The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-05
OVER ToMocHIcHps GRAVE.
A GREAT BOULDER WILL SOON or
NAMENT WRIGHT SQUARE.

led, and Ii May Not, but 1t Is the
Most Suitable Place in the Square
for the BOuIder-TabIets to Mark
Historic spots in GeOrgia-F'irst
VIII he Placed at the Corner of
BrOushtOn and Whitaker Streets
to Commemorate the Erection of
the First Liberty POIe-Tnlk
About "A Monument to OglethOrpe.
When the annual meeting of the Georgia
Society of Colonial Danes is held here,
| in April, committees which were appointed
at the last annual meeting viii present
reports of an interesting character. 1t
Is particularly desired that the work the
committees have in hand may be pushed
to completion before the coming meet
ing, in order that the reports may be as
comprehensive as possible.
The most important of these committees
was that designated by the president Of
the society, Mrs. w W. Gordon, to take
up the matter of a monument to Tomo-
chichi, the friendly chief of the Yama-
craws whose offices were of such great
benefit to the early colonlsts. The work
Of this committee is well under way, and
IL viii be a matter of but few days, II
is thought, before che monument to the
old cheftain stands as nearly as possible
over the spot where tradition says his
bones rest.
This monument is to be no carved and
craven column of stone; no sculptured
marble; nor is a statue of bronze to mem
orialize his friendship for the earliest
Georg'ans. Himself cast in the mould of
nature and a rough, untutored son of the
forest it is deemed Inappropriate that any
work of art should mark the spot that
was his last resting place. Something as
wild and rugged in its untouched nature
as was the old Indian is desired by the
DANES to commemorate his life, so it was
decided that an unhewn boulder would be
the best and most appropriate marking
for the supposed grave.
The chairman of the committee was not
inactive day after her appointment She
began looking about to ascertain the best
means of providing this monument to
| Tomochichi. The means of the society
were limited, as it did not care to solicit
aid in its undertaking and had 20 rely
| upon the dues and fees of membership to
deffay the expenses. Mr.. w H. Venable
| heard of the project. however, and came
| to the assistance of the ladies' He Offered
to have boulder taken from Stone noun
tain and shipped to Savannah. The Off
clals or the Central Railroad We're Just
as generous and an arrangement was
mace Tor ITS transportation. 1t is under
stood that this boulder is now in the way.
one race of the stone will be smoothed
ana an inscription will be cut upon it,
setting forth the history of the monuments
erecuon ana tell to whose memory 1t
stands. bank of grass-grown earth will
be surrounded by coping. On this bank
| the boulder will be placed The ladies' have
not been advised regarding the dimensions
| or the boulder and are in ignorance as 10
whether it Is large or small. 1t will be
paced IN a position, however, where the
| exposure will be good and where there
| Will be but little obstruction from tho
| general view. This has been selected Drin
cfpally for this reason, as it is believed NV
most of the ladies' who have the matter
IN charge that the bones of the old In
dlan were buried a short distance away
But the spot under which they think /,
more likely his bones are resting does
not AFFORD the same advantages of loca
! ton, and for this reason the southeast
| quarter OF Wright square, that inmedi-
ately in front of the court house. is that
which has been selected for the boulder n
stand ~
| - lew HloHlhS ago an old LADY, who
| had been a resident of Savannah for paari,,
all of her SO years, died. Her nen,ar,,
often wandered back to her girlhood DAVIS
and her rompings and play in the squares.
| Near Wright square at that time there
was school that she attended. Come"
the children used to say when thew had
| been dismissed for their recess "let,s 90
play on old Tomochichfs grave" and or
| they would race to the spot that is ,,o,,
npf hsaa
| square or that just in front of the T.uth-
| eran church of the Ascension Thai was
! IN the days when the memory of the old
| chiettan was much greater in the minds
| of Savannahians, and il is regarded a.
| possible that oral traditions had preserved
until then the exact locality of Tomo-
! chichis interment
This evidence of the RESTING no. -
| the old Indian chief is looked lipon NV
/ the ladies as the most authentic they bave
/ There is another belief that he was b,,ried
! where the court house now stands An
other tradition has il that The C.ordo,,
monument stands above old Tomochicbi,s
burial place. If this is true the location
selected being in the square, will answer
about as well as any other
pile of stones formerly stood in U-right
square. These were also said to be above
the body of Tomochichi. If the story ,,,as
! true and these stones really marked tra
resting place of the old brave. then he
DANES viii not miss it far. for their bould-
err is to be very near where the stones aro
| said TO have been piled
Another committee of the society and
another chairman have been working in
dustriously along another line. This is
for the placing of bronze tablets WHERE
they VIII commemorate some incident Of
colonial history. These tablets are to he
placed at different points Throughout tho
state, but the first is to memorable an
historic spot here in Savannah. In the
wall of the building at the corner or
! Whitaker and Broughton streets WHORE
the Branch Estate has its grocery STORE
tablet is to mark the spot where Ton.
dee's tavern stood. 1t was,at this taver,,
that the patriotic meetings of times i'm
mediately preceding the revolution uero
held, and just In front Of it the first IN
erty pole In the colony was erected II e
the relation to the spot to this arst 90,
of independence that is to be comnep,o'
rated by the tablet. This has been order
ed. and is expected at any time
ant