Image Courtesy of Western New York Heritage Collection
North Street Cemetery:Desecration and Scandal
Graves, including those of William and America Pickney Williams (foreground), in the North Street Cemetery, prior to displacing the graves for the construction of the 65th Regiment Armory.
By Bonnie Fleischauer
The destruction of the North Street Cemetery in 1901 was more than just legalized vandalism; it led to one of the largest scandals in Buffalo’s history. The bodies of Buffalo’s famous and not-so-famous were uprooted and moved, without ceremony and often without dignity, while people in power at the time lined their pockets from a scheme—and the taxpayers of Erie County paid the price.
Bounded by North Street on the south, Best Street on the north, Cemetery Road (later named Masten) on the west and a row of homes on Peach Street on the east, the North Street Cemetery was directly east of another cemetery—a Potters Field where City Honors High School now stands. Originally founded by General Sylvester Matthews and Birdseye Wilcox as the Matthews and Wilcox Burying Ground in 1833, it was a private cemetery of about 12 acres. Known by many names over the years—North Street Cemetery, East North Street Cemetery, The Hill, Best Street Cemetery and Buffalo Private Cemetery—for 20 years after its inception it was the principal burying ground for residents of the area.
In 1853, lot owners became dissatisfied with how the cemetery was managed. The following year, they formed the Buffalo Cemetery Association and raised $5,000 to purchase the property. The cemetery was then improved and properly cared for before its closure in 1892, when the trustees founded the Buffalo Cemetery at Pine Hill in Cheektowaga.
In 1898, it was determined that the 65th Regiment Armory on Broadway was in need of repair and expansion. An appropriations bill for rebuilding the armory was passed, then signed by Governor Theodore Roosevelt on March 30, 1900. That left it up to the Erie County Board of Supervisors to acquire suitable property.
Following an investigation that spring, the Committee on Military Affairs recommended using the North Street Cemetery site. Supervisor Fayette Kelly opposed the recommendation, however. Citing the state constitution, he argued that “no lot-owner in this cemetery can be deprived of his property therein by any act of legislation but only by due process of law.” Estimating that there were 7,000-10,000 bodies to be to be moved, he declared the plan would be a “squandering of Erie County taxpayers’ money.” An adequate location should cost only $200,000-$225,000, he argued, and moved that the board limit their consideration to sites not exceeding that amount. Supervisor William Baynes seconded the motion, but it was defeated by a vote of 27 to 21. The report of the Military Committee was then adopted by a vote of 28 to 20. An Appraisal Committee made up of Supervisors George D. Yeomans, Peter Maischoss and Nicholas J. Miller, also endorsed the cemetery site and estimated the cost to be $202,000, but failed to detail the costs, using the word “probable” over 600 times.
The Buffalo Courier published a series of articles opposing the plan and attacking the appraisal report, stating it failed to take numerous expenses into account. These included: site grading ($30,000-50,000), required health department inspector payments ($5 per grave), sidewalk construction, fencing and, of course, the removal of bodies, which they claimed to be underestimated by $126,000. Arguing the cost might go as high as $623,000, the paper called the decision the “most disgraceful and expensive deal” in Erie County’s history. “It is indeed the biggest ‘steal’ which the Erie County Supervisors have ever had the chance to make money out of,” the Courier opined. “The prospect for illegal gain is so alluring that not even the fear of the law is deterring them from carrying out every detail of their well-organized plan…” The newspaper squarely accused three men of high position—County Attorney John W. Fisher, County Auditor John W. Neff and Collector Henry W. Brendel—of scheming.
At a meeting of the supervisors in November, Christian Hagen offered property located only two blocks to the east of the cemetery for $200,000. It would not require disinterring bodies nor regrading; only the installation of sewers and paving Berlin Street, which bounded the lot on one side. Hagen was willing to pay for these improvements, but the supervisors did not even consider this alternative. Despite continued opposition from supervisors Kelly and Conboy, the Appraisal Committee’s report was approved by a vote of 27 to 23.
In December 1900, the purchase of the cemetery site was finalized by a vote of 26 to 24. What followed next was the inevitable string of legal challenges, which lasted several months into 1901. Once all claims were exhausted, the board published a notice to lot owners in April 1901: “You are hereby required to remove the remains of the persons buried in the lots owned by you in the above-described cemetery, and to remove the monuments, slabs and stones on said lots, and to suitably re-inter such remains and reset such monuments, slab and stones within thirty days from April 20, 1901…” After that time, all unclaimed remains would be sent to Lakeside Cemetery in Hamburg.
And so began the disrespectful disturbance of the remains of both the famous and unheralded citizens of Buffalo—over 75 military heroes of three wars, pioneers of Buffalo’s early days, prominent leaders in the church, business, medical and legal fields and victims of the cholera epidemics. On March 28, 1901, the first two bodies were removed and transported to Buffalo Cemetery.
