Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2025 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== The Kalamazoo Gazette Sunday, 5 October 1913 FIND FRESH MOUNDS IN OLD GRAVE YARD Bodies of Two Small Babes Are Buried in Shallow Sand No Death Certificates Issued Undertaker Admits Placing Corpses in Obscure Graves in Abandoned Cemetery Near Bay City; Authorities Will Conduct Investigation Bay City, Mich., Oct. 4 - The mystery surrounding the finding Tuesday of the bodies of two babies, hidden under a few inches of dirt in the old "Disbrow Cemetery," where only Disbrow's body was thought to have been buried, was cleared somewhat today by the admission to Prosecuting Attorney Smith of George W. Atkins, a Vassar undertaker, that he had buried two infants on the farm. No death certificates had been filed in either case, he said. The Disbrow farm is located three miles east of Vassar. It was once owned by a farmer named Disbrow, who directed that his body be buried there after his death. Since that time it has always been called "Disbrow Cemetery." A monument hidden away from pub- lic view by a thick growth of brush and trees marks the place where the farmer is buried. Finds Two Graves. Tuesday the present owner of the place was cross- ing the land when he noticed two mounds of sand. Forcing a stick into them he felt a solid object. He notified the coroner and deputy sheriff and later the caskets were removed. One was buried at a depth of 8 1/2 inches and the other only six inches below the surface. One contained the body of a boy apparently about a month old, the other that of a girl who died soon after birth. According to the statement made by Atkins to the prosecutor, the babies were those of a Russian family in Denmark township, Tuscola county, and were buried on the Disbrow farm because the parents could not afford to buy a lot in the cemetery. Atkins said the father came to him and had only $10 for each burial. The he was (sic) not sufficient to buy a lot and the Russian finally allowed his children to be buried without a death certificate being filed. Will Investigate. Prosecuting Attorney Smith is not satisfied that the two bodies found are the only ones that have been buried in the past years on the Disbrow farm and tonight said that he will conduct a further investigation. Whether or not a warrant for the arrest of Atkins will be issued has not been determined. Atkins, it is said, has promised to file death certificates in both cases at once. ===========================================================================