which it obtains the Royal Assent will be the most rueful that has risen upon our interests for a century! Every congregation in the land, whether having burial-grounds or not, is deeply and fearfully concerned in the measure. If you allow it to pass, posterity will execrate your memories, and mourn the day you were born! Rise up, then, and perform your duty to yourselves, to your children, and to the generations which are to come! Let sleep give place to vigilance, and indolence to effort. A Committee is already formed which will lead you on. Hasten to support them!"

I propose testing this communication published in the month of October, 1842, by the FACTS brought to light in the month of January, 1845. The author must admit that although "comparisons" are sometimes "odious"-they are sometimes necessary.

Let us compare, therefore, and judge whether "the Committee" are chargeable "with fatuous incompetency or most reprehensible unfairness in the examination" and whether also he, the Reverend fulminator, HAS (?) proved "Mr. Walker to be wholly undeserving of public confidence in the representations that he has made upon the subject."

My readers will perceive that the writer makes grave and serious chargesthat those charges are distinct, positive, and unambiguous. The witness Carr, in 1842,"suspected" the existence of what the month of January, 1845, demonstrated to be a reality. The burning,-not occasional,-but the regular-nightly sytematic burning of coffins, I knew had been carried on in the so-called BONE HOUSE, in the Spa-Fields burying-ground, for very many years. I knew that practices the most foul, inhuman, and atrocious, had been-must be, pursued To MAKE SPACE. I knew from repeated personal observation, that the SOIL was PECULIAR, that the MANAGEMENT was PECULIAR, that the very shoring-boards employed in keeping up the holes, that were daily being scratched out-for it would be wrong to call such holes graves,-were kept up to answer the temporary purpose of masking the so-called burying, the mere farce of "committing," accompanied by, and concluded with, the most impious and disgraceful prostitution of the burial-sevice. I knew, I say, that the very boards necessary,-abso

ANOTHER FIRE AT THE BONE-HOUSE.

13

lutely necessary, to serve the purpose of preventing the earth from falling in, previous to the arrival of the expected temporary occupant,-had been made from dead men's coffins-that the wood was sawn into shape-the nails knocked out, the boards "painted" with a compound of road-drift and water, and that a wiper," employed as a brush, was invariably the product of robbery, the most disgusting and abominable.

66

I knew this and much more when Carr was under examination, and could, had I deemed it necessary, have adduced it in evidence before "the Committee," whom this redoubtable wrestler so insolently charges" at the outset, with fatuous incompetency or most reprehensible unfairness in the examination."

I hoped, however, and indeed expected, that my mission was ended,-that the exposition then made would have been sufficient to convince those whom it concerned of the necessity, if not the policy and decency, of withdrawing from a contest,-for the maintenance of practices,—which must, if persisted in, inevitably bring on themselves disgrace and dishonour, degrade RELIGION, corrupt PUBLIC MORALS, and inflict irreparable injury on PUBLIC HEALTH.

I knew that I had done my duty, and trusted that the honest execution of a selfimposed,* laborious, nauseous, and unprofitable task once completed, I might retire into the ranks as a simple citizen, and once more steadily follow pursuits more congenial to my habits and feelings;-but it has happened otherwise, and I cannot retire with decency, or propriety, from a contest I have neither desired nor provoked, until at least, I once more offer to my countrymen a few remarks on facts which it very materially concerns them to be acquainted with.

I transmitted in January, 1845, the following communication and statement of FACTS to the Editor of every newspaper in the United Kingdom:

"A LONDON GOLGOTHA-BURYING-GROUND INCENDIARISM.

"SPA-FIELDS BURYING GROUND.

"Spa-Fields burial-ground was originally taken for a tea-garden; the speculation failed, and a chapel was built upon it, in which some ministers of the Church of England preached. The Bishop refused to consecrate, and it was ultimately bought by Lady Huntingdon; she inducted one of her chaplains, and it is now much frequented. The burying-ground is very large, but absolutely saturated with dead. This place offers a difficult problem for solution; no undertaker can explain it, excepting by a shrug of the shoulders. I can affirm, from frequent personal observation, that enormous numbers of dead have been deposited here.'-Gatherings from Grave-Yards.

