Not much life in tombstone sale

NOT MUCH LIFE IN TOMBSTONE SALE

One slightly used tombstone was sold Monday morning at the Reno County courthouse.

The events behind this unusual sale set much of the courthouse in an uproar as efforts were made to halt the sale, then delay it and even to determine who owned the stone and who paid taxes on it.

The strange transaction started when the sheriff's office attached the used grave marker for unpaid 1960 taxes. The taxes due on the tombstone are owed by E. M. Hotaling, former manager of the since reorganized Hutchinson Monument Co. Hotaling subsequently left town and the stone was seized at the Hutchinson Memorial Co, 202 North Maple.

As the hour of sale drew near, Clifton A. Park of Wichita, representing R. W. Park and Sons, a tombstone firm, appeared before the county commission and asked the sale be postponed. He said Hotaling hadn't owned the grave marker and that it already had been taxed in Sedgwick County.

Park said the grave marker had been made for a family in Macksville but the name had been misspelled and since it was hard to find anyone with that name who needed a tombstone, the marker was returned here and used for display. He said it was on consignment to Hotaling and that it was owned by the Wichita firm.

Apparently someone goofed when carving the stone. The name was supposed to be Johnston, but somewhere the "T" got lost and it came out Johnson.

Commissioners and members of the county attorney's office searched the statutes for a solution to the bizarre situation and found themselves powerless to stop the sale.

After the stay of sale was denied, bidders gathered in a hastily arranged tombstone territory near the front door of the courthouse.

"I have for sale one two-piece, red granite headstone hearing the name Johnson," said Undersheriff Elwood Mendenhall. "Who'll start the bidding?"

Bidding was not lively.

After only two bids, Park bought the grave marker for $70. The sale price did not cover the back taxes which were $75.62.

A waggish attorney then offered to start legal proceedings to change anyone's name to Johnson.

"We never sold a tombstone before," said Calvin Sheppard, sheriff.

Hutchinson News
December 3, 1962

Shadow on the Hill: the true story of a 1925 Kansas murder

I am supporting this Kickstarter project.

The 1925 murder of Kansas farmwife Florence Knoblock changed an entire community.


It was the most brutal murder in Coffey County, Kansas' history.

"On Decoration Day in 1925, John Knoblock returned to his Kansas farm to find his wife slaughtered on the kitchen floor. Within hours, dozens of lawmen, family members, well-meaning neighbors and gawkers paraded through the Knoblock farmstead, contaminating and destroying what little evidence was left behind. A small team of inexperienced lawmen, including a newly elected sheriff who had never run a murder investigation, attempted to reconstruct and solve the most gruesome murder in the history of Coffey County, Kansas."

Read more about it HERE

No spam here....please

Blogger is doing a great job in blocking spam posts. I received the email notification on my phone and was happy to find that each time they did not make it to my blog comments.

Thank you, Blogger!

Jewish Burial Ground

Forty-two Jewish refugees arrived on July 11, 1733, having fled persecution in Portugal. The colonists welcomed them, especially when they learned there was a doctor among them, for their own doctor had recently died.

Most of the Jewish families settled in the area of Ellis Square. Descendents of two of the families; the Sheftalls and Minis’s, are prominent Savannah families today. The Mickve Israel synagogue now sits on Monterey Square and houses the South’s oldest Jewish congregation, the third founded in America.

A marble monument at the corner of Bull and Oglethorpe Street marks the site of the original Jewish burial ground established by Oglethorpe in 1733. Over the next ten years, thousands of colonist from many different countries and faiths came to Georgia to start a new life including Moravians and Salzburgers from Germany, Scottish Highlanders, French Huguenots, Irish Catholics, Italians, Greeks and Swiss.

Savannah History

Texas cemetery walks

I really appreciate that some of my family understands my love of cemeteries.

While visiting family in Texas a couple of weeks ago I visited a few cemeteries. My niece's backyard actually backs up to one of them. Close to perfect if you ask me ;)

Krum Jackson Cemetery

I took walks in these cemeteries:

• Krum Jackson
• Roselawn
• Sanger