The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-02-06
Correspondence ef The Nescark Daily advertiser ]
The Graves OF the Regicidcs.

NEw HAYES, Jan. ls, 1850.
| In the letter which appeared in the Daily few
weeks since respecting the DiztoA Monument, re-
Gently erected at New Haven, the opinion was ex-
pressed that the mortal remains Of Gofeand Whai-
lev reposc with those of DirpeH in the old burying
ground in the Of the Centre church. A writer
In the Boston Daily Adpotse, signing himself
" Hstoricus yeridicus,' in speaking Of that COM
munication says:
" The citizens of New Haven are better acquaint-
ed with the truth. Gofie's monument, he calls
cd to mark the resting place Of Deputy Governor
Maffhetc Gilbert, by the initials NJ G., and the
figures so, indicating the year Of his death. While
the other simple frcestone slab two feet square,
with date 1863, placed over the body Of Ed
.card Wiggles,oorh. who died October /, of that
year"
In reply TO these structures which are made, TO
cay the least, with extraordinary degree Of as
surance, il will be necessary only 10 make the fol-
lowing brief statement: Within ten feet Of the
monument erected over the remains Of Colonel
Dixwell are two graves ; one Of these ia marked by
NJ ' C. 's snd l the fI figure. * he other @ grave % Is
marked both at the head and the foot by slab two
feet high, bearing the initials r. w and the figures
1868 or l67S-it IL difficult TO decide certainly
which. The part Of the public square in which
these graves are found was formerly the burial
place Of New Haven. In 1921 the monuments in
this ground were removed TO the new cemetery
purchased and arranged by the late Hon. James
Hillhouse, in the northwest part Of the city. For
some reason or other, these 6ires graces-viz Dix
wclPs and the two others Just dcscribcd-werc not
disturbed. All the other stones, with tho excep-
ton Of few which are yet standing under the Gen.
trail church, were taken away and set up in the
new cemetery. This Of itself is pretty clear evil
dcncc that "the citizens Of New Haven" thought,
in 1921, that these graves migM BE-, and Iuo6abiy
rere, the graves Of the three regicides. Iftwo OF
them were the graves Of Matthew Gilbert and Ed
ward Wiggcsworth, why were their monuments,
and theirs alone, left 10 stand with that Of Colonel
Dixwell,
But there is something more TO be said this
subject. DIR. Ezra Stiles, President of Yale Col
ege, took the pains TO examine carefully into this
subject, and he has recorded the result OF his in
yestigations in his olives of the Judges, published
in 1894.
DR.. Stiles was Of the opinion that GofIe and
whalley both Of them died at Hadley, Massacbu-
setts, where they concealed during several OF
the last years Of their lives, and that they were
subsequently brought 10 New Haven, and inferred
secretly by the side Of their distinguishcd friend
Dixwell. In reference TO the statement that the E.
w. stone was erected for Edward Wigglesworth,
DR. Stiles says that Edward Wigglesworth died
in 1854" whereas the stone bears the figures 1858
or l67s-a circumstance which, TO his mind, was
conclusive evidence that IL was never intended to
mark the grave Of Edward wigglesworth. He
found also by consulting tho record OF deaths which
II SCENE has always been carefully kept by the
city authorities, that emo person died in New Ha-
ven either in 1853 or 1913. the initials Of whose
names were f. Wand this he INSERTS, strongly
'favors the idea that the occupant Of that grave
was brought there for intcrment from abroad"
In reference TO the other stone, bearing tho ini-
tisls M g., DR.. Stiles says ''the contemplate and
despcable appearance Of the stone is against the
idea Of it's being intended for Matthew Gilbert II
will ever be difficult 10 persuade New Haven man
and especially one Of the family OF Gilbert, that
small and insignificant stone was put up at the
grave Of NO honorable an ancestor, aud 80 distin-
guished pcrson in civil life as Governor Gilbert