Not Just Stones—But Stories
Amidst the fallen and crumbling stones were some whose inscriptions remained, paying silent tribute to the souls that once animated the bones buried beneath:
WILLIAM G. WILLIAMS
Captain in the Corps of Topographical Engineers, U.S.A.
Aged 45
Conducting a storming party at the taking of Monterey, Mexico, September 21, 1846, he fell mortally wounded and died in the hands of the enemy. His last message to his friends was, “Tell then I fell in front of the column.”
His remains were recovered under the direction of a committee of citizens of Buffalo and Black Rock and buried with military honors March 9, 1847
Next to his body were the remains of his wife, the great granddaughter of Martha Washington, America Pinkney-Williams whose stone read:
Born at Woodlawn, Virginia October 12, 1803
Died at Buffalo, N.Y. April 25, 1842
Gentle and beautiful, loving and beloved
A bosom guileless and a heart sincere
by kindliest affections ever moved
she gave a joy to smile, to grief a tear.
Williams was only one of many veterans interred at North Street. Jabez Gray, who died January 29, 1836, was only 16 when he joined General Herkimer’s bodyguard, serving with the Continental Army throughout the Revolution. It is believed his grave had no headstone, so he was likely added to the vast list of unidentified persons when moved.
A tall reddish-brown stone monument stood for Lieut. Colonel John Bliss, a hero of the War of 1812 battles of Chippewa, Lundy’s Lane and Crysler’s Farm, who died on November 22, 1854. Another stone marked the grave of Lieut. Colonel George W. Johnson, commander of the 49th NYSV in the Army of the Potomac, who died in Washington on July 26, 1864.
Near Lieut. Colonel Johnson lay the body of one of Buffalo’s foremost artists, William John Wilgus, who died at the age of 34 on July 23, 1853. In 1840, when he was just 20, he was made an honorary member of the National Academy of Design. His stone, featuring a carved brush and palette, can now be seen at Forest Lawn. The stone of General Sylvester Matthews, one of the founders of the cemetery, simply said: “Died August 10, 1842, aged 49 years.” He fought at the 1814 Battle of Chippawa as part of the New York Militia. In 1816, Sylvester was appointed fireman in the village of Buffalo.
The tombstone of War of 1812 veteran John Bliss was moved to Forest Lawn Cemetery. Credit: Author’s photograph and Western New York Heritage photograph.
Lt. Col. George Johnson, a Civil War veteran, ended up at Lakeside Cemetery in Hamburg. Credit: Author’s photograph and Western New York Heritage photograph.
Asiatic Cholera first swept through the area in 1832, claiming 120 lives before it began to wane in September of that year. Unable to keep up with the flood of bodies, grave diggers were forced to bury victims together in large trenches.
One shabby shaft whose inscription had worn off commemorated the life of Dr. Charles C. Haddock who died July 12, 1849, fighting the cholera epidemic of that year. He was a postmaster, served on the Board of Health and personally ministered to the sick and the poor. The Common Council met the next day and passed a resolution which said in part, “Our citizens will ever bear in mind he fell a victim to his exertions for public safety.” Dr. Haddock’s remains were moved to Forest Lawn on April 26, 1901, where a new stone was placed.
The sad story of two more 1849 cholera victims was recalled on a large decorated monument. Eliza Williams left home on the morning of July 31, 1849 to visit Niagara Falls for the day. Later that day, her husband William received word that Eliza had become ill while at the Falls. He immediately hastened to her side where they both died within a few hours.
At the outer border of the cemetery stood a marble tablet marking the Ebeneezer Johnson family vault, which contained the remains of the family of Buffalo’s first mayor. Mayor Johnson died and is buried in Tennessee, so the Ebeneezer buried here was his father, a privateer and captain in the Revolutionary War who died February 8, 1841.
“Here rests a servant of God. When the Master called, he was ready” read a stone that marked the grave of author Rev. Horatio Parsons, who died on Sept. 4, 1873. His wife Harriet and sons Albert and Ethelbert were nearby. Ethelbert died August 9, 1875, under heroic circumstances; a friend fell into the waters at the Cave of the Winds at Niagara Falls and he dove in, trying in vain to save his friend.
Perhaps the most sorrowful stones are those that marked children’s graves. Charles J., son of Jacob and Lillie Heinz Roth, died in 1886 when he was only 9 years old:
A precious one from us is gone
voice we loved is still
A place is vacant in our home
Disinterment and Relocation
From April 20 to May 20, 1901, the remains of 3,887 people—with 1,256 stones and monuments—were moved to cemeteries as follows:
Cemetery Bodies Stones
Ridgelawn 1,098 270
Forest Lawn 971 346
Buffalo Cemetery 588 143
Lakeside 440 230
St. John’s 258 73
Concordia 122 35
Zion Cemetery 68 22
St. Matthews 51 19
Holy Rest 27 8
Mt. Hope 28 5
Pine Hill R.C. 17 6
The remainder were sent to cemeteries located in areas further away from Buffalo or in other states.
