The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-25
ALEX STEPHENS IN STONE.
A Monument TO the Georgian Unveiled
at His Old Home.

VILE by Gathering of 1000 People.
Crawfordville, Ga, May 24-To-day is
the greatest occasion in the history of
Crawfordviue Admirers from all over
Georgia congregated to do honor to the
memory of Alexander H. Stephens, the
''great commoner," at the unwilling this
afternoon of the beautiful monument
erected to his memory by the people of
Georgia. About 1000 people were present
in the grove surrounding Liberty Hall,
for nearly fifty years the home of Mr.
stephens, TO witness the ceremonies at
tendant upon the unwilling. The assem-
blage was called to order at l2 O'Clock.
President Patrick Walsh of the Stephens
Monumental Association presided.
The exercises were opened with prayer
by Rev. r. +. L. Harris.
H. NJ. Holden delivered the opening ad-
dress, giving history of the Stephens
Memorial Association.
Hon Patrick Walsh made an intro
ductory address, at the close of which the
monument was unveiled by Miss Mary
Cory, grandniece of Mr.. Stephens.
Hon. Thomas NJ. Norwood of Savannah
delivered the grafton. He spoke for an
hour and quarter presenting the prin-
cipal points in the life of Mr.. Stephens.
THE TOWNS ONLY CLAIM TO FAME.
Crawfordville's sole title to conspicu-
Gus place in history is that it was the
abiding place of Alexander Stephens dur
ing the. greater part of his eventful
career, and its most conspicuous object is
"Liberty Hall" the home of the man
whom his former fellow citizens are wont
TO refer to, sometimes as "Little Aleck,"
sometimes as ''The Great CCmmoner."
The railroad divides the village into
two distinct sections. On one sideis the
old-fashioned southern country town with
its red streets lined scatteringly by white
houses with green blinds, its red brick
court house in it's red square and its half
score of dingy stores On the other side,
browning an eminence which commands
view of all the surrounding country, and
approached by a nobly-Sweeping, grass
covered ascent, stands the home in which
Alexander Stephens lived out the years of
his invalid, bachelor life. There he re-
tired from the fierce political contests on
the floor of congress and on the hustings
of his district, there he prepared himself
for still other conflicts, and there he wrote
his Constitutional View of the War Be
tween the States" and his History of
the United States"
LIBERTY HALL AS IT is.
The house, which stands practically as
Stephens left it, is the counterpart of 80
per cent. of the country mansions of its
time, simple even to severity, two stories
in hight, with a 1-story veranda in front
and an 81" at the rear, and a gable roof
with a chimney at each end, painted
white, with blinds of green. A grove of
noble trees surrounds it, and a neatly
whitewashed board fence protects the
grove and lawn. Over the front gate is
an arch bearing the inscription Liberty
Hall" and from this a graveled walk
leads up to the old residence The place
is the property of the monumental asso-
citation, and the house is now occupied by
Prof. Anthony, the principal of the school
which stands on the hill adjoining the
Liberty Hall Enclosure.
It was in this school house. by the way
that ''Tom" Watson, the third party
leader, made the speech that first brought
him into prominence, and it was on the
lawn at Liberty Hall that one ofithe most
exciting political debates in the history of
the state was held last summer between
Watson and his successful opponent for
congress, Mai. j. c. c. Black.
Soon after Mr. Stephens died at At
lanta, on March 4, 1888, while governor of
Georgia, his body was, in obedience to
his own wish, removed to CrawfOrdville,
and buried under the shadow of his old
home. The grave was made beneath
some China trees by the side of the gravel
walk leading up the slope from the
entrance, and there the ashes of the dead
statesman, orator and writer long rested
with only wooden railing to mark the
spot.
Not so now, however To-day, a beauti-
full and imposing monument rises at the
head of the grave and stands out in its
Parian whiteness against the green of the
hillside and the glow of the China trees
in full bloom.
AN IMPOSING MEMORIAL.
The monument consists of pedestal of
Georgia granite, quarried from the adioin-
ing county of Oglethorpe, the polished
portions being dark blue, and the cut sur
faces light gray, and a hfe-size statue of
MIR. Stephens in pure white marble. The
pedestal is IL feet 4 inches high, and the
statue itself is feet 2, the whOle rising to
hight of Is feet
The figure of Mr.. Stephens will not
strike those who knew him in his later
years as true to life, but it is pronounced
an admirable likeness by the friends of
his youth 1t represents him as he was in
his physical prime, having been modelled
after a photograph taken by Brady in
Washington in 1855, just after his famous
debate with Campbell of Ohio. He stands
with his left hand resting on the book on
table at his side, and the other half up
raised as If in the act of emphasizing a
point with one of his characteristic
gestures. Inc statue was carved IN Italy,
the pedestal being the work of Theo-
dore Markwalter, an Augusta sculptor.
THE INSCRIPTIONS.
On the front face of the pedest al is in
scribed this epitome of Stephens life:
Born Feb. Il, 1912. Member OF the Georgia
House of Representatives 1886 TO 1910; mem
Der Georgia state Senate 1872; member United
States House of Representatives I843 to 1859
retired from congress 1889 vice president oil
the confederate states 1861 to 1865; United
States senator-elect from Georgia 1866 mem
Der United States House of Representatives
1873 TO 1882, governor of Georgia 1882: died il
Atlanta Sunday morning March 1, 1888 au
thor Of Constitutional View of the Wa
Between the States" and of a Compendium
of the History Of the United States From
Their Earliest Settlement till 1872"
On another side is this extract from ont
of Stephens famous speeches.
/ am afraid of nothing on earth, or abou
the earth. or under the earth except to dt
wrong-the path of duty L shall ever endeavo
TO travel, fearing no evil and dreading nc
consequences"
Here sleep the remains of one who dared L
tell the people they were wrong when he be
heVed so, and who never Intentionally de
celved friend or betrayed an enemy.
The following, written by Richard Nal
colin Johnston, is on another side:
Throughout life "a sufferer in body mind an,
spirit, he was signal example OF wisdom
courage. torttude, patience, t0rbearance an,
unwearying charity
In the decreDitudc of aue called To he GOV