Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-10-20
BONES OF COLUMBUS.
They Are in a Box In the Cathedral
at San Domingo.
FALSE IMPRESSION CORRECTED.
A Pittsburg Man Who Saw and Touched the
Discoyerers Dust.
RATHER SLICK TRICK WAS PRACTICED

&c Jamison, of East Liberty, is prob
ably the only man in the United States
who ever saw and handled the bones OF
Christopher Columbus. He was in the
West Indies in the winter of 1888.
History has held that the bones of the great
discoverer were buried and still lie in
Havana, Cuba The truth is they are still
in the Island of San Domingo.
Christopher Columbus died and was
buried in Spain in 1906. His son, Don
Diego, died in 1926 In the year 1886 the
remains of both father and son were trans
ported to the Island of San Domingo and
inferred in the Cathedral of that city.
During the last three centuries that island
has been the scene of almost constant revo-
luton and bloodshed Few of the records
of government have been preserved. The
population sank into ignorance and super
stition and all knowledge of past history
became traditional. But it was never for
gotten that San Domingo City was the last
resting place of the bones of Columbus. 1t
had, however, been forgotten that the re-
mains of his son were also buried under the
ultar of the cathedral.
The Wrong Bones Removed.
When Spain relinquished control of the
island and came to remove the bones of
Columbus to Havana a, through some mistake
they took up the wrong remains, the re-
mains of the son, which were removed with
great pomp and buried at Havana as the
body OF the discoverer of America
The mistake was discovered in 1873, when
it became necessary to make some altera-
tions in the old cathedral The workmen
came upon lead box, which being opened
and examined was found to contain the re-
mains of Christopher Columbus, from the
inscriptions on the box and the name on the
silver plate inside of the lid.
The Dominican authorities at once sum-
moned all the resident Consuls to examine
the matter, and they unanimously gave it
as their opinion that the box contained the
bones of the dead discoverer. The box was
then closed up and each Consul put his seal
upon it. 1t was then put for safe keeping
into the hands of the Bishop of the
cathedral
Jamison Handled the Bones.
In January, 1879, an Italian war vessel
arrived in the port with instructions from
the italian Government to investigate the
matter, as Columbus was native of Italy.
The several Consuls were summoned to
break their seals and open the box to afford
an opportunity for the fullest Investigation.
Bv invitation of the United States Consul,
j. C. Jamison, of this city, was present, and
made personal inspection of the box and
bones, and had in his hands the silver plate
on which was engraved in Spanish the name
of Christopher Columbus. The box is
about 16 inches long and 10 square.
One was made of heavy sheet lead. 1t bears
the marks of great antiquity. The remains
had moulded into dust. As Columbus
had been buried 80 years before his remains
were removed to San Domingo it can easily
be seen box of this size would hold the re-
mains
Tradition has it that when the Spaniards
came to take away the body of Columbus
sly old monk gave them a pointer to the