The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-05-11
BURIED IN THE POTTER'S FIELD.
WHERE HEROES OF THE MAINE
DISASTER SLEEP.
Faded Flags and Withered Stems
Of Flowers All That Mark
Their Resting Place.

KEY WEST, May 9-From a staff
correspondent of the Associated Press.
In the outskirts of the town. where
the small Spanish cottages cluster, 81
lent 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 a 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
battleship Maine in Havana harbor on
the night of February 18th There are
twenty four of them unmarked.
Above each mound of glistening white
limestone earth small American flag
droops in the fierce sun that beats in
cessantly down upon the island. The
flags are faded and frayed. When a
breeze comes UP from the ocean they
tlutter sadly for a moment, and again
droop to the scorched earth. In 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 dreary old SEX
ton. When she came here, about ten
days after the bodies were buried, and
put flowers on all the graves, 1 asked
her who she was, but she said No mat
ter
And these faded little flags and with
cred stems of flowers are all that mark
the resting places of the heroes of
whom the civilized world has been talk
inc
months ago. There is nothing else to
tell the stranger who passes through the
Potter's Field where the heroes of the
Maine are sleeping.
The space where the graves are was
evidently prepared in great haste. Near
the little white mounds on all sides are
unsightly heaps of litter and rubbish.
In one spot stands an old hearse,
weather-beaten and CHASTITY from its
very aspect of loneliness and decay. The
sexton said it had once been used as the
city hearse, but one day it broke down
While carrying a body to the Potter s
Field, and there it still stands.
Very close to the twenty-four mounds
is a group of thirtysix naval seamen
who died of yellow fever. The sexton
was unable to tell when they were
buried there. The names and the words
~. S. Navy" alone are carved upon 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 tropical species are all about the
newly made graves. On one side a
massive green cactus lifts it's PUPPY TO-
liage in the air. On the opposite side a
row of tropical trees refreshingly green
are in full blossom, and with every
breeze cover the sunburned mounds
with beautiful scarlet flowers.
Rarely does any one visit the place
1t is without care or attention. a bye
corner of the island, where for two cen
turtles Spaniards. negroes and fisher
! folk have put their dead and forgotten
| them. Perhaps one-half the graves in
the cemetery are those of unknown sail
ors whose sleeping places are unmark-
/ ed. Most Of the inscriptions on tomb
| stones are in Spanish.
| OF the tWenty-four who are buried
| here only two are identified They
were negro and a Japanese 1t is
probable that at some future time they
| may be removed to another burial place
/ II not, suitable monument will be
| erected to their memory