The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-10
BURIAL PLACE OF HEROES
WHERE THE DEAD OF THE MAINE
ARE INFERRED AT KEY WEST.
A Neglected Cemetery Where Newly
of Victims of Spanish Treachery.


Copyright, 1898. by the Associated Press.)
KEY WEST, Fla, May 9.-In the out
skirts of town where the small Spanish cot
tages cluster silent and sunburned along the
narrow street is the city cemetery of Key
West. Near the main entrance, which Is.
guarded by a creaking old wooden gate, is
group of newly-made graves They are in
the potter's 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 battle ship Maine in Ha-
yana harbor on the night of Feb. Is. There
are twenty-four of them unmarked. Above
each mound of glistening white limestone
soil a small American flag droops in the
fierce sun that beats necessarily down upon
the island. The flags are faded and frayed.
When breeze comes up from the ocean
they fiutter 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 discolored and withered
stems of flowers. They were put there by
a lady from Philadelphia" said the dreamy
old sexton, "but don't know who she was.
She came here about ten days after the
bodies were buried and put flowers on all
the graves. / asked her who she was but
she said no matter" And these faded little
flags and withered stems of flowers are all
that mark the resting place of the heroes
of whom the civilized world has been talk
ing since the fatal night, nearly three
months ago. There is nothing else to tell the
stranger who passes through the potters
field where the heroes of the Maine are
sleeping.
The space where the graves are was evil
IDENTIFY prepared in great haste. Near the lit
tie white mounds on all sides are unsightly
heaps of litter and rubbish. In one spot
stands old hearSe weather beaten and
CHASTITY in its very aspect of loneliness and
decay. The sexton said it had once been
broke down while carrying a body to the
potter's field, and there it still stands.
Just to the north of the resting place of
the Names sailors is a small iron Enclosure
which marks the grave of Bridget e. Hoff-
man. who died in 1864; Il guess we will have
to call her Mother Hoffman, said the old
sexton, for she is the only one buried here
who's got a name, and | think she ought to
be mother of everybody in the potter's
Very close to the twenty-four mounds is
group of thirty-SiX naval seamen who died
of yellow fever. The sexton, however. was
unable to tell when they were buried there.
Nothing on the little twelve-inch slab at the
head of each group tells the story of the
and words. United States navy, alone are
carved on the slabs
But nature. even with the barren lime
rock below and the scorching sun above,
seems trying to do what the hand of man
has failed to do in identifying the graves
of our heroes Luxuriant trees of the trop
cal species are all about the newly-made
graves. On one side massive green cactus
lifts its green foliage high in the air. On the
other side a row of tropical trees, refresh
lngly green. are in full blossom, and with
every breeze cover the sunburned mounds
with beautiful scarlet flowers. Near another
side of the little burial plot is a row of royal
spruce pines, which throw a shadow llpon
the graves In the afternoon and through
whose branches the sea breeZeS constantly
sing when the sun has gone down.
Rarely does anyone visit the place. lit is
without care attention, a bye-corner of
the island where for two centuries, Span
iards, negroes and fisher folk have put their
dead and forgotten them. Perhaps one-haif
the graves in the cemetery are those of UNI
known sailors, whose sleeping places are
unmarked. Most of the inscriptions on
tombstones are in Spanish. The graves of
the Names victims are surrounded by
tombstones with Spanish inscriptions. 1T is
picture of melancholy desolatien. The
graveyard is located on a high point in
about the middle of the island and from it
the great stretch of blue ocean may be seen
on either side but half mile distant. There
carved out of the limestone sand rock All
day the sun beats down upon the barren
white rock surface until the scanty Vegeta-
ton curls and crackles in the heat. Rarely
silence. Sometimes one hears the weary cry
of a sea bird overhead or the soft parrot
like voice of the Spanish children in the cot
tageS near by, but that is all The voices
from the war ships out at sea, the clatter
of commerce in the harbor and the idle
babble of the town never disturb the sleep
of our hero sailors in their rock bound
berths Of the twenty-four who are buried
here only two were identified. They Were a
negro and a japanese. 1t is probable that a
another burial place. If not, suitable mon
ument will be erected to their memory.