Dead Bodies By Mail

Dead Bodies by Mail

When Cremated They May be Sent for 4 Cents a Pound

Washington, October 2 - Third Assistance Postmaster General Madden today received a request for information as to the postage rates of cremated bodies.

Mr. Madden after due deliberation, prepared a ruling to the effect that cremated bodies should be classed as merchandise and should pay the regular rate of 1 cent for four ounces.

As a result of this decisions four air tight tin canisters, containing the cremated remains of a family shipped from New York to San Francisco were forwarded from Washington post office, where they had been held up pending a determination of the postage rates for the funeral journey.

October 2, 1903 Hutchinson News 

New Cemetery Walks

Here in Kansas change is in the air. I took advantage of the nice temps we had and visited a few cemeteries two counties east of me. Lots of hedge apples littering the back roads and grounds of Kansas.

I am hoping winter affords me time to catch up on a few projects and work on research and new blog posts. Here are the cemeteries I visited.

Harvey County
Walton & Old Walton Cemeteries

Marion County
Prairie Lawn, Catlin, Dunkard, Doyle Valley, Goessell and an Unnamed Cemetery.

I found a U. S. Geological Survey marker at Doyle Valley Cemetery.

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!