1859-07-11 Trustee Committee Report on Admissions to Grounds, 2021.004.004

The Committee to whom was referred the question whether any change is necessary in the mode of admission at the gate, either on weekddays or sundays, have attended to their duty and present the following.

-Report-

On the 5^th of July 1853. a vote was passed, "that the Gate-keeper be permitted to admit persons of respectable appearance and demeanor to ride into the Cemetery without tickets or permits until further order."

The 27^th Article of the Bye-laws provides that "strangers from a distance also persons having business in the Cemetery, may be admitted with carriage on presenting a note or ticket of admission signed by a Trustee or by the Secretary or Treasurer."

The same article also provides that "Persons having a relative or near friend interred there, may enter the Cemetery on Sundays and Holidays, on presenting a card of admission from a Trustee, the Secretary or Treasurer."

The Bye-laws also contain a clause in these words "The Trustees however may from time to time pass such votes for the admission of strangers and other nonproprietors and under such regulations as they may deem expedient"; and another whereby all votes

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and regulations which had been previously passed and which were incompatible with the present code of Bye-laws, should be repealed. -

From the preceding citations it appears clearly to the Committee, first, that the Bye-laws contain containregulations and restrictions in regard to admission to the grounds. Second, That notwithstanding these general limitations, the whole power of regulating the admissionof non-proprietors is vested in the Trustees without reference to the Bye-laws. Third, That any vote not incompatible with te Bye-laws, which had been passed prior to their adoption and which has not been repealed, is now extant, and fourth, That the vote of 5^thJuly 1853 is not incompatible with the Bye-laws - has not been repealed and therefore is in full force now. -

The question of admission to the Cemetery is a delicate one. - Mount Auburn, although strictly a private institution, may in some senses be considered a public one. - It is the pioneer of ornamental Cemeteries - the delight and pride of our own citizens and the admiration of strangers - it has caused may other institutions of like character to spring up all over the country, and its fame extends wherever Boston is known. - It is natural therefore

that all strangers visiting this part of the country should be desirous of seeing it, and it is the wish of the Trustees to grant every facility for the gratification of this desire, and also for the accommodation of resident non-proprietors, so far as they can do so in justice to the interests committed to them. -

But while the Trustees desire to grant every privilege to our own citizens and to others who may wish to ride or walk over the grounds for legitimate purposes, they do not wish to open them as a pleasant drive for all pleasure seekers who may chance to pass that way, and the Committee cannot but think, that a mild and reasonable enforcement of the rules, while it will allow all who ought to have the privilege of entering, every facility, will prevent abuses which must otherwise necessarily creep in,. -

It will be born in mind that the number of proprietors now approaches three thousand, - all of whom have the right of admission in carriages; - add to this the surreptitious use of the tickets of proprietors which cannot be prevented, and the tickets issued for single admissions, and an aggregate will be shown quite sufficient to make the grouns as public as can reasonably be required. - The facility of obtaining tickets appears to the

Committee quite sufficiently for strangers and others who may wish to visit the grounds for proper objects, and if each one be obliged to deliver his ticket at the gate, it will render it much easier to detect those who abuse their privileges.

So far as the Committee can learn, the chief abuse is by the drivers of public Hackney Coaches. They drive fast through the grounds with heavy loads, and when spoken to, reply in improper language. -

Looking at the subject in all its aspects the Committee are of opinion, that although the prohibition of some of the privileges which the public have enjoyed may cause some inconvenience and dissatisfacton, yet that a much greater evil would arise if the Cemetery were injured, and the proprietors annoyed by persons merely seeking amusement regardless of injury to others, and as all have the privilege of walking in the grounds, they think of two evils it is better to choose the less, they ^therefore recommend the repeal of the vote of the 5^th of July 1853, granting permission to enter without a ticket. - They would also recommend that the Secretary be directed to furnish tickets to the proprietors of the principal Hotels, for the use of strangers,^{in which the name of the visitor shall be inserted}with the

admonition that any abuse of the privilege on the part of the drivers, will cause such driver to be afterwards excluded, and that if after proper representation to the proprietor of the Hotel the same driver shall be furnished with tickets, then that the privilege be withdrawn from the Hotel. -

They would also recommend that the Gate-keeper be instructed to require the delivery of all tickets except those of proprietors, at the Gate, and that the same be returned to the Secretary. -

The question has been raised in regard to the clause in the Bye-laws allowing persons having a relative or near friend interred in the Cemetery to enter on sundays and holidays - whether they are allowed to enter in carriages. -

The Committee understand that the object of that privilege was, that any person who wished to visit the grave of a relative or near friend on the sabbath, could be allowed to do so - but it is not necessary for this purpose that they should ride over the grounds, as they might do on a week-day for curiosity or amusement - and the object sought for can

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