Presentations text content in The 1912 Grave Desecration of the Milwaukee County Institut
Slide1
The 1912 Grave Desecration of the Milwaukee County Institution Grounds Poor Farm Cemetery
Alexander W. AnthonyUniversity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, 15-19 April 2015.
Symposium: People that no one had use for, had nothing to give to, no place to offer: The Milwaukee County Institution Grounds Poor Farm Cemetery
Slide2Superintendent Bark
Wisconsin Historical Society
Slide3Subadult Burials
An Increasing Need For Space
Adult Burials
Richards Dissertation
Slide4Slide5Slide6The Investigation Begins
Milwaukee Leader 11/22/1912
Slide7Report Fennell Smith Testifies in front of the Special Committee
Milwaukee Leader November 21, 1912
Burrowing into the stack I pulled two of the coffins out and examined them. As I held one up, something dropped on my foot. When I picked it up I saw it was a human bone.
Milwaukee Leader 10/30/1912
Slide8Martin Sackmeister Testifies In Front of the Special Committee
I came to the almshouse cemetery every Sunday to visit the grave of my little child which the county had buried for me when I was poor and without work.
Slide9Milwaukee Leader 11/15/1912
The Grave Digger George Kuczynski
Slide10Some coffins had been excavated.A few human bones were found within one of these coffins.A photograph had been taken of the pile of coffins before work was completed. The workers had no intention of burning the pile.A skull had been placed on a fence post. No evidence that it had been used for bowling.The Board of Trustees held no blame.
The Findings of the Special Committee
Slide11Superintendent Bark previously reported the need for more burying ground. Had asked for and received permission to use plat of land that had been used as a cemetery 25 years earlier.Bark had cautioned grave diggers to return found remains to graves.Human remains had been found.Bark had failed to report finding human remains to the Board of TrusteesCommittee recommended enlarging the cemetery or building a crematory for “the disposal of bodies.”
Slide12Source: USGS
7.5 Wauwatosa Quad 1958
Slide131990s GLARC Excavation Maps
Slide14“Two years ago Mr. Bark said it would be necessary to use part of the old cemetery…” –Trustee T.J. Driscoll (Milwaukee Leader Nov. 22
1912)
Slide15And lo! The clay cried, ‘Use me tenderly, I was a man myself but yesterday.’
Slide16References Cited
Slide17References Cited
Slide18References Cited
Slide19Slide20Slide21Slide22Slide23
The 1912 Grave Desecration of the Milwaukee County Institut
Download Presentation - The PPT/PDF document "The 1912 Grave Desecration of the Milwau..." is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.