It has been about 31 years since Gus prepared his first grave in the K. of P. cemetery. Many have been the experiences which have come under his observation during these 28 years. He has prepared graves for Thos. Lang, Sr., Dubart Long, F. P. Graves and his son Dr. J. B. Graves, "Uncle" Harvey Haile, who died at the age of one hundred, has been the oldest person to be buried by him. Then there have been bodies of babies only a day or two old. Upon one occasion Gus dug a grave fifteen feet wide in which were placed the bodies of six persons, the entire Price family, of near Coffman. He has taken bodies out of the ground after being buried for 35 years so they may be moved to another plot. The remains of I. G. Beal, which were first placed on the lot of the Marbury Homestead, were taken up after a period of 28 years to be removed to the Masonic cemetery. Since the body had been securely placed in a steel vault with a glass top there was little change to be noticed from the day the body had been first buried.

A group of gypsies, while traveling through here some years ago, lost their little girl and Gus prepared the grave in the Parkview Cemetery. A tombstone placed here contains the sculptured form of a child's pair of shoes, one setting in an upright position while the other has been placed as though it had been turned over. Gus says these gypsies come through frequently and upon each occasion they place small articles, including different kinds of glass and shells, upon this grave.

Possibly the most unusual grave that Gus has ever dug was for the burial of a live man. This grave was on the lot now occupied by the Post Office building. It was about eight or nine years ago that the Ritz Theatre advertised that a man would be buried alive and it became the duty of Gus to do the digging. A large crowd gathered for the occasion: the grave was prepared: the live man walked into the wooden coffin: Gus helped to screw the top on; placed the box in the ground and covered it up. After 55 minutes it was uncovered and taken to the Theatre where the screws were removed from the box and the man inside walked out as fresh as when he had first been placed in the ground. Gus made $10.00 out of this new experience.

Gus does not feel that he is very superstitious but digging graves in a lonely cemetery at midnight when all is still "gets a man to thinkin'," and sometimes he hears noises. Upon one occasion he was preparing a grave in the Masonic Cemetery on Sunday morning about 3 o'clock and he saw something white moving back and forth behind two trees. This looked mighty queer to Gus and unable to stand it any longer, he had just laid down his shovel with the intention of finishing the digging later in the day. About this time the object came toward him and it proved to be an old man with long white beard who had come to the cemetery the night before and was intoxicated. He had just begun to move about when Gus saw him.

Source: newspaper clipping dated Sept. 11, 1936. From the Obituary Collection at the Farmington Public Library, St. Francois Co. MO.

DUG 1,233 GRAVES PAST TWENTY THREE YEARS