The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-09-05
ANOTHER HISTORICAL MYSTERY.

To those countless thousands who fol
half century past have stood in West
minister Abbey before the mural monu-
ment erected to the memory of Major
Andre and shed tears over his remains,
which, it has been supposed since 1921,
rested beneath the stone, now comes the
startling statement that the present where
abouts of Major Andres remains are EN-
tirely unknown. In 1921 grave was
found near where the gallows stood on
which he was hung, and the remains
therein found, supposed to be those of the
unfortunate officer, were removed, by re-
quest of the English Government, to West
minister Abbey and inferred under the
monument long before erected to his
memory.
Now Mr.. Stevens, in his September
number of the magazine of American
History, almost, if not quite, destroys
the belief that these remains, with so
much ceremony removed to England in
1921, were the remains of Major Andre.
Mr.. Stevens has brought to light per-
sonal narrative of one Lieutenant John
Shreve, of the Continental Army, which,
if true, settles the question negatively.
Lieutenant Shreve was the son of Colo
mel Shreve, of the Second New Jersey
regiment, who had command of the
detachment which formed square
around the gallows to keep off the crowd,
and he, the Lieutenant stood near by
and witnessed the whole proceedings.
He gives the following very minute
and thrilling account of the execution
and of the subsequent disposal of the
body: "There was wagon standing un-
der the gallows with a coffin in it, and
Andre stepped up into it. General Par
sons, of our army, was officer of the day;
he rode near and read the sentence of the
Court-martial against him, and, looking
at his watch, said: Major Andre, you
have fifteen minutes to live; if you have
anything to say you can say it, Andre
replied: 4 have nothing to say, but this
is for you to witness that l met my fate
like brave man. He then took two
white handkerchiefs out of his pocket,
pulled off his scarlet coat and handed it
to his servant, telling him TO put it in his
trunk.
"The man obeyed, going to the house
where the trunk was, the tears running
down his cheeks as he went. The wagon
moved to let Andre swing clear. l have
seen several men hung, but he founced
about more than any one l ever saw.
When dead he was taken down, put in
the coffin, and driven under an escort to
the landing place at the river, where a
boat belonging to the enemy was waiting
by permission, and took the corpse of
Major Andre to New York City, and
arrived with it at the British camp before
midnight. His body was not buried
under or near the gallows, as some histo-
rians have asserted"
While it seems almost incredible that
the British authorities were laboring I'M
der a delusion in supposing that they
were removing the remains of Major
Andre in 1921, there is this to be said in
confirmation of Lieutenant Shreve's
statement. Tt can not be supposed but
what after all the negotiations for Andres
exchange or for the Communication of his
sentence that took place between the Brit
ish and American authorities and after
his execution was pronounced inevitable,
a request would have been made for the