The San Francisco call., 1896-03-20
On Sunday the Committee Will
Select a Site for the
Monument.
HAS A cHEcKERED STORY.
The Work Is Now Completed and
the Unwilling Will Soon
Take Place.

L
pleted, and it will probably only be ques-
ton of days before the monument is
erected in Golden Gate Park.
The bust of General Grant which Rupert
Schmid modelled and had cast in Europe
arrived here some months ago. The
bronze scrolls for ornamenting the design,
which were also cast in Europe, have been
in this City awaiting the completion of the
ornamental base for the bust ever since
the beginning of the winter. The sculptor
stated yesterday that the ornamental de-
sign of concrete upon which the bust is to
rest has been cast, and the monument is
now only awaiting the finishing touches to
the base and the affixing Of the bronze
scrolls to the design.
The last touches will be given to the
monument ont at the park. A site has
not yet been selected, but the committee
of the Grant memorial will meet on Sun
day morning at the Park Museum and
will thence proceed TO inspect the various
locations in the park which have been indi-
Gated as being most suitable for the erec-
tion of the monument.
If decision is arrived at on Sunday it is
probable that the various parts of the
memorial will be transported to the site in
the course of next week, though no def
mite arrangements have yet been made for
the unveiling of the monument.
The dimensions of the base on which the
bust is to rest are rather larger than was
intended some months ago. The monu-
ment will now measure ten feet from the
ground to the top of the bust, and the base,
1,,b ;oh IN ,-d fho mil
upon about ten square feet of ground.
There is an especial interest attaching to
the final completion of the Grant me-
mortal OH account of the way in which
the work has fingered and the hoodoo
which at times seems to have hung over
it. The project of erecting memorial to
General Grant was begun years ago by
many of the leading men in the COM
munity, and it was intended at that time
to erect grandiose statue. Money, how
ever, did not come in quite as fast as had
been expected and the first enthusiasm
languished little.
To add to the appearance of hoodoo
being over the memorial death began to
remove many of the men who took an in
terest in its erection. J. Flood, Senator
nent promoters of the Grant memorial
having died, the scheme of making the
heroic statue fell entirely into allegiance
and some years passed, during which the
money already collected began to accumu-
late. S
At last the survivors of the Grant memo
rial committee decided to utilize the $500
they had OH hand in erecting much more
modest monument than had been at first
intended, and Rupert Schmid submitted
designs that were accepted. But the ap-
parent ill luck which had pursued the
monument had, not entirely vanished.
Isaac Hecht, one of the few remaining
members of the committee, was removed
by death, and for some time it was be-
ieved that the Grant bust had been lost
on the way from Munich to San Fran
cisco.
The bust arrived at last, however, and
since that time there has not been hitch
in the preparations for completing the
memorial. The unveiling will be an in
teresting ceremony, particularly to those
people who have watched the history OF
the Grant statue from its incipiency.
A meeting of the Grant memorial COM
mittee was held at the Mills building on
Wednesday last and the following enlarged
committee was elected: Cornelius O'Con-
nor, Theodore Reichert, Louis Sloss, Claus
Spreckels. Irving M. Scott, E. ]. DePue,
}. B. Stetson, Phil Lillenthal, II. M.
Hecht and James D. Phelan.