The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-16
THE BONES OF COLUMBUS.
Historians Say They Never Rested in
'''-'. Havana.
New York Evenine Sun

New York Evening Sun.
For the fourth time since the death Of the
great discoverer the Spaniards are prepar-
ing to remove the remains of Christopher
Columbus, this time from the Grand Cathe-
oral in Havana, where they are supposed
TO have reposed for over a hundred years,
to their original resting place, in the
Church of st. Agnes, in Seville Spain.
While not Spaniard by birth, Columbus
identified himself with Spanish interests,
and even death would seem to have proved
insufficient in his case to separate him from
lie vicissitudeS of that nation.
When Santo Domingo, where his body
was inferred after having. been brought
from its resting place in Seville. became a
possession of France, the Spaniards re-
moved what they supposed to be the bones
uabi and sacred relics of Spanish rule, to
Havana. where they base since remained.
AS matter of fact, historians are now
conveyed to their only remaining possess
sionS in the western hemisphere were not
those of the great navigator, but of his son,
Diego Columbus a former governor general
of Santo Domingo, who was buried in the
same sepulchre with his father. The GER
tainty that the Spaniards had made a blum
der in removing the body was established
through a very curious circumstance.
Just before his death, Columbus, greatly
which he had been treated by the people for
whom he had done so much, requested that
the. chains in which he had been brought
back prisoner from his last voyage to the
West Indies, and which he always kept in
his room as memento of Spanish gratitude
might be buried in the coffin with him. His
request was scrupuIously regarded by the
members of his family, and without the
knowledge of the Spanish officers these
relics were placed in the coffin before 1t
was finally sealed.
A Frenchman who CHANGED upon some au-
tograph letters written by the explorer
found among. other interesting documents
the navigator'S will He was struck by the
strange clause relating to the shackles and
made inquiries whether or not any such
VIII no FIN
moved from the tomb in Santo Domingo. AS
no one remembered to- have heard of any
such thing, an investigation was set on
foot, with the result that the bones of
Columbus were found to be still peacefully
reposing in the new French colony. AS a
matter of course, the Spaniards have de-
rided the notion that they could by any pos
sibility have made mistake, but subse
quent discoveries have only tended to
strengthen the idea that the Spaniards had
merely given one more example to the
world of the carelessness and superfciality
with which they carry out all their official
acts.
The sepulchre which contained what
passes among the Spanish inhabitants of
Cuba for the bones of Columbus is extreme
ly simple in character. The cathedral in
which it is situated, however. is a very
handsome structure The bones were in a
plain stone vault made of marble, placed to
the right of and at the foot of the main
altar. The stone vault is surmounted by a
bust supposed to resemble the explorer, but
said to differ in every detail from his por-
traits. The bones of Columbus, the Span
1Sr0S say, We're taken TO Havana in 1895 and
placed in a grave dug under the spot where
the vault now stands. In 1922 the Spaniards
in Cuba erected the present tomb and placed
beneath the bust of Columbus the following
inscription:
o grand Columbus.
In this urn enshrined
A thousand centuries
Thy bones shall guard:
A thousand ages keep thine image fresh,
In token of our nations gratitude.
When the supposed bones of Columbus
were removed from Santo Domingo, the
ceremony was made the occasion for dis
play of Spanish grandeur such as had never
before been seen in the western hemi-
sphere. The Bishop of Santo Domingo con-
Quoted the services at the disinterment of
the body and all the Spanish officers both
civil and military. participated in the pro-
cession to the shore, where ship specially
prepared for the occasion lay in waiting to
transfer the coffin to it's resting place.
Tha final ceremonies only await the arrival
of war ship from Spain to transfer the
bones to what 1t is reasonable to suppose
may be their permanent place of repose.
The Spanish government, it is understood.
has not yet decided whether to remove the
monument from the cathedral in Havana or
not In any case it is not likely that the
sections of the tomb will be carried to Spain
as they possess no merit aside from their
value as part of the collection of Columbian
memorials.