Mrs. Maria Melms
I thought I would start a strange and unusual section, depicting strange and unusual burials, deaths, requests etc.
First one is Mrs. Melms.
Lima News (Lima, Ohio) 1899 December 14
Mail Bag used as Hearse
Ashes of a Milwaukee Woman are sent home from Germany by Way of the Mails.
So far as known, for the first time the United States mails have been used as a hearse. There was received at the post office at Milwaukee, the other day, a box which came from Heidelberg, Germany, and which contained the ashes of Mrs. Maria Melms, wife of the former Milwaukee brewer Charles T. Melms.
This box was about 13 inches long and seven inches wide and deep, was of wood and metal lined. It was addressed to Fred Strassau, superintendent of the William Becker Leather company, who was a son-in-law of Mrs. Melms.
This strange funeral procession only costs 86 cents for carriage. There was 50 cents worth of postage stamps pasted on the box and 36 more was charged at Milwaukee for overweight. The box was marked “Menschen asche,” human ashes, and “of no value.”
After the customs officials had ascertained that the box contained nothing dutiable it ws turned over to Undertaker Schweitzer, and will be placed without ceremony in the Melms family vault, the funeral having occurred in Germany.
Mrs. Melms was one of the oldest residents of Milwaukee. She came to Milwaukee in 1838, and resided here until a year ago. She went to Weisbaden, Germany, on account of failing health, being accompanied by her daughter Bertha. It was her last request that the remains be placed besides those of her husband in the Milwaukee cemetery, and after they were cremated at Heidelberg the ashes were forwarded in this strange fashion.