Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1898-05-20
HEROES GRAVES IN
THE POTTERS FIELD.
Where lie the Names Silent
Dead.

and sun burned along the mar
row street is the City Cemetery
of Key West Near the main en-
trance, which is guarded by {
creaky old wooden gate, is {
group of newly made graves
They are in the potters field
the part of the burying ground
set apart for the pauper dead
These are the graves OF the
heroes who lost their lives on
the battleship Maine in Havan>
IA harbor on the night of Fed
ruary IS. Above each mound of
glitte1ing white limestone soil
a small American flag droops in
the fierce sun that beats inces,
sanity down upon the island.
The flags are faded and frayed.
When breeze comes up from
the ocean they flutter sadly for
a moment and again drop to
the scorching earth. On the
center of each mound is a
small glass goblet which still
holds the dlscolored stems of
flowers. They were put here by
a lady from Philadelphia, said
the dreamy old sexton. but 7
don't know who she was. She
came here about ten days after
the bodies buried and put fow>
ers on all the graves. | ask
ed herwho she was but she said
no matter.
And these faded little flags
and withered stems of fowe' S
are all that mark the resting
places of the heroes Of whom
the civilized world has been
talking since the fatal right,
nearly three months ego. There
is nothing else to story the stran>
ger who passes the potter
held where the heroes of the
Maine are sleeping. The place
where the graves are was evil
IDENTITY prepared in great haste
Near the little white mounds on
all sides are unsightly heaps of
litter and rlbbish. In one spot
stands all old hearse, weather
beaten and CHASTITY IN its very
aspect of loneliness and decay.
The sexton said it mad once beeu
used as the city hearse, but one
day it broke down while carry
ing body to the potter's field
and there it still stands.
Just to the north of the rest
ing place OF the Maine sailors
is a small iron enclosure w hich
marks the grave of Bridget F..
Hoffman, who died III 1864. II
guess we will have to call her
Mother Hoffman," said the old
sexton, "for she is the only one
buried here who has got name,
and 1 think she ought to be
mother to everyone in the pot
ter's field"
Very close to the twenty four
mounds is group of thirty six
naval seamen who died of yel>
low fever. The sexton, however,
was unable to tell when they
were buried there. Nothing on
the 2 inch slab, at the head of
each group, tells the story of the
life or death of the seamen. The
names and the words, limited
States Navy" are alone carved
upon the slabs.
But nature, even with the
barren lime rock below are the
scorching sun above, seems try
ing to do what the hand of men
has failed to do in beutifying the
graves of the heroes.
The luxuriant trees of the
tropical species ale all about the
newly made graves. On one
side a massive green cactus lifts
its pulpy foliage high in the air.
On the opposite a row of tropi>
cal trees, refreshingly green,
are III full bloom, and with every
breeze cover the sun burned
with beautiful scarlet
flowers. Near another side OF the
little burial plot is a row of roy
al spruce pines, which throw a
shadow upon the graves in the
and through whose
branches the sea breezes con-
stantly sing when the sun has
gone down.
Rarely does anyone visit the
place, it is without care Or atten-
ton, a bycorner Of the island,
for two centuries Spaniards, ne~
groes and fisher~folk have put
their dead and forgotten them.
Perhaps one half of the graves
in the cemetery are those of I'm
known sailors, whose sleeping
places are unmarked. Most of
the inscriptions on tonbstones
are in Spanish. The graves of
the Names victims are sur
rounded by tombstones with
Spanish inscriptions. 1t is a
picture of melancholy desola~
ton. The grave yard is located
on a high point in about the
middle of the island and from it
III Ia ncrant CT ratoI &C h1..a ooonn