"The secret is now disclosed, as will appear from the following facts :-This ground is surrounded by houses, many of them tenanted by respectable individuals. On the right is a one-story erection, called a bone house. For some months past the neighbouring inhabitants having observed flame and sparks issuing from the chimney, entertained apprehensions that improper practices were in progress, and on a recent occasion, called upon the engine-keeper of the parish for his assistance in extinguishing what they believed to be a fire. He demanded admission, but was refused and resisted by the grave-digger. Being determined, however, to execute his duty, he seized a crow-bar, and having threatened to break in the door, it was opened. He observed a great quantity of coffin wood piled round the room drying, a fire made entirely of coffins in the grate, and portions of human bones also. The engine-keeper particularly noticed the appearance of the chimney, and charged the

* It has been most industriously circulated, that I have received pecuniary assistance and encouragement from proprietors and others interested in cemeteries. As I have not had offered me, so I have not had the chance of declining the acceptance of even the smallest coin of the realm from any of the establishments or persons connected directly or indirectly with the interment of the dead.

14

DR. ADAM CLARK'S TESTIMONY.

grave-digger with having used water to extinguish the flame, which was denied ; and he was told that what he thought was water, was pitch;' and this was the fact. Thick flakes of pitch were adhering to the inside of the chimney, thus giving palpable evidence of the material consumed, viz., coffin wood-about 2lbs. of pitch being used in 'pitching' round the inner joints of an ordinary coffin.

"The inhabitants of Exmouth Street, Fletcher Row, Vineyard Gardens, and Northampton Row, in the immediate neighbourhood, have frequently complained of 'a tremendous stench' of a peculiar kind, which they say proceeds from the burning of human remains and coffins.

"On a late occasion, when Walters, the engine-keeper-an active, intelligent, and determined man-proceeded with the engine on an alarm of fire in the bone-house, he was surrounded by a great crowd composed chiefly of women, who declared that 'the stench was abominable,' and adjured him for God's sake to do all he could to get rid of this.'

"Wheel-barrow loads of coffin wood have frequently been removed across the ground from an opposite building to the bone-house, and hot ashes conveyed from it in return and thrown into the graves.

"This burying-ground does not contain more than two acres, which will receive and give decent burial to 2,722 adults. SPA-FIELDS ground has been employed for interment upwards of 50 years. The average yearly number may be stated at 1,500. There have been 36 burials in one day, but, strange to say, scarcely a human bone can be seen on the surface, it being the practice to have the ground raked and levelled every Monday morning. How applicable to this Golgotha is the following extract from Dr. Adam Clark's Commentary on Luke vii. v. 12-15 :—

"No burying-places should be tolerated within cities or towns, much less in or about CHURCHES and CHAPELS. This custom is excessively injurious to the inhabitants, and especially to those who frequent public worship in such CHAPELS and CHURCHES. God, decency, and health forbid this shocking abomination. * ** From long observation I can attest that CHURCHES and CHAPELS situated in grave-yards, and those especially within whose walls the dead are interred, are perfectly unwholesome; and many, by attending such places, are shortening their passage to the house appointed for the living. What increases the iniquity of this abominable and deadly work is, that the burying-grounds attached to many CHURCHES and CHAPELS are made a sourse of private gain. The whole of this preposterous conduct is as indecorous and unhealthy as it is profane. Every man should know that the gas which is disengaged from putrid flesh, and particularly from a human body, is not only unfriendly to, but destructive of, animal life. Superstition first introduced a practice which self-interest and covetousness continue to maintain.'

11, St. James's Place, St. James's Street.

GEO. ALFD. WALKER."

"SPA-FIELDS BURIAL GROUND.

"To the Editor of the Builder.

"SIR,---Seeing in your paper of last week an article under the head of Burial-ground Nuisance,' containing an account of infamous practices taking place in this ground, the whole of which is grossly false, and as proceedings are about to be commenced against the author, I hope you will, in justice, find a corner in your next Builder for this communication.

