Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-24
MuRRAYS MUSINGS.


The Agitation Over the Last Resting Place
Of General Grants Remains-The Strike
and the Tunnsl-More Theairicals COM
panies Than Ever-A Generals Bowie.
FROM STAFF CORRESPONDENT
THERE is q periodical agitation over the last
resting place of the remains of General
Grant. 1t has been recently given as news that
Mrs. Grant is willing that Congress may re-
move the body to Arlington National Cemetery
on the banks of the Potomac. provided that
she and the rest of the family may finally lie by
his side. This, it should be remembered, was
the only thing that stood in the way of original
burial at Arlington. The only reason the
Grant family preferred Riverside Park was the
fact that no authority existed by which Ma
tional cemetery could be thus used as a family
burying ground. At the time of the death of
the beloved and distinguished General. Mrs.
Grant, through her son, Colonel Fred Grant,
was quite willing the body should rest at beau
tifuI Arlington, reserving only the right upon
ner death to be buried by her husbands SIDE.
Ihis would require a special act OF Congress.
Therefore the Riverside selection.
Now, however. Mrs. Grant extends her origi-
lnal proviso so as to include her entire family.
Overlooking the patriotic claims of the entire
nation on the remains of our greatest Ameri-
can soldier, all must symparhize with the widow
and her children in their natural desire to
finally lie side by side in their last and eternal
sleep. Any act of Congress now that falls
short OF this provision will be rendered nuga-
tory oy the peremptory refusal Of the Grant
family, This fact opens up the general ques-
tion OF the relation of others to the rights
OF national sepulcher. The monumental con-
troversy is but side issue, although it is being
widely discussed in the newspapers as If it were
M fha rferfr Of Nf
remains. General Grant himself preferred
Arlington, West Point and Riverside Park in
the order named but evidently knew OF
the legal technIcalirics in the way and left the
matter, with characteristic modesty, to be set
tied by his family. He subordinated in the try
ing last hours of his life the wishes of the ma
Iional soldier to the desires of wife and chill
dren. The question of monuments never dis
1nrped him or Influenced them at such a time.
lne promises or monuments was but the
eager contest of municipalities for the
possession M OF the tomb of the great
soidler. They were but the promises of
INDIVIDUALS The only material authorization
was that of the New York Park authorities
wnlcn met the wishes Of the family and of the
nnally lie by the side of her husband. There
were very many who thought this disposal of
tne remains was mistake, but it was the best
that could have been done. No one who has
visited the lovely spot on the bank of the Hud-
son can now think it mistake. And there are
thousands who still 60 there every week. 1t is
easily and cheaply accessible to the visiting
pubic. and the tomb is in plain view from the
decks of the passing steamers. You can 20 and
come Tor 10 cents. The trip to Arlington from
w asnlngeon requires a day and carriage at
%. nave never seen this discrepancy men
toned. You can visit Grants tomb from any
Where within 200 miles of this city cheaper than
you could reach 1t at Arlington from Wizards
Hotel, and almost as quickly. When the mag
over the remains is completed no one who hon.
ored Grant in life will object to the present dis
posal OF his body. That such q monument will
pe reared to his memory is not q question of
doubt, newspaper controversy to the contrary
Notwithstanding.
Turned loose In n Tunnel.
{ oMING over the New York Central the
other evening q trainman told me the
hopes of the strikers for immediate success
were based on the blocking of the tunnel. The
so-called tunnel begins this side of Harlem and
with the arcade extends about four miles to
Forty-second street. There are but two exits
other than the ends, and no other way out. On
the first day of the strike this tunnel was COM
pletely blocked by trains. One train after an
other entered, ran down to the red light of the
rear car OF the train ahead and stopped. These
trains were loaded with innocent passengers.
had almost said bystanders; for it IS usually
the innocent bystander who gets hurt in such
struggle as this. What Story might have
been written of the scenes in that dark tunnell
OF New York had more than a casual reference
to the fact. According to:what was told by
Wagner porter it was one of the most exciting
features of the whole strike.
or course four-ffths of those on the cars
knew nothing whatever Of the difficulty be-
tween the railway employees and the Central
Inn imagine their disgust If you can, packed in
that long, dark, underground passage without
any knowledge OF the situation, without means
of getting out, or even knowing which way to
60 when told they must walk for it'll Plloted
Wa lad t,air
way along the damp walls toward outer day,
scared. angry, dlsgusted, sick.
In all OF my railroading experience" said
such detected looking crowd. It took two
days to clear that tunnel of trains"
So
The Burden of Wealth.
SITTING on one of the cane-seated benches of
the Grand Union Court at Saratoga the
other day watching the play Of the fountains
and listening to the deliciously dreamy music
of the band, friend pointed out to me the
rooms of the late Mrs. A. T. Stewart. They
are on the second floor. The windows looked
out OF the shaded recess formed by the main
piazza, directly over the central entrance.
From them the view of the lovely garden court
is the best. At one of these windows the rich
and lonely widow would sit for hours together.
She would appear In an exceedingly low-necked
dress, her throat, hair. ears, bodice, resplend-
ent with costly jewels. apparently sa tisfied
with being stared at by those below. A body
guard paraded the hall in front of her suite the
while.
What life! Her dead husbands body
dragged from its grand sepulcher by greedy
grave robbers, her magnificent city palace
closed to the world, her own daily life made
miserable by wrang!ing relatives, Der person
the cynosure of thieves of ali grades! Poverty
and the prison never shut down on a human
being more deserving of sympathy than was
she. No wonder her strong mind finally sue
cumbed.
Soubreftes at Work.