Grief and Contention at the Cemetery
A Walla Walla priest and a mourning brother clashed at the graveside over whether a man who died by suicide could receive a Catholic burial.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A ghastly sensational incident occurred at the Catholic cemetery today at the burial of George Thomas, who recently went insane at Spokane and afterwards was found in the Spokane river. Father Flohr, of the Catholic church, refused to perform the funeral services, because he held that Thomas committed suicide and had forfeited his rights in the church by failure to perform Easter duties for several years prior to death. He permitted the remains to be buried in the Catholic cemetery on condition that no religious services would be held there. Upon arrival of the procession at the cemetery today, Father Flohr was found at the grave. He forbade interment to proceed, and seizing a shovel started to fill up the grave. Joseph Thomas, a brother of the deceased, stepped forward and a struggle ensued. He took the shovel from the priest and attempted to push the father into the open grave, insisting that the brother should be buried there in the family plot. Friends of the family finally prevailed on the priest to let the burial proceed under protest.
“Father Flohr and the brother of the deceased, standing on upturned clods, surrounded by sobbing mourners and friends, formed a tableaux never to be forgotten.”
This clash reflects the intense social and religious pressures regarding mental health and suicide in the late 19th century. While modern cemeteries have become more inclusive, the tension between institutional dogma and family mourning remains a recognizable human struggle.
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