Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-08-30
FROM a GRAVEYARD.
interesting letter from Knoxville.

KNOXVILLE, Aug. q, 1671.-Wan-
dering through an old grave yard in
Knoxville, 1 found the burial place Of
the first great statesman of Tennes-
see. Side by side near the doorway
of the first Presbyterian church, the
Oldest in Knoxville, rest the mortal
remains of the first Territorial Gov
ernor and first United States Senator
from Tennessee. On a time-Worn
marble slab is the inscription:
civilian BLoUNT,
DIED MARCH DIST, 1900, IN THE 53RD
YEAR OF HIS AGE"
Another plain marble slab tells us
that his wife, Mary 3. BlOunt, died
in 1902 in the 41st year Of her age.
Hard by these grave stones is the
burial place of Hugh Lawson White,
more honOred and beloved in his day
than any son OF Tennessee. A white
marble head stone, perhaps forty by
sixty inches in width and hight, con-
tains the inscription:
ITO THE MEMORY OF
HUGH L. WHITE, THE JUST.
BORN OCT. 18th, 1913, AND DEPART
ED THIS LIFE APRIL 10, 1910.
"Composed in suffering, in joy sedate,
Good without noise, without pretension
great,
True 10 his word, in every thought sin
cere,
He knew no wish but what the world
might hear.
"This humble tribute OF devOted affec-
ton and deep regret is deposited
by his bereaved wife,
On another headstone precisely like
that with the legend above copied,
there Is another curious inscription,
reciting the virtues of Elizabeth Car
rick, the first wife of Senator White,
who died at Natural Bridge, in Vir-
ginia, March 18th, 1881. These stones
were placed here, l believe, by Judge
Whites second wife, Nee JeudOn, of
Philadelphia.
Some years ago, the old church
building erected by Mr.. James White,
the father of the Senator, was torn
down, and a larger erected on its site.
The extension OF the building rem
dered il necessary to inclOse within
its walls the graves of General
James White, the father of IL. L.
White, and of United States Senator
Williams. A doorway and window
were left to give light and access to
these gravestoneS, but, shamefully
enough, the window has been closed
by rough boards and the door nailed
to the wall, and the dark cellar Is
filed with lumber and rubbish. In
such a prison-hole sleeps the founder
of Knoxville and OF the church, and
there, too, his wife and children, and
hard by Judge Williams and his wife.
They were once the leading thinkers
of Tennessee, and to one Of them
is indebted for public
squares, and for the most pleasing |
incident to local history.
The Pope of PreSbyterianism, if there
be q head to this church, should issue
3 bull of accommodation against
this iconocIastic institution at Knox
vile.
A marble shaft in the same shame
July neglected graveyard, overgrOWn
Is it is with weeds and briars, rises
above the grave of Abner Baker, a
)nce pale, sickly ext Confederate SOL
iieT, who killed a stalWart UniOnist
n 1865. The latter was in the act of
Baker, and was shot
by Baker through the head. Baker
instantly surrendered himself,
md was committed by the sheriff to
That night he was taken by
/ mob from the jail, and hanged.
This monument to his memory was
by the young men of Knox
vile. 1t tells US that Baker twas a
to manliness," that his
leath was an honor to himself and an
everlasting disgrace to his enemies"
1t signifies little what becomes of
body after death, but we should
sither be burned like the ancient
Greeks, or a decent respect for the viz
ues of the good and great demands
hat their last resting-place should not
Ie abandoned to wild vegetation.
What value would youths of Knox.
lille attach to the fame and virtues
If distinguished men, whose names
ippear on every page of the early an
lals of Tennessee, if the children and
urvivOrs of the immortal few thus
the spot in which repOse the
Mortal remains of jurists, statesmen
nd Christian philosophers. It is a
Oul wrong to the memory of the il
ustrious dead and a crime against
uT own civilization.
URIOUS CHAPTER IN TRADITIONAL
HISTORY.
Yesterday one Of the impoverished