Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1890-10-17
fer to SOW seeds of doubt in their satisfied

fer to SOW seeds of doubt in their satisfied
minds
1t must he admitted in this connection
that the rage for relics of the famous exists
in America as well as elsewhere. One pc.
culiarly shocking example has to do with
the death and burial of George Frederick
Cooke, Il famous English actor, whose ca
reer was Gu short at Boston by dissipation
He died in September, 1872, and the doc
tors made an autopsy, as they said &c dis
cover the nature of his disease. One of the
surgeons, named Francis, cut off the poot
fellows head and kept it. Some years
later, when Hamlet" was on the boards
at the Park theatre, the property man
found himself without skull for use in
The graveyard scene. He applied to Fran.
els, who loaned him the skull OF Cooke
The mutilated remains were given sepul'
ture IN st. Paul's churchyard New YORK
city. There they lay until 1921, when Ed
mund kean, also a celebrated English ac
Tor, caused them to be dug up and rein
tered under Il monument which he erect
ed at his own expense.
While the headless corpse was being
transferred from its old to its new resting
place Mr. KeaE distracted "A toe bone,
which he reverenced as priceless souve-
mir He took it to London and made it an
object of worship in the hours of his maud.
lin frenzy. He declared that it would
prove Il fortune to his son Charles, but it
didn't, for Mrs kean, tired of her hus-
bands ridiculous rantings, one day picked
up the revered relic and pitched it out Of
the window. kean went frantic over the
loss and said 60 mis- wife, MARY, your son
Charles was worth gl0, 900; now he is q
beggar." The sum mentioned was the
actors estimate of the value of the toe
bone.
What there is left of Cookies skeleton
so far as known, has not been disturbed.
The monument erected by Edmund Kean
in 1921 was repaired by his son Charles
twenty-five years afterward, renovated by
f. \. Sothern IA quarter of century later,
and finally restored by Edwin Booth in 1890.
Not many weeks back Il poor wretch OF
an assassin named Kemnller suffered death
by electricity in one of New York : state
prisons 1t il said that nearly every per.
son present ut the execution lugged away
some portion of the mans body or clothe:
rs "A memento OF the event The same pas
sion for souvenirs has destroyed root and
branch the famous apple tree under
which Grant didn't receive Lees surren.
der and scattered the furniture of the
house in which he did. We're it not fol
careful guardianship the souvenirs OF
Washington would be dispersed in twenty
four hours, and the Declaration of Indie
pendence torn into bits by "pickers up OF
unconsidered trihes."
know one of this class of people He
figures with half a dozen others as the
GO" in big dry goods house. His in
come is IA fair one; he is an excellent bust
ness man and an af1ectionate father anC
husband But he never enters public
building without surreptitiously writing
his name on the walls. He defaces statue;
in the same way, and slyly tries to chiI
bits for relics. When he can he cuts sig
natures from hotel registers and othel
books III wnicn noted men write theil
names. At the Hotel Lafayette, Lake Min
netonka, Mimi, one season those WHIT
knew his weakness entered in the register
autographs" of II. Rider IIaggard, Rob
ert Louis Stevenson and similar WORTHLESS
These now adorn his collection" and arr
displayed side by side with shovelful 0
earth from the battle field of Gettysb burg
flask of Jordan water and Il phial con
tanning tear which fell from the eye o
the statue of St. Januarias. Like the mel
already mentioned he wouldn't hesitate
second about pulling tooth from Hamp
den : jaw or mutilating the skeleton O
Cooke Still, in most respects, he is a goot
citizen and an honest man.
Queer thing, this craze for relics, isn't it
FRED c. DAYTON.