Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 177, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 July 1910 — COFFINS THAT ARE RENTED. [ARTICLE]

COFFINS THAT ARE RENTED.

Temporary Resting Places of the Poor In Mexican Cemeteries. The average Mexican cemetery is a grewsome spot The one at Matamoras is no exception to the rule, says a letter from that city. The bone 3of the dead are treated with little respect by the municipalities or men in control of the different burial grounds. The poorer the person is in worldly goods, the more ignoble will be the treatment accorded his bones when he has passed the way of all flesh. Of course the people of wealth or even moderate means are able to have tfceir bodies cared for In a more or less luxurious manner after death. It is the lower class whose crumbling remains are shifted about from place to place, and finally fall into dust, and are scattered to the four winds. The bdnes of the dead are usually piled In big heaps in of the larger towns. The bodies are given room in regular graves at annual rentals. When the rent lapses the body is moved from its resting place to give room for some other bodies. The hones of these dispossessed tenants are cast into the refuse pile, where they remain until carted away and scattered over the land as if they were so much garbage. It is rare that a body of the poorer class is kept in a grave more than two years. Until recently the bone pile In the cemetery at Matamoras was large. It was carted away to give room for a fresh accumulation of non-paying tenants of the graves. In one corner of the cemetery are several cheap caskets which are used from time to time for temporary resting places of those who can afford to pay the stipulated rental. In some of the cemeteries of Mexico are interesting catacombs that have been in use for two or three centuries. Guanajuato is widely noted for its catacombs. A large underground chamber in the cemetery in that city Is filled with solemn rows of standing skeletons. Some of these bodies are mummified and are of lifelike appearance. This chamber of horrors was formerly a favorite visiting place for curious-minded American tourists. The grinning skeletons occupied a variety of poses, the keeper of the cemetery deriving no little amusement in exercising his ingenuity in making the silent occupants of the cavern as terrifying as possible to the visitors. ■When Guanajuato became the scene of great mining activity a few years ago, caused by the advent of many Americans, the newcomers made protest to the government authorities of the horrifying spectacle in the underground chamber. In response to this protest the authorities issued an order that these skeletons must be clothed so as to hide their shimmering bones from the eyes of the visitors to the place. The effect of this order Is to make the occupants of the chamber more grotesque and terrifying than when their nakedness was exposed. Each grinning skeleton now wears a full suit of clothes, which hang limply upon the bones. Some wear hats that are tilted at Rakish angles. The big pile of hones that formerly occupied one of the Guanajuato chamber of horrors has been removed and an effort is now being made to keep the place in fit condition for the reception of American and other visitors.