Thousands gathered at the cemetery to watch the bodies be disinterred. That May, the Buffalo Courier described the scene: “Knots of curious persons surround each opening as the diggers approach the level of the coffins and in their curiosity almost push one another into the open graves…a gaping crowd without sentiment or feeling…the scenes are in strong contrast with those of the day of original burial. Then there were eulogium and tears. Now there is light comment and careless laughter.”
For the most part, efforts revealed little more than a bunch of bones and the coffins were rotted to nothingness. Working under the supervision of county and city inspectors, when a laborer heard bones in a shovelful of earth, he put the mass in a basket which would be hauled up to the surface and placed in a wooden box.
But the process also resulted in some unusual finds. On April 25, the petrified body of Anna Maria Hellriegel was found. Anna, the wife of John Hellriegel, was born in Germany in 1816 and died in 1892. She and her husband were among the founders of German St. Paul’s Church. She had eight daughters and two sons, all of whom preceded her in death.
There were also two instances where victims were supposedly buried alive. A young boy’s corpse was found with three fingers inside its mouth. It was surmised that the child bit them off in agony. Another body was found upside down in its casket. Whether these were indeed buried alive or simply jolted into these positions will never be known.
Perhaps the strangest find occurred on May 18, 1901, when a child’s coffin contained no body, but a plaster cast of a child instead. The child had been buried in 1891 and it was theorized that the body had been robbed by medical students who replaced it with the cast.
In March 1901, prior to the exhumations, representatives for Ridgelawn Cemetery Association and Rowland J. Conover, comptroller for Lakeside Cemetery, approached the Board of Supervisors to contract for moving the remains and stones unclaimed after the specified removal period. Conover was granted the contract, which called for him to remove and reinter all remaining bodies and remove and reset all stones, slabs and monuments “in such a manner as to preserve the identity of each body as far as possible, and in all cases where the remains of any are distinguishable, to reinter the same in a separate grave.” He was to be paid $15 per body and $1 per stone. Charles N. Brayton and Oscar Trost were named official inspectors to confirm the number of bodies moved; Brayton at North Street and Trost at Lakeside.
Conover’s team moved their first body on May 23, 1901. Brayton reported that 3,752 bodies were moved to Lakeside, but during excavation for the foundation of the armory, another 192 bodies were unearthed and were taken to Lakeside, bringing the total to 3,944. The last body was removed August 2. When Conover submitted bills for his work, county auditor John Neff rejected payment for 204 bodies, totaling $3,060, because the agreement stated that a “body shall constitute a skull and some of the bones” and in some cases skulls were missing or had simply disintegrated. Conover’s attorney, Simon Fleischmann, asked Supreme Court Justice Warren Hooker for an order directing Erie County to pay $11,456.25, the amount Conover claimed was due him. Hooker ruled in favor of Conover and ordered Erie County to pay. And that put the issue to bed—for the time being.
Meanwhile, architect George J. Metzger’s plans for the new 65th Regiment Armory were approved in November 1901. Bidding opened in May 1902, with Mosier & Summers winning the construction contract, and ground was broken on September 20.
Graft and Fallout
In 1903, Charles F. Sturm was elected the new Erie County auditor and immediately began generating headlines. In an attempt to reform the office, he began extensive investigations into various county expenses and practices, even down to the cost of office supplies. With his innate ability to uncover inaccuracies, the discrepancies in the North Street Cemetery expenses would not go unnoticed.
“ARMORY GRAFT LAID BARE,” read the headline of The Buffalo News Extra on November 14, 1905. Sturm’s report presented to the supervisors (with a copy sent to Erie County D.A. Edward F. Coatsworth) flagged six warrants, issued between June 5, 1901, and March 27, 1903, where no vouchers were found in the auditor’s office for payment.
The supervisors themselves made it easy for this graft to occur. In an attempt to facilitate payments for the numerous claims expected for this project, they passed a resolution which, rather than requiring their approval for payment, gave absolute power to the county auditor, the chairman of the board and the clerk of the board to pay all bills connected with the armory project. Conover made his own vouchers and presented them to Neff, who, with the chairman and clerk, endorsed them for payment without any oversight.
In December, the case was turned over to Assistant District Attorney Frank A. Abbott. Expert accountant Martin J. McKenna was retained to review all the evidence of graft and a grand jury issued indictments in January 1906. Former county auditor John Neff was charged with seven counts of grand larceny and three counts of auditing a false claim. Contractor Rowland Conover was charged with seven counts of grand larceny and two counts for presenting false claims.
