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EXPLODING BILLIARD BALLS LEAD TO CELLULOID MOVIE FILM:
TEEN-AGE VICTIM OF 1880 NEWARD FIRE JOINS OTHER “GHOSTS OF THE PAST” TO TELL STORY AT TOUR OF HISTORIC CEMETERY
The overlooked story of 16-year-old Elmer Ellsworth Bogart, killed along with other juvenile workers in a tragic industrial accident at a Newark celluloid factory more than a century ago, is connected to a web of events leading to the plastics industry of the 20th century. Bogart’s “ghost” will come to life at his burial site as part of the “Ghosts of the Past” Cemetery Tours, scheduled for the weekend of October7-8at Rahway Cemetery, adjacent to the Merchants and Drovers Tavern.
The self-guided tours, sponsored by the Merchants and Drovers Tavern Museum Association, will feature the “ghosts” of 17 people, buried in the cemetery, whose stories help to interpret New Jersey history from the early 1700s to the mid 1900s. The tour is also designed to provide a better understanding of early attitudes toward death and the funeral practices of the colonial and Victorian periods.
“The ghosts, portrayed by costumed re-enactors, will range from the famous to the obscure,” said William Rack, museum association president. “Abraham Clark, signer of the Declaration of Independence, will be joined by a 1916 Boy Scout who, along with his scout leader, met his fate on a Delaware River camping trip; a Civil War soldier who died from wounds suffered at Gettysburg; an African-American town crier, buried in a plot devoted to veterans of the United States Colored Troops; a World War II casualty; and an early New York City commuter, who was a partner in a 19th century sugar refining and importing firm.”
Other ghosts include wallpaper and carriage manufacturers, early tavern keepers, a firebrand clergyman of the Revolutionary War, the 1860s founder of a free public library, a clockmaker and a nationally famous sculptor. The tour also includes the unknown woman, whose murder in the late 19th century attracted much attention. On hand to tell visitors about the case will be former police chief William Tooker.
Rahway Cemetery, originally an 18th century Presbyterian church graveyard, was expanded during the Victorian “rural” cemetery movement to include winding, tree-lined lanes. Some of its earliest gravestones, many of which have interesting epitaphs, were carved by John Frazee. Although raised in Rahway, Frazee’s likenesses of statesmen grace the halls of the United States Capitol.
Throughout the cemetery, additional graves will be marked with descriptive placards. Of note are the grave of Ambo, a 100-year-old former slave; John Lawrence, a Londoner who was witness to the French and Indian
War; Revolutionary War soldiers; and Civil War soldiers, including Daniel Brower, a Civil War drummer boy, who was surprised when President Lincoln visited his regiment’s camp.
“Painstaking research has gone into the development of this year’s tour program,” said David Walker, Museum Manager of the Merchants and Drovers Tavern Museum Association, the non-profit organization that owns the tavern. “Each visitor will receive a descriptive tour guide that will provide historical background and a tour map.”
The program will also include a tour of the circa 1795/1820 Merchants and Drovers Tavern, a 25-room hotel that stands adjacent to the cemetery. Visitors will be treated to refreshments in the authentically furnished taproom. The museum shop, housed in the 18th century Terrill Tavern, will be open on both days. The shop has been restocked with a variety of craft, souvenir and holiday gift items.
Proceeds of “Ghosts of the Past,” an annual event, will benefit the museum, which is the recipient of a General Operating Support Grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a Division of the Department of State. Income from the tour and other special events help to provide the match for the grant.
Tours will begin at 15-minute intervals, starting at 1 p.m. on both days. The last tour leaves the tavern at 4:30 on Saturday and at 4:00 on Sunday. Accommodations can be made for school and scout troops. For information, please call (732) 381-0441. The museum, located at 1632 St. Georges Avenue, is easily accessible from exit 135 of the Garden State Parkway and from the Grand Avenue exit of U.S. Route 1.