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Monday, 19 July 1886 The Atlanta Constitution A Brutal Outlaw The meanest boycott on record occurred a few days ago in New York. Funeral expenses in that city have reached such an unreasonable figure that poor people have found it difficult to bury their dead decently. For some time past there has been a general demand for greater simplicity and economy, and the undertakers have found some of their patrons very stubborn. Last week an undertaker who was employed to make the necessary arrangements for a burial, was unable to persuade the widow to submit to his exactions. Having exhausted his argumentative powers, he cooly unpacked the body from the coffin, laid it on a table and walked off. He then made it his business to institute a boycott against the dead man, and notified his brother undertakers to have nothing to do with the funeral. Fortunately the widow succeeded in finding a kind-hearted man who saw to the proper interment of the deceased, but he stood in such terror of the Undertakers' association that he worked on the sly, and under an assumed name. With all his precautions, his part in the affair leaked out, and a boycott has been declared against him and those dealing with him. If no legal remedy existed it is not likely that the people of New York would long submit to such high-handed outrages. But the courts have at last shown a determination to throttle these unlawful combinations, and the conspirators engaged in them will in future find their way to the penitentary. A little wholesome legal restraint will save a good deal of trouble. It is better to stretch the law a little than to force people to lynch the swindlers who conspire against the dead and against widows and orphans. |