The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-06-02
AS TO HIS FUNERAL.
The Widow of the Lamented Stevenson
Tells About His Strange Burial.


Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson, widow
of the celebrated poet and author,
whose death robbed modern literature
of one of its foremost opponents, is
now in San Francisco, having arrived
there on the Mariposa, accompanied by
her son, Lloyd Osborne, and her daugh-
ter, Mrs, Isabel Strong. They went to
the Occidental Mrs. Stevenson is a
strikingly handsome middle-aged wo-
man; her eyes seem to be jet black.
so brilliant is their lustre, and they
have a kindly, benevolent expression
that is in keeping with her whole APP
pearance. Her manner is graceful, her
voice soft and musical, and whether
sitting or standing, she assumes an at
titude of repose which would delight
an artist.
II have come for my health" she
said to a Chonicle reporter, but in
a few months l will return to Somoa.
for my home is there; all that / have
dear is there" In reply to questions
regarding Mr.. Stevenson's letters and
posthumous manuscripts, she answer
ed: Professor Colvin of England, who
is a literary man of ability, is now en-
gagged in collecting Mr.. Stevenson's let
tiers. | have authorized him to adver-
tise for them" and when asked If the
report of the burial on the mountain
were true, she replied:
Yes. The interment on the noun
tain was in accordance with my hus-
bands desires.
"Vala Peak. a bold, precipitious, vol
canic formation that rises to a height
of l 400 feet, was the final resting place
he had selected. Some newspapers
indeed, nearly all of them-named an
other mountain. but he is at rest on
the summit of Nala. II is on our es-
tate and rises almost perpendicularly,
right IN front of our house. Only ma
aGfs cd To mo al h
ing from their infancy, can reach its
summit without great labor and ex-
haustion. Only three white men have
accomplished the task.
AT first il seemed an impossible
thing to carry the coffin up, but 40 res
o lutte and sturdy Samoans accomplish
ed it after a journey that was full of
peril. Many white men who knew and
| loved Mr.. Stevenson started out with
| the pallbearers, but only two of their
number reached the summit. One has
noe yet recovered from the terrible ex-
| haustion that overcame him when he
had scaled the height.
| Il assembled IL later" said Mrs. Ste
venson. THE natives cut steps in the
rocks. and. after infinite labor, made il
possible for me to reach the grave.
Hundreds of natives went with me.
| They came from every island of the
| Samoan group. The women brought
| flowers in such abundance that they
| were strew along the side of the noun
| tain from base to summit, and these
\ they threw into the grave. One woman
| a devoted creature, who had received
some kindness from Mr.. Stevenson 5
| hand, brought a little tin cross that
| possessed a value in the eyes of the
| simple natives far greater than its in
| trinsic worth This cross was not fiune
| into the grave with the flowers and
| other offerings, but was planted over II
| and l did not have the heart to dis
| turb il. The manner in which the cross
| was offered was very touching. Tn,
! only monument over the grave is th'
| monument Of rocks reared by the ma
| tives. and the little tin cross surmount:
| it