1864-5.] 
CITY DOCUMENT. 
[No. 10. 
THE CITY OF PROVIDENCE. 
AN ORDINANCE IN RELATION TO THE REGISTRATION OF 
DEATHS AND THE INTERMENT OF THE DEAD. 
[Passed August 8,1864.] 
It is ordained by the City Council of the City of Providence, 
as follows :- 
Section 1. There shall be appointed by the City Council 
a sufficient number of persons to act as undertakers, removable 
at the pleasure of the City Council. 
Sec. 2. Whenever any person shall die in this city, it shall 
be the duty of the physician attending in his or her last sick- 
ness, upon application, to furnish to the undertaker attending 
the funeral, or to the City Registrar, a certificate, giving the 
name of the person, date of death, and the disease or cause of 
his or her death. 
Sec. 3. Every physician omitting or refusing to furnish 
such certificate as aforesaid, shall forfeit and pay the sum of 
five dollars for each offence. 
Sec. 4. No person shall bury, or place in a tomb, or re- 
move from the city, or otherwise dispose of the body of any 
human being who shall die in the city, without first reporting 2 
ORDINANCE. 
the death to the City Registrar, and obtaining a permit from 
him, under a penalty of not less than five dollars nor more than 
twenty dollars for each and every offence. 
Sec. 5. No permit shall be given, as provided in section 
four, until the City Registrar is furnished with the informa- 
tion in relation to the deceased person, required by the laws of 
the State for record, so far as the same can be ascertained, 
together with the physician's certificate of the cause of death, 
whenever a physician has been in attendance, or a coroner's 
certificate, whenever a coroner's inquest has been held. 
Whenever a permit for burial is applied for, in a case of 
death without the attendance of a physician, or if it is impossi- 
ble to obtain the physician's certificate, it shall be the duty of 
the City Registrar to investigate the case so far as may be 
necessary, and when he has obtained satisfactory evidence in 
relation to the cause and circumstances of the death, he shall 
sign the certificate and give the required permit. If not satis- 
fied in relation to the cause and circumstances of the death, or 
if, in his opinion, the public good requires it, he shall report 
the case to a coroner for investigation. 
Sec. 6. Whenever the body of a human being who has 
died out of the city, shall be brought here for burial, it shall be 
the duty of the undertaker, or other person attending the 
funeral, to furnish the report required in sections four and 
five, with the exception of the physician's certificate, and 
in case of neglect or failure so to do, such person shall forfeit 
and pay not less than five dollars nor more than twenty dollars 
for each and every offence. 
Sec. 7. All funerals shall take place between sunrise and 
sunset, unless otherwise permitted or directed by the Board of 
Health. The top of every coffin deposited in the ground shall 
be at least three feet below the usual surface thereof. 
Sec. 8. The City Registrar shall cause an abstract of the 
returns of death made to him to be published in all the news- 
papers which contract to do the city printing, monthly, and 
oftener if required by the Board of Health. He shall also, on 
or before the first day of April, annually, prepare and present ORDINANCE. 
3 
to the City Council a statement of the number of births, of 
marriages solemnized, and of deaths which occurred in the city 
during the year ending with the thirty-first day of December 
next preceding, with such other information and suggestions in 
relation thereto as he may deem useful for the promotion of the 
public health, and other interests of the city. 
Sec. 9. No undertaker or other person shall bury or cause 
to be buried the body of any deceased person in this city, ex- 
cept in such grounds as are now known and used as burying 
grounds, or such as shall hereafter be, by the City Council, 
designated as burying grounds, and authorized to be used as 
such ; and every person violating this section of this ordinance 
shall forfeit and pay a sum of not less, than five dollars nor 
more than twenty dollars for each offence. 
Sec. 10. The ordinance passed in December, 1855, entitled 
" An ordinance in relation to undertakers and the interment of 
the dead," and all other ordinances and parts of ordinances 
inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. 
A true copy-witness : 
SAMUEL W. BROWN, City Clerk.