The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-04-02
TIE BATTLE MOuUMED N
The Fine Weather Bringing
Crowds Of Visitors to Tren-
ton to See the His
torieal Relies.

The fine weather Of the past few days
has brought crowds to Trenton to visit
the Battle Monument. The view from
the top Of the shaft is unsurpassed. or
to the north Princeton Is plainly visible.
10 the left, and closer, Lawreneeville
can be seen. Pennington is not visible,
but its location is pointed out by the ele-
vator boy.
n Yardley bridge comes easily into
view from the monuments elevation, and
a train of cars could be seen passing: over
It. TO the south the steeples of Bristol
are visible, but Bordentown is hidden be-
hind the hills. The Interstate Fair
ground appears to be on the edge Of the
city, which rolls away from ones feet
much like a birds eye view map.
The country presents a sombre appear
ance as yet, but a few more warm days
will suffice to bring it out in all it's
beautiful shades of green. The country
is in contrast in this respect TO the little
park in which the monument is situated,
which is already covered with a soft car
pet of bright green. The grass appears
to have scarcely been touched by the
frost, ice n NOW of the past winter.
The monument has just been fitted
with a splendid bronze door that cost a
great deal of money. 1t is a massive af-
fair, with grated glass upper panel. On
a lower panel is the quotation, a.AlI our
hopes were blasted by that unhappy af-
fair at Trenton from the speech OF
Lord George German, Colonial Secretary
of State of King George III, in the Brit
ish House of Commons, on May 3. 1779.
This is here called a quotation, but the
makers OF bronze tablets evidently do
nor know what ni1nfnfintaL III 41xc n ~N -. -,
IN fact, any kind Of punctuation. An ex-
m1natlon of three bronze tablets in the
discloses but one mark of
punctuation, n that is an apostrophe
in the name .'O,Donovan.. Commas are
regarded as an unnecessary evil, and the
fact that a period should be placed after
an initial was so p~alpable, evidently, in
the mind of the bronze ~letterer, that it
rate, there are none in the tablets.
One of the tablets recently put up on
who constructed the monument ais fol-
lows:-John H. Duncan, architect; John
Pierce, granite work; Maurice j. Power,
bronze work. These names are given as
Thomas Eakins and Charles A. Nalhaus.
Another tablet contains the names of
the members of the Trenton Battle Mon
ument Association, as follows:-President.
Moore; Treasurer, S.. M. Dickinson; John
Hart Brewer, Hugh II. Hamill, John
Briest, Frank A. Mcgowan, Thomas S.
Chambers, William Fl. Skirm, William L.
Dayton. John Taylor, John B. Fell, Gar
ret p. w. Vroom, Barker Gummere, Jr.,
William S. lard.
h monument is open every day from
s A. M. until sunset. Isaac A. Shreve, the
superintendent, is in charge and there is
an elevator boy. The elevator is very
smooth in running. 1t requires one min
ute to ascend to the top and fifty-five
seconds to return, it taking five seconds
less to come down than to go up. The
fare in the elevator is ten cents, except
on Saturdays and holidays, when five
cents is charged.
souvenir spoons and paper weights that
visitors carry ava with them as a me-
mento of their trip to he top of the
shaft.
There are three reliauary rooms in the
Perhaps the word room is
too comprehensive; inches wotlld give a
better idea of them. Each is lighted by
electric lights, n has a stone slab for
"a floor, which Is about eighteen inches
higher than the floor of the elevator room.
Some Of the exhibits are very interest
ing and instructive. There is a photo
graph of an Gil painting of Generals
Washington and Greene paying a visit to
General Rail after the battle of Trenton.
The faces are portraits of the three men.
There are also other portraits Of these
and st. Clair, and IN Oil painting of
Martha Washington when she was a
young and beautiful woman. A wooden
canteen carried by the soldiers Of the
Revolution has a place beside fint-lock
pistols of various kinds and sizes. The
sword that was carried by Colonel Rail-
stands in a corner, and in another place
N the chair used by General Washington
at the council of war held in Douglass
House, January 2, 1T7. There is also
a picture of the house that stood on
North Warren street near the Cathedral.
There are two fac similes that are very
interesting. One Of the original draft
of the Declaration of Independence, in
the handwriting of Thomas Jefferson,
with the amendments put in, and the
other is of the letter of Washington in
acknowledgment of the courtesy of the
ladies of Trenton and the white-robed
choir on the day of his marching under
the triumphal arch. A piece of this arch
IS also on exhibition.