The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-01-30
Mr. Blaine Was Averae TO 0stentatiouS Demon.
stratiOn of Sorrow, and Ii Would Be I'm.
possible to Accommodate ALI.
Distinguished Callers at The Residence
Opposite Lafayette Square.
Delegations, Committees and Private Indi-
vlduals from All Parts of the Country toBe
Present-Where the Tomb Is Located.


Grave Dug and tho Brown Earth Covered
with Floral Contributions.
Special TO the Indianapolis Journal
WASHINGTON. Jan. 29-"Here is the bur-
ial place of Blaine" said the old sexton of
Oak Hill Cemetery. to-day, as he piloted q
party along the rain-soaked and muddy
walk and down o succession of terraces to
a newly grave. The scene was one
of bleakness and desolation. Tho heavy
fog and mist made the tombstones all about
barely discernible. The January thaw had
melted the snow and ice until the terraces
were creased with many streams of rum
ming water. The grave itself was partly
protected from the danger of filling with
water by two rough doors which had been
taken from their hinges and fixed as q tent
above 1t. The grave-digger had forgotten
his spade, which still lay at the bottom of
the grave. The heaps of brown clay on
either side were partly hidden with flow
ers piled high alongside that and the
mound which marks the grave Of Emmous
Blaine. There was q profuslon of great
white oallas and of the modest lilly of the
valley, which is just coming to bloom in
this latitude. The spot was suggestive of
isolation and desolation, as well as of ex-
treme simplicity. There was no sweep of
ground to mark the Blaine lot. On the
contrary, it WAS scarcely fifteen feet
square, and hedged in on all sides by unos.
tentatious gravestones. Immediately along
side of the grave which is to receive the
great American statesman stood q little.
weather beaten stone marked simply Peter
Palmer" In front of a tree over the graves
. -. la t-k all n1n t26 Gov
some great shaft of granite. which might
tittingiy mark the resting place of Blaine.
But that is TAKEN" said the sexton, by
a man named Norris" And so. all around
the little lot. were graves which clrcum-
scribed its limit. There was still room for.
back Of these, by trespassing somewhat on
the terrace above, shaft may in time be
placed TO designate the grave of the PIumed
knight.
NATURES MONUMENT.
There was one noticeable and natural
monument. which reared itself Immediate
ly at the head of the open grave, and
which seemed to have come there by some
prophetic accident. 1t was huge elm that
had lived. perhaps. sixty years, and had
ethen been shivered by lightning forty feet
above Its base. 1t was so near the grave
that the diggers had to hew away the roots,
extending not only into the new-made
grave, but to the old ones beyond. The
I lifeless branches were still perfect and the
symmetry of the tree complete from the
ground up to the point where the lightning
had cut il squarely Oft. The view
from the .graveside is one OF wild
ness and beauty. 1t is the one spot
In Washington where the dead level is
broken into q succession of ravlnes. and
natural terraces which reach at some points
the grandeur of canyon scenery. Lovers
lane" which sweeps around the cemetery,
has a spot from which one may look down
IN abyss Of sheer three hundred feet. From
the grave one sees the apex of the WASH
Ington monument and on clear day the
great dome of the Capitol is prominently
outlined against the sky. An intervening 9
ridge cuts Oft the view of the White House.
but the tall ohimneys of the State Depart
ment are Just discernible. The visitor to
BlaInes tomb will take in this at q glance.
Back of the Blame lot In the moro thIckly
settled portion OF the cemetery is the grave
of John Howard Payne. author OF "Home,
Sweet Home" His remains we're brought
here from Tunis by the generosity of w.
w. Corcoran, the philanthropist Further
along is the large Corcoran vault. in which
rest the remains of the philanthrOpist
himself. 1t was COrcOran who gave this
tract of rugged land to Washington "a
of intended philanthropy that he In
CURED the lasting enmlty of Georgetown.
in which it Is located. Up TO that time
the suburb had been the fashionable quar-
ter of the national capital. Alongside the
tract of land was the home of John e. Cal.
houn. known as the "Oaks." and all about
we're the homes aud headquarters Of for
cemetery there the locality halted In its