Sing Sing Execution: Death Certificate & Burial---An Ongoing Mystery!

[Marilyn Robinson marilyn4622r@msn.com]

X-No-archive: yes
Several times over the last 1.5 years, I have written about my cousin's
grandfather, who was executed in Sing Sing Prison, June 1918. We were trying to
ascertain where Hyman was buried. We finally received a death certificate copy from
Albany this week, indicating that he was buried in Mt. Carmel Cemetery in New York,
on June 17, 1918.

However, the mystery continues to grow!! Mt. Carmel has no record of Hyman
Ostransky's burial!! Is it possible that Hyman was cremated, even though it is
against Jewish religious practice? Who would have cremation records? Could he have
been buried under an assumed name? I wonder if the cemetery can do a search by
date? Does anyone have any other suggestions about where to search or what to do
next?

Regards,

Marilyn Robinson
Florida

MODERATOR NOTE: Any discussion about Jewish religious practices should be sent
directly to Marilyn as this is outside the score of this forum.
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[Barbara S Mannlein bsmannlein@comcast.net]

X-No-archive: yes
Using the Mt Carmel search site
(http://www.mountcarmelcemetery.com/search) I checked for OSTRANSKY, OSHANSKY, to
no avail. I even checked just OSH, OST as surnames. I checked just by first name
Hyman also without results. I even did a search by year only.

BTW, that site covers both Mt Carmel and New Mount Carmel.

I saw several names with the world (remains) after them, so it seems that Mt Carmel
accepted cremations.

Have you called the cemetery or just relied on the on-line search site? It's online
records are not completed.

Barbara Mannlein
Tucson, AZ

Marilyn Robinson marily...@msn.com

> We were trying to ascertain where Hyman was buried. We finally received a death
> certificate copy from Albany this week, indicating that he was buried in Mt.
> Carmel Cemetery in New York, on June 17, 1918. However, the mystery continues to
> grow!! Mt. Carmel has no record of Hyman Ostransky's burial!!

[Ann Rabinowitz arabinow@bellsouth.net]

X-No-archive: yes
There are a number of resources for locating information on ancestors who were with
in the prison systems in the United States and those that were executed. Ron Arons
has written extensively about this including a book about "The Jews of Sing Sing".
He even has a search engine to locate prisoners and two results were for a Max and
Hyman Ostransky:
http://www.ronarons.com/inmates/?soundex=&search=ostransky.

The following are briefly some other resources which may help Marilyn Robinson
locate information about a cousin's grandfather, Hyman Ostransky, who was one of
three inmates executed on June 13, 1918. He was buried on June 17, 1918 according
the record Marilyn obtained, but Mt. Carmel Cemetery did not have a record of the
burial. In some cases, prisoners may have been buried in an unmarked or pauper's
grave or a number were buried in the Sing Sing Prison Cemetery.

New York State Archives, Prison and Reformatory Records,
Prison & Reformatory Records | New York State Archives

John Jay Library, Lewis Lawes Papers, digitized photos of death row inmates
http://guides.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/c.php?g=288375&p=1922774

John Jay Library, Crime in New York, details of trial
https://www.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/crimeinny/

Ossining Historical Society, 196 Croton Avenue, Ossining, NY 10562
Booklet listing 614 electricutions at Sing Sing, 1891-1963

Death Penalty Cases in New York, Hyman Ostransky
http://www.insideprison.com/death_penalty_profiles.asp?ID=8159

Mt. Carmel Cemetery Database, can be searched by date
http://www.mountcarmelcemetery.com/

There are many other resources which include databases for researching ancestors
who were incarcerated much later and there is even a One Step Database for finding
prisoners by Stephen Morse.

Ann Rabinowitz
arab...@bellsouth.net