"I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

"February 12, 1845."

"A. BIRD, Manager.*

The following communication appeared in the Builder of February 22, 1845:

SPA-FIELDS BURIAL GROUND.

THE LONDON GOLGOTHA-BURIAL GROUND PRACTICES.

66

SIR,-You did me the honour of inserting a communication in the Builder of February 8, on Spa-Fields Burial Ground," and observing in your journal of the 15th instant that a person, signing himself "A. Bird," and who calls himself "manager" (I presume of the grave-yard bearing the above name), has thought fit not only to venture an attempt to invalidate my statements, but has dared even publicly to question my right to make them, I will trouble you, Sir, with the following additional remarks, premising that I do not retract a single word of my former communication, whilst I hurl the most uncompromising defiance at Mr. A. Bird, the

* Reprinted from the Builder of February 15, 1845. A similar communicatiou appeared in Era of February 16th.

GRAVE-YARD MANAGEMENT.

15

"management," and the "proceedings about to be commenced." As Mr. Bird states only in general terms his determination to commence "proceedings;" as he assumes, nay, apparently has, in his own belief, long occupied the position of an ill-used and injured man, ,* I, pending his legal proceedings, in disclaiming any personal motive in the contest he has chosen to enter upon, invite Mr. Bird's most serious attention to the observations and statements I may deem it necessary to make, reminding him that, under any circumstances, the PUBLIC have a far deeper and more important interest in this question than individual disputants, and that grave-yard proprietary interests, of the nature of those represented by their, for aught I know, self-elected champion, Mr. A. Bird, like other interests, must submit their claims, it may be, reveal their condition, to, and abide by the decision of, PUBLIC OPINION, represented by a free, a vigilant, and an independent press.

From a very long conviction, based on no slight grounds, I have from time to time, as the occasion offered, or opportunity served, endeavoured to convince my countrymen of the folly and wickedness of tacitly permitting the continuance of our present system of BURIAL IN TOWNS; and having, I think, abundantly proved that this iniquitous and pernicious practice has prostrated, and will continue to prostrate, numberless victims, I call upon the readers of your journal to apply their most serious consideration to this question, assuring them that it will afford them abundant material for salutary contemplation, and, if I mistake not, will supply a most powerful incentive to energetic, and determined, and united action.

In the mixed condition of society in all large towns, it is impossible to draw a line of demarcation between the various classes, neither is it necessary to attempt to apportion to each individual his own share of inevitable, well-deserved, punishment attendant upon his neglect of the first dictates of natural feelings and common sense; but it especially concerns the middle and poorer classes to reflect that circumstances, frequently inseparable from their condition, compel their residence in localities principally the seats of shamefully-overcharged burying-grounds; that it is an indispensable condition of healthy existence that the atmosphere they breathe shall be in a pure condition; that in the immediate neighbourhood of, and even at a considerable distance from, all such places, annoyance, discomfort, disease, and death, are the invariable and abiding concomitants; that the locality, the area, the condition of the soil, the numbers buried in a given period, the depth at which bodies are interred, the constant up-turning of earth yet reeking with human corruption, and the opportunities afforded by free ventilation for the dissipation of the invariably injurious products of human decomposition,-that these circumstances must and do influence the sanatory condition, most certainly, of the surrounding residents, and even the health of the entire district.

Sir, these statements, which I unhesitatingly make, are true or false. Perhaps Mr. Bird, whilst arranging his counter-statements to disprove my allegations, will favour your readers with his opinions, as I understand he entertains some original notions on the burying-ground question. I do not wish to press unnecessarily upon Mr. Bird, but the course he has thought proper to pursue is so little in accordance with irrefragable facts, that I beg to assure him, and all whom it may concern, that he or they must convict, or be convicted, for I will neither offer nor accept a compromise; meanwhile, I publicly ask Mr. Bird for distinct and unequivocal answers to the following questions

1st. What is the area of your burying-ground?

2nd. How long has it been employed for the interment of the dead?

