The San Francisco call., 1898-10-09

great historical places in the West In- dies, Mexico and other American coun- tries. Besides, l intended to try to solve, among other questions, that of the true resting place of the bones of Columbus. San Domingo l visited during December, 1890, and January, 1891. Highest credentials from the German Government opened me wax; besides, the ecclesiastical and civil au- thorities of San Domingo consented gladly that a foreign and entirely dis interested scholar might judge upon their case. Since the discovery of the remains such an investigation had never been made nor permitted, as only few days after the first inveStiga- tion the remains, together with their leaden case had been placed in a glass case and sealed up with many official seals of the Government and the church, as well as of all the foreign Consuls.
 My investigation took place Sunday, January Il, 1891, in the cathedral in the presence of all the ecclesiastical digni- tarieS, COnSuls and military and civil officers. After each of them had been convinced that his seal, stamped upon the glass case in 1877, was untouched, all seals were broken and the leaden case taken out. My examinations were  to me the most important object to ob- tain exact copies of all inscriptions to be found on the caSket, as Spanish au- thorities had declared the character of those inscriptions to be quite modern, and therefore unmistakable proofs of fmposture. It should be stated however, that most of those authori- ties based their opinions upon poor and very fneXact copies, which served as illustrations in one of the first reports upon the discovery. Those copies I found differed very much from the orig inals, and therefore 1 made with most scrupulous care the copies, reproduc- tions of which are presented herewith.
 The question now arises, Does the character of the inscriptions resemble the writing of the first half of the six teenth century, the time when the casket and its inscriptions are sup posed to have been made? I give here a few autographs of celebrated Span iards who lived in the first half of the sixteenth century. Other autographs from the same period may be found in Winsor's Narrative and Critical His reader may point out every letter of the casket inscriptions in the autographs | also. A peculiar shape the letter has in the inscriptions upon the top of the casket. It resembles a modern K We find the same standing for the letter
 
 the autographs of Francisco Pizarro and Hernandez de Biedma. It is also to be found in autographs of Hernando Cortes, King Ferdinand and others.
 A few words about the inscriptions in general: When the removal of the re- mains of Christopher Columbus and his son Diego took place the ashes of both men were transferred from the original collins to two small leaden cases of the same make. Now. can 1t be imagined -r, ii as the discoyerer of the New World had been left without any visible marks or inscriptions by means of which mis- takes might be avoided? This thought must be strongly rejected. It is only natural that the case in which repose the remains of the great admiral was distinguished by fitting inscriptions which might enable easy identification also in later centuries. As in no official document is it stated that the leaden tablets taken by the Spaniards out of the vault in 1795 had any mark or in scription, it must therefore be regarded as strongest proof that the tomb emp tied at that time never inclosed the pre- cious ashes of the discoverer of Amer ica.
 Mention should be made of the ball which was found, together with the small silver plate, among the mold and dust in the case. Nobody has hitherto given great importance to it's being there. But it seems to me that some weight must be attached to 1t. Describ- ing the awful hardsbips of his fourth and last voyage. Columbus says: My wound opened again, and for nine days all hope was gone to keep me alive
 This shows that Columbus in some former days was wounded At what time this happened we do not know; it was probably during his earlier voyages in the Mediterranean Sea or to Guinea. It may be that during those adventur- ouS trips he received a gunsnot and that the ball remained in his body till his end.
 If, as the Spanish authorities would have us believe, fraud was committed by the Archbishop of San Domingo, what reasons could have induced him to put such ball into the casket, which ball, up to my investigations. never before was brought in any connection with the above mentioned passage of Columbus letter? Furthermore, what interest should lead the Archbishop and the other dignitaries of the cathedral at San Domingo to commit such grave fraud, by which neither they nor their church had any profit?
 To sum up. all reasons point most strongly to the probability that Lieu tenant General Aristazabal, in 1795. when he dug for the remains Of Chris topher Columbus. made a mistake and opened not the vault of the admiral but that of his son Diego, buried only a few inches distant from his father The error of the Spaniards lay in their igno- rance that there were two vaults close together, and that, as Moreau de St. Mery only a-few years before had stated. mot mausoleum. not monu-
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