Controversy over the Relocation of the Merano Cemetery and Allegations against Mayor Haller

Extraordinary supplement to the Tiroler Bote No. 28.

Meran, 29 Jan. The new year brought not a little chagrin, indeed deep indignation, to many well-meaning citizens of Meran, because they were guilelessly and unwittingly misused as an instrument for a great injustice inflicted upon their well-deserving and esteemed Mr. Mayor Haller. The occasion for this was the relocation of the graveyard beyond the Passer bridge into the vicinity of the hospital, ordered by the government partly for sanitary reasons and partly due to lack of space. The necessity of this relocation was not entirely evident to many inhabitants of Meran; furthermore, they feared excessive costs as a new debt burden for the town; finally, not a few were concerned that, due to the great distance, the number of those accompanying the funeral processions in prayer might significantly decline. This mood was exploited against Mr. Haller by a man to whose credit it certainly cannot be attributed that no unrest has hitherto occurred in Meran, and who is likewise not famous for his piety. In his love for peace and order, in his heartfelt devotion, this man suddenly melted with pity for the poor souls who were supposedly no longer to receive holy water or prayers. Moreover, in his zeal for the welfare of the town, he knew how to place the expenditure for the new graveyard in the proper light, which is to say, to exaggerate it significantly. He then set about drafting a petition for the retention of the old cemetery, which was subsequently signed by a great many worthy inhabitants of the town, as it appeared innocuous and contained only the reasons stated above. But what the scheming man then sent along as an accompaniment contained something else, and of a very foul nature, of which the good people of Meran who had walked into the trap knew nothing: namely, a complaint full of venomous, unjust accusations against the revered Mr. Mayor. To the deeply aggrieved mayor, they now wish to offer public redress through these lines, while justifying themselves before him as having been shamefully deceived. There was no accusation against him in what they had signed.

For Mr. Haller, moreover, it can only redound to his honour that such a man as his accuser sought to disparage him by such unworthy means; yet it pains the well-meaning inhabitants of Meran who signed that petition to have been so despicably exploited. For radical agitation, our pleasant little town is not yet suitable ground.