The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-07-24
THE POPE'S GIFT.
Fished from the Bottom Of the
Potomac After Forty Years
One Of the oldest and Deepest Mysteries
of Washington City Mt Last Cleared
Up-A Valuable Discovery
Made by . Diver.

Chief among the curiosities recovered
from the Washington channel is a Pc
culiar slab or stone, which, if some Of
the old residents who have been con-
suited on the subject are not badly mis-
taken, is find Of real value and in
terest in connection with the early his
tory of the city, says the Washington
Post.
It was several days ago that the find
occurred. Diver Harry Edwards was
down on his third trip in the morning,
and was guiding the nozzle Of the large
suction hose that is used in tearing up
the soft bottom to give the workmen
access to the foundation of the piers
Near the southwest corner of the abut-
ment on the district side he encountered
the corner of piece of large dressed
stone, which he at first thought was
piece of the masonry of the pier which
had become detached and fallen out
AS the dredging gradually brought
the whole of the rock to view he
easily saw that the material was
not such as plebeian bridges are
made of. 1t was sharply cut
and beautifully polished piece of
variegated marble, striated in veins of
pink and white, which, seen through
the green scintillating light of the
water, took on iridescent tints as fresh
as if just turned out from the
sculptor's hand. It was not large
block, more like slab about six inches
thick and perhaps one and one-half by
three feet in surface dimensions But
1t was in the way of the engineering
work, and therefore, whatever it was,
it had to get out of the way, and, stoop-
ing down, aided by the buoyancy of the
water, Edwards turned the stone over,
and as he did so noticed half-efPaced
inscription on one side. Feeling that
perhaps there might be something to
the curious find, he signaled the bucket,
and, as his time below was nearly up.
assembled with the marble and had it
landed on the barge, instead of being
thrown on the common scrap pile with
the rest of the refuse.
The matter was investigated and the
facts brought to light make it almost
certain that one of the oldest and deep
est mysteries of Washington has been
at last cleared up.
The story is one not very widely
known, and it may be briefly stated as
this: During the first years of work
upon the Washington monument there
were contributed from all quarters of
the globe memorial stones to be inlaid
on the inner wall of the shaft. The
crowned heads of nearly every land
were proud TO contribute toward Amer
ica's memorial to the greatest hero of
modern times, and tablets of granite
and marble appropriately inscribed
were received by the monument
society, and placed, pending their
insertion, in long wooden
storehouse or 1apidarium near the
foot of the shaft. Among 9TH
ers that were received in the winter of
1858 was a block of beautifully striated
marble from the pope of Rome, with
the simple inscription: Rome to Amer
ica," meaning. by that not the religious
but the political power represented by
Rome" But it was in the days of the
old knoA-nothings, the american
party" whose Incorporate zeal did not
stop for fine distinction of definition,
and, thinking that they saw in the gift
an insidious invasion of papacy into the
land of the free and the home of the
brave, there were ominous grumblings
of wrath on the reception of the gift by
the authorities at Washington. But,
though the cloud lowered, it did not
burst.
The hard winter of 1858 passed and it
was late in the spring of 1854 when the
work on the monument was once more
begun. The morning of March 8 of
that year the city was electrified to
learn that the night before an unknown
band of vigilantes had broken into the
stone shed at the foot of the monument
and that the pope's gift to the struc-
ture was missing. But what had be-
come of it no one knew. There was
always watchman stationed in the
ground around the monument, and with
him was a good watch dog, but the
marauding party had laid their plans
well, and the dog had been poisoned,
his box by rope passed around the
outside of the doors and windows, thus
preventing him from even catching a
glimpse of the party who secured him.
In the morning the shed was open and |
the stone was gone. That was all that
was known, and upto a few days ago
sill that was ever known.