NEWSPAPER TIDBIT: Burial Plot Mix-Up At North Salem Cemetery (1936)

An item found in The Republican (Danville, Indiana) - issue of Thursday, January 16, 1936 - page 1, column 2:

TWO GRAVES OPENED WHEN NUMBERS ARE DUPLICATED
Two cemetery lots, both being numbered ninety-eight caused no little confusion at the North Salem cemetery, Sunday, when Scott Plasters and A.E. Alexander dug a grave on the wrong lot.

Dr. Charles Trotter, who is secretary of the [Fairview] cemetery, received word of the death of Mrs. Scott Smith at Wilkinson, Ind. He found their lot number was ninety-eight and Plasters and Alexander dug the grave there.

When the funeral cortege arrived, a relative of the Smith family looked for a marker of a Miss Nora Smith who died in 1909. Not finding it, an investigation was made and they found two lots with the same number. The mistake was rectified to the satisfaction of the family.

The Smith family lived near New Winchester twenty-five years ago and had difficulty in making anyone remember them.

[NOTE: According to Plainfield library's Hendricks County cemeteries index, Mrs. Scott Smith may be Love Smith (1866-1936), and the Miss Nora Smith who died in 1909 may be Nora Bell Smith (1885-1909).]