The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-05-11
MARYWASHINGTON
Monument to the Memory of George
Washington's Mother Unveiled ut
fredericksburg, Va.
President Cleveland and Cabinet, Su-
preme Justices and Other Distin-
gnished People Present.
A Long Delayed Recognition Of the
Virtues of One of Americas
N0bIest Wem n.

FREDERICKSDURG. Va, May 1.-THE
special train with the presidential party
for the ceremony of unwilling the Mary
Washington left Washington at 8
o'clock. President Cleveland was in o
Pullman car in the rear. with Secretar-
les Gresham, Carlisle, Lamont, Bissell
and Morton, and private Secretary
Thurber, Mrs. Gresham, Mrs. Carlisle
and other ladies. Another car with
Mrs. Waite, widow OF the late Chief
Justice Waite, who is president of the
Mary Washington Memorial associa-
ton; Chief Justice Fuller, and the
Daughters Of the Revolution, had two
cars. The National Marine band vas
in another. The Alexandria Infantry
boarded the train at that city. The run
to Fredericksburg was ~uneventful. It
occupied two hours.
Greeted the Guests.
An immense crowd surrounded the
station as the train pulled in. "A presi-
Dental salute doomed forth from the
guns OF the Richmond. and q scarlet
coated band played Hail Columbia"
President Cleveland and his cabinet
came to the platform of their car, where
they were greeted by members of a re-
ception committee, one of whom was
Justice Harlan of the United States
supreme court. The Richmond light
infantry, in dazzling uniforms of blue
and silver, kept back the crowd with
their bayonets. Aligned along the ad-
Joining streets were various organlZa-
tions, conspicuous among them the
Confederate veterans, with the battle
fl lgs of the Confederacy futtering over
them.
The Procession.
The procession was cheered by thou
sands of countrymen as it wound its
way through the little town from the
station to the green knoll topped with
wooden stands, hidden in patriotic
bunting where the Sons and Daughters
of the Revolution and distinguished
guests were assembled. One feature Of
the procession was the ladies on horse
back, who led the way. Then came the
grand marshal, Adjuntant General
Charles J.. Anderson OF Richmond, and
his staff, followed by William J. Craw-
ford, the architect of the monument.
Then followed President Cleveland,
Vice President Stevenson, and mem
bers of the cabinet, in carriages,
followed by the governor and
staff, military organizations and secret
societies, conspicuous among them te-
ing the members of the Fredericksburg
and Alexandria lodges of Masons, in
which Washington had taken his de-
grees.
The programme for the dedicatory
exercises included addresses Of welcome
by Mayor A. P. Rowe and Governor
Charles T. O'Ferrall; Masonic ceremo-
mics; an address by Lawrence WASH
ington, a descendant of Mary Washing
ton, and an Grafton by Senator John w.
Daniel, orator of the day.
Description of the Monument.
The monument was made at Buffalo,
N. Y, and is a plain granite monolitE.
80 feet high, standing upon base IL
feet square. It bears the inscriptions:
MARY, the Mother of Washington
The monument was made possible by
the persistent efforts of two patriotic
women-Mrs. Amelia G. Waite, widow
of the late chief justice of the United
States supreme court, and Mrs. Mar
garet Hetzel of Clifton Station, Va. 1t
was paid for by the contributions from
almost every state in the Union.
a Long Delayed Recognition.
The idea of building this monument
has existed ever since 1880. In 1888,
Mr.. Silas E. Burroughs, a prominent
merchant of New York, offered to con-
struct in Fredericksburg, at his own
expense, a memorial to the mother of
George Washington. The work was
begun but Mr.. Burroughs met with
financial reverses and was obliged to
postpone the completion of his plan un-
Til he could retrieve his fortune and con-
tinue it. He died before he was able to
resume the work.
In 1890, however, the Mary Washing
ton Memorial association was formed,
with Mrs. Waite at the head, and Mrs.
Hetzel as secretary, and the work of
raising money for the monument COM
menced in earnest. All the work had
10 be done over again, the stonework
done under the direction OF Mr.. Bur-
roughs having by this time crumbled
away.
Where II Stands
The monument does not stand upon
the site of the house in which George
Washington was born. He was born
near the village OF Wakefield, on the
banks of the Potomac river, 55 miles
below Washington. The monument
has been raised over his mothers long
neglected grave, a quarter of a mile or
more beyond the city limits of Freder-
icksburg, ON what was once the farm OF
Colonel Fielding Lewis, husband of
her daughter Betty.
Croker Resigns.