3rd. How deep are the graves dug?

4th. How many bodies are placed in one grave in a given period of time?

5th. What depth of earth is ordinarily placed over the topmost coffin?

6th. What lateral thickness of earth is allowed between each grave?

7th. How many bodies on an average have you interred on Sundays, and how many on the remaining days of the week since you became " manager?"

"CLERKENWELL.-Yesterday, a respectable-looking man, who stated that he was the manager of the burial-ground at Spa-Fields Chapel, came before the magistrate to complain of a report from that court in the newspapers of that morning relating to that burial ground. He declared the statement which appeared was altogether false, and expressed his surprise that any respectable newspaper could give insertion to matter destitute of foundation and so unsupported by proof. * uncontradicted.

* *. The applicant said it was very hard that such a report should remain He would certainly push the matter further."-Times, December 23, 1843.

16

PROFESSION AND PRACTICE.

66

8th. Why do you constantly keep from five to fifteen graves open in expectancy, and do you consider the practice of keeping open graves" injurious to the health of the district?

9th. As the soil of Spa-Fields burying-ground is in a peculiar condition, I believe from the mode of "management" adopted, in how short a period, in your experience, do the soft parts of the human body resolve themselves into their ultimate elements?

10th. How long do the coffins remain entire or undecayed?

11th, and lastly. Do you persist in reiterating your assertion, reported in the TIMES of December 23, 1843, "that the statement" (a memorial on the condition of your burying-ground, from some of the surrounding inhabitants) was altogether false; and do you now express your 66 surprise that any respectable newspaper could give insertion to matter destitute of foundation and so unsupported by proof?"

I am, Sir, yours, &c.,

11, St. James's Place, St. James's Street, Feb. 19th, 1845.

GEO. ALFD. WALKER.

"Manager" Bird found it inconvenient to attempt even a reply to the above letter. The vilest and most unprincipled abuse was unsparingly and unscrupulously heaped upon those who had grappled with the men guilty of the hideous abominations of which this charnel had been the scene.

About this period, the following posting-bill was extensively placarded

:

"SPA-FIELDS BURYING-GROUND-FIVE POUNDS REWARD. "Whereas hand-bills, without the Printer's name and address, have been circulated, containing false and scandalous statements with reference to this burial-ground, the proprietors therefore feel themselves called upon to give the most positive denial to the revolting charges set forth in the said hand-bills, and to state that the melancholy duties connected with the sepulture of the dead in the Spa-Fields burying-ground are, and invariably have been since the Ground has been in their possession, conducted with the strictest regard to decency and the health of the surrounding inhabitants. As they have every reason to believe that these reports have been maliciously circulated, they hereby offer a reward of £5 for such information as shall lead to the discovery and conviction of the Printer or Printers of the said hand-bills, such reward to be paid on conviction. Application to be made to the Superintendent of the ground, Mr. C. Bird, 7, Fletcher Row, Spa-Fields.”

It had been deemed necessary to repeat publicly the allegations made in my first communication (see p. 13) by a large circulation of hand-bills and posters, which were a re-issue of my first statement, word for word, with the addition of the threat of legal proceedings on the part of the agent of the proprietors.

The "management," it appears, could not resist or decline, after writing so eloquently, yet withal so pithily, on "THE MELANCHOLY DUTIES CONNECTED WITH THE SEPULTURE OF THE DEAD" in their first essay,-another attempt, in another direction, of a perfectly distinct and separate character.

The "old ground was to reciprocate with the CONSIDERABLE PIECE OF FRESH GROUND*, IN WHICH BUT FEW BODIES HAD BEEN DEPOSITED.

The MIDDLE, the WORST, and the BEST grounds were, although long artificially divided, Now to be made co-partners in capability. This projected scheme was thus announced:

"SPA-FIELDS BURYING GROUND.

"The charges which have been made against the mode of conducting this ground

This "CONSIDERABLE PIECE OF FRESH GROUND" immediately behind Spa-Fields Chapel, measures 72 by 72 feet, and would inter (decently) ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-TWO adult bodies.