{"id":884,"date":"2012-04-09T22:54:08","date_gmt":"2012-04-10T02:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=884"},"modified":"2024-12-03T16:49:24","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T21:49:24","slug":"cartoons-and-cholera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=884","title":{"rendered":"Cartoons and Cholera"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Linda Burton posting from Sacramento, California<\/em> — How many stories in a cemetery? How many tears, how many broken dreams, how many celebrations of life? Novels rowed in stone, in fragrant flowers, in epitaphs carved into marble slabs. Walk the paths of Old City Cemetery, you\u2019ll find the Sacramento story there; laid out Victorian style, in tales that everybody knows; and new discoveries that send us to the research books. We know about the cholera. That time in 1850 when almost a thousand died, killed by something no one understood. It took its toll by cramping up the gut; the watery diarrhea could kill in hours, leaving those who lived to live in fear, for who\u2019d be stricken next?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The story. October 8, 1850, the New World<\/em> docked in Sacramento; a passenger collapsed on the wharf, began an epidemic that killed over 800 people in less than three weeks. Thousands fled in panic, leaving the stricken behind; 17 of the 40 treating physicians died. Victims were buried in mass graves; a monument erected in 1852. The monument does not mark the actual locations of the victim\u2019s graves, however, but reminds the viewer of their fate.<\/p>\n

We didn\u2019t know the process for making concrete markers in the 1940\u2019s though; research was needed to explain a strange finding recently.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The story. November 8, 1933, Caroline Wemmer died of hypertension; was buried in Old City Cemetery. Last fall, a crew worker discovered a newspaper cartoon in pristine condition adhered to the back of her concrete marker, which had become loose. The cartoon was Mickey Finn<\/em> by Lank Leonard. Another loose stone \u2013 that of an infant who only lived two days in 1940 \u2013 also had newsprint on the back; thereby pinpointing a time. Research showed that during that period wet newsprint was placed on the bottom when concrete was poured into a form \u2013 it helped with curing. Mystery resolved.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Some stories changed the course of history, others just intrigue the mind; you\u2019ll find more than 25,000 of them in Old City Cemetery, the final resting place of the famous and the infamous; pioneers and immigrants; their families and descendants; the plain and the plain extraordinary. This outdoor museum shows California culture from gold rush days until the present time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Wander through numerous group plots honoring members of the Pioneer Association, Masons, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Volunteer Firemen, Improved Order of Red Men, state government, Donner Party survivors, veterans of the Civil War and other wars. See one of the most beautiful records of history in the Historic Rose Garden. Composed of old or antique roses collected from cemeteries, old homesites, and roadsides in California, many of these roses came to California in the holds of ships or tucked in wagon trains; brought by pioneers to beautify new homes; eventually a slip was planted on their grave.<\/p>\n

Tour are self or docent-guided. http:\/\/www.oldcitycemetery.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Linda Burton posting from Sacramento, California — How many stories in a cemetery? How many tears, how many broken dreams, how many celebrations of life? Novels rowed in stone, in fragrant flowers, in epitaphs carved into marble slabs. Walk the paths of Old City Cemetery, you\u2019ll find the Sacramento story there; laid out Victorian style, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4586,194],"tags":[277,273,280,279,278,276,274,275],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=884"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":886,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884\/revisions\/886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}