Conover’s Trial
Conover’s trial began on March 12, 1906, with now-District Attorney Frank A. Abbott prosecuting, and focused on one payment of $7,500 that had been recorded as “sample” in the warrant book. In addition to the testimony from witnesses and accountant McKenna, County Engineer George Diehl reported findings from his November 27 visit to Lakeside; that 168 bodies that should have been identified and interred in separate graves were instead buried in trenches, and a pile of 250 headstones were stacked in a remote part of the cemetery having never been reset. Additionally, most stones that were in the burial area were laid flat and not reset, all these constituted violations of the contract.
In addition, numerous irregularities were reported in the handling—and counting—of bodies. Digger Joseph Reiman reported that if a “bone or two” was found, they would be boxed and counted as a full body as directed by Conover. This was done 200 to 300 times, despite the inspector’s objections to the counts, as a skull was required for remains to be considered a body. Other workers reported similar instances—even tree roots and pieces of caskets were boxed up and counted as a body. One worker testified that Conover told them, “Out of the small bodies you can make more bodies than you can out of the large bodies. Try to make as many bodies as you can.” This was done over 100 times, while Conover frequently gave him money and told him to take the inspectors to a tavern “and keep them there.”
Health Inspector George Fellows witnessed bodies being separated into more than one box about 150 to 200 times. He also reported being offered a $25 bribe by Conover to “keep his eyes and ears closed” but refused it.
On March 20, Conover was found guilty of grand larceny in the first degree and faced a possible 10-year sentence in Auburn Prison. He was released on $10,000 bail. On March 23, the day before he was to be sentenced, his attorney entered secret negotiations and, three days later, he appeared before the grand jury. He would spend the rest of the year testifying against the others who were indicted. In November 1906, his sentence was suspended.
The newspaper headlines on March 28 proclaimed GIBSON AND JACKSON INDICTED. Two former supervisors, Byron D. Gibson of East Aurora and William B. Jackson of Holland, were arrested and charged with grand larceny and bribery, and later for two more counts of receiving bribes. Conover testified that the two men steered his fraudulent requisitions past the county auditor and accompanied him to the county treasurer’s office to receive their money, about a third of what was distributed. Sometimes they forged Conover’s signature, in which cases he received no monies at all. He claimed about 25 people were being paid off and that the “gang” stole about $50,000. Thus, he had to make up more bodies to cover the expense of the payoffs.
In April 1906, a flurry of indictments was handed down by the grand jury. Officials including supervisors, attorneys, clerks, committee chairs and county treasury officers were charged with varying counts of grand larceny and/or bribery. All of these indictments were dismissed.
Former County Auditor John Neff’s trial began in Warsaw on July 16, 1906. After the jury heard from various experts, the trial took a major turn when Rowland Conover testified on July 25. He claimed the scheme to rob Erie County began six or seven months before he was awarded the contract and it was Neff who first approached him. Recounting the entire history of the payments, meetings and conversations, he testified that Neff, Jackson and Gibson required a payment of $6.42 per body in addition to the $15 per body he was to receive, bringing the total to $24.42 per removal. Thus, he padded the number of bodies he reported to make up the difference. In addition, he claimed he was forced to give $5,000 to bribe supervisors so that he would be awarded the contract.
Former Cheektowaga supervisor John H. Stock also testified to meetings where $10,000 was divided and he received a total of $1,500. John Fisher, a former 20th Ward supervisor who was on the Military Committee, testified he was given $100 by Neff. John Neff was found guilty on August 2, 1906, and sentenced to seven years at Auburn Prison. He served only a few days when he was permitted to leave on bail, never to return.
Rowland Conover was again the star witness during the joint trial of supervisors Gibson and Jackson that began in Warsaw on August 18,1906. Both claimed their innocence, but the jury convicted them of grand larceny on the first ballot. Sentenced to five years in prison, both were released on bail due to a technicality and never served a day.
It is disturbing that these criminals, who profited from trafficking in dead mens’ bones, paid no price for their unforgivable breech of public trust. In one of the biggest scandals in Buffalo’s history, the few that were held accountable never served their sentences. The stolen monies were not returned; instead, more monies were spent on trials attempting to bring some sort of unfulfilled justice.
North Street Cemetery, like all cemeteries, was a repository for the stories and contributions of those interred, indeed an embodiment of the history of Buffalo itself. As they rested in peace, the world went on without them; largely forgotten save but for an occasional visit. It was the community’s resistance and outrage over having this sacred place uprooted that led to so many of these stories being repeated, shared, published and remembered.
About the Author
Bonnie Fleischauer holds a BA in Journalism, Broadcasting and Speech Communication from Buffalo State College. She is the chair of the research committee and serves as the public information officer for Historic Concordia Cemetery and the Concordia Foundation, Inc.
