The petition, answers, and cross-petitions in the Gaver suit contain much interesting history of the graveyard, as seen from the viewpoint of the various parties (pertinent statements from which have been used in writing this history). The CS&C Railroad statements of course were designed to throw the graveyard in the worst possible light in order to defend their right to the appropriated property and to prevent being forced to pay further money to satisfy the lot owners. The railroad claimed that the lot owners' "right of easement" had ended when the ordinance of 1864 had prohibited further burials and that "the premises have for a long time been suffered to go to waste, and destruction, and for years have been totally unfit, insecure, and unsuitable for a place of repose for the dead, and subject to depredation, nuisance, and destruction from their exposed position in the midst of an active and growing part of the City." The city's answer was directed toward ensuring that its ownership in fee of the land was recognized and that the lot owners' claims would not substantially reduce its net realization from the railroad's appropriation.

When the case was first heard in February of 1872, the court appointed John Graham as Master Commissioner to report on the ownership and occupancy of all of the lots in the Doherty tract. In April he filed his report, of which no copies seem to exist now, and was ordered to obtain lots in Greenlawn Cemetery of like size to those still occupied in the one hundred foot strip and to have the remains moved there.⁴⁶

The work of removing the remains from the three tiers of lots appropriated by the railroad was taken up on April 15, 1872 under the direction of Mr. Breyfogle.⁴⁷ The Ohio State Journal remarked, "From what we know of those having charge of the work we have no doubt it will be done in a humane and Christian manner, but it might be well for those having friends or relatives buried within the limits named who have any special directions to give as to re-interments or pointing out graves of friends to attend." The remains were placed in boxes, on which were marked the numbers of the lots, the names of the owners of the lots, and where there were tombstones to indicate the names of the persons buried. The old sexton, James McDonald, also helped in the work:

In many instances there is nothing to indicate the resting place of the sleepers, save a slight depression in the surface, and these are not always found to be correct signs of the sexton's work. Mr. McDonald, the old sexton, who commenced his labors in 1844, is an invaluable aid in pointing out the precise location of graves since the date at which he began to "shovel them in," besides giving correct information as to many who were previously buried, even where no monument marks the grave.

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