Terre Haute - A history and a guide
This is my history and guide to my adopted home - Terre Haute, Indiana.
Old Postcards - 27
More postcards from my collection...
Highland Lawn Cemetery Gate
This postcard, stamped on October 20th, but with an unreadable year, has the printed text...
Pub. by Bundy, Terre haute, Ind.
Indpls. Eng.g - I think this may stand for Indianapolis Engraving ?
Highland Lawn Cemetery Entrance
This unused postcard has the printed text...
27866N
E.C. Kropp Co., Milwaukee
Highland Lawn Cemetery Entrance
This unused postcard has the printed text...
A-16070
Made expressly for S. H. Knox & Co.
Made in U.S.A.
Another copy of this postcard I have is post marked August 29th, 1912.
Highland Lawn Cemetery Entrance
This unused postcard has the printed text...
Published by E. L. Godecke, Terre Haute, Ind.
Printed in Great Britain
Highland Lawn Cemetery Entrance
This unused postcard has the printed text...
Photoette
Made by C. U. Williams, Bloomington, Illinois
The next postcard is a colorized version of the one above...
Highland Lawn Cemetery Entrance
This postcard, stamped in Terre Haute on 9th June 1909, has the text...
Made expressly for S. H. Knox & Co.
Printed in Germany
Highland Lawn Cemetery Entrance
This postcard, stamped in Terre Haute on 2nd July 1920, has no other text.
Highland Lawn Cemetery Chapel
This unused postcard has just the printed text - 8915
Highland Lawn Cemetery Chapel
This unused postcard has just the printed text - W and A-9960
I've another copy of this postcard which was stamped in Terre Haute on 25th March 1914.
Stone Bridge, Highland Lawn Cemetery
This unused postcard has the printed text...
13559
Levin Bros.
Stone bridge, Highland Lawn Cemetery
This postcard, posted in Kansas, Illinois in November 1909, has the printed text...
Made expressly for S. H. Knox & Co.
Printed in Germany
The original city cemetery was Woodlawn Cemetery but when that looked like reaching capacity the city purchased 138 acres of land, including Jenckes farm, to the east of the city in 1884. The chapel was designed by Josse A. Vrydagh and built in 1893 at a cost of $10,000 in the Richardsonian Romanesque style which was popular at the time. The chapel was renovated 1987/88 at a cost of $65,000. The limestone tower and arch at the entrance to Highland Lawn Cemetery were built in 1894 and renovated in 1990. The bridge is one of the oldest surviving structures, designed by Joseph Ernshaw it was built in 1884.
Highland Lawn Cemetery has some interesting, if gruesome residents. It is the resting place of the triple-victims of 1914's Brazilian Gypsy Murders
On May 4, 1914, Demetro John, a 55-year old gypsy tribal chief from South America, killed his common law wife, father-in-law and brother-in-law at an encampment on the National Road at the west edge of West Terre Haute. The triple murder gained considerable notoriety. The accused eventually was tried, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
According to unconfirmed reports, Demetro John was released after a few months in prison and deported to Brazil, his native country. During the trial, John contended he was acting in self defense. However, the evidence was overwhelming that he first shot his 24-year-old brother-in-law Joe Riska with a high-powered rifle at the doorway of their tent. Then he fired the rifle several times into the body of his 55-year old father-in-law, Riska Gurick, while the victim was in his bed. Finally, he bludgeoned and shot Socca Riska, his 40-year-old wife.
According to newspaper accounts, a group of gypsy campers had consumed six half-barrels of beer on Sunday, May 3. For three days after the slayings, gypsies from throughout the Midwest swarmed into Vigo County to mourn. Steve Miller, international tribal chief from Peoria, Illinois, presided over elaborate funeral services May 7 at the P. J. Ryan Funeral Home at Sixth and Walnut streets.
At Highland Lawn Cemetery, gypsies encircled the three contiguous gravesites on the east side of the main drive with smoking balls of incense. The coffins were lowered into the ground slowly amid the rising smoke. During graveside services, women sang and sobbed in dialect while beating their breasts. After the coffins were sprinkled with soil, bottles of wine were broken and the contents were poured over each coffin in the form of a cross.
In the months after John's trial, the gypsy murders received scant attention. Then, about 40 years ago, a gypsy tribal chief from Lubbock, Texas, who said he was the son of Demetro John, visited the red granite markers which identify the three graves and made inquiry about the murders. Since Tom John's visit in 1963, gypsies periodically make unannounced pilgrimages to the cemetery to visit their brethren's graves.
Chief Bearfoot, a performer in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show is also buried in the cemetery. Chief Bearfoot was born March 1st, 1888. He married a woman named Virgie. He resided on Poplar Street in Terre Haute. He died January 5th, 1936 in Marion, Ohio. There's more about him at the Fairlawn Cemetery site.
Someone else resting at Highland Lawn Cemetery is John G. Heinhl who died in 1921. His dog, Stiffy Green is probably more famous. See Ghosts.
Sources :-
Highland Lawn and Woodlawn Cemeteries
Historical Perspective - Tribune Star
This page created 2nd March 2008, last modified 10th May 2008