The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-04-07
POPE LEo,S LOAN.


The most interesting and precious his
torical documents that are to be exhib-
tied at the World's Fair arrived last week
in Washington. They include the origi.
nal manuscripts, maps, charts, ETC., of
Christopher Columbus. owned by the
Vatican, and loaned by Pope Leo. There
are also the many valuable autograph
letters of Columbus sent to this country
by his lineal descendants. They are in
five big boxes, which have been placed
in the Washington Safe Deposit vaults,
where they will remain till Saturday.
The papers were of such value that
Secretary of the Navy Tracy sent the
United States gunboat Newark to Italy
and Spain to bring them here. The
Newark arrived at Newport News the
other day, and Monday William K. Cur
tbs and Lieutenant Cromwell of the navy
boarded the Newark and received the
boxes. They were carefully loaded in a
steam launch and transferred to one of
the Potomac River boats running to
Washington, Messrs. Curtis and Crowell
sleeping beside them over night.
Saturday morning Mr.. Curtis started
for Chicago with the documents in one
of the pay cars of the Pennsylvania Rail
road. Secretary Lamont will detail a
guard of United States soldiers to az
company the car. Three of the five box
es are of cedar and the other two are
pine. They are smoothly finished with
the lids and sides screwed together and
the corners and edges bound with sheet
iron. Each box has been wrapped in
glazed leather to protect the contents
from moisture. The leather was re-
moved to-day and several of the lids
were removed. The papers have been
packed with the utmost care in cotton
batting and tissue paper.
The documents are more than hun
bred in number, and include most and,
in fact, all of the fully authenticated or
iginal documents of Christopher Column
bus. There is the original commission
from Ferdinand and Isabella, dated
Greneda, April 30th, 1902, appointing
Columbus Grand Admiral of the Ocean
Sea and Vice King and Governor Gener,
al of all the lands that he should discov-
er There are also the various royal let
ters patent granting license to the sea-
men who accompanied Columbus and
directing the inhabitants of Palos to fur
nish Columbus with two caravels and all
the necessary equipment and provisions
for his voyage,
There is the bull of Alexander VI.
granting to the sovereigns of Spain all
lands discovered by Columbus, dated at
Rome in 1893. There are the DEGREES
from King Ferdinand granting / coat OF
arms to Columbus and letters from the
King and Queen congratulating him up
on his discovery.
One of the quaintest documents is the
original will of Columbus, in which he
confers the right of succession on his son,
Diego. There are from twenty to thirty
autograph letters of Columbus, written
in full by him and signed with his quaint
and almost unintelligible signature.
The papers are yellowed with their 40C
years, and their edges are worn and
jagged. In some of them the creases
have made abrasures and have broken
the paper. The writing has faded on
some, but on others it is we'll preserved,
and on few of them the ink is as clear
as though it had been made within re.
cent years.