The Savannah morning news., 1901-01-12

Moved Only by the sight of Grave
stones in Cuba.
From the New York Commercial.

StoheS an NunA.
From the New York Commercial.
special cab from London recites that
an Italian promoter named Korta recent
ly arrived there with the famous Carrara
marble quarres for sale and found a
ready purchaser In the Hon. Redheld
Proctor of Vermont, who sent an agent
over with Sl0,00Oo00 to take on" the prop
critics. This gives the Senator, in con-
nection with his Vermont holdings,
practical monopoly in the statuary and
building marble trade for he can easily
control the worlds output of the stuff
and the same is true of the commoner
grades, styled by some "mortuary" mar
bRes-the sort used for gravestones, urns,
cemetery copings, steps gate posts and
SO on. 1t has even been limited in some
quarters OF the trade that the foxy Red
field is about to corner" the statuary
marble market, so as to break into the
Hail of Fame in that way.
Nobody" he might say to the judges,
shall have bust or statue unless you let
me in. too"
former United States senator from
one of the Western states, sitting with
small party of friends in the University
Club reading room last night. remarked
that personally Proctor's interest in ony-
thing marble amounts almost to affection,
Why he explained, II was with the
Nermonter on committee junket 20 Cuba
in 1892 and although everything in Ha-
vana was novel and highly interesting to
most of us-and 1T was Proctors first
visit there--nothing moved him 20 any ex-
preston of admiration or even passing
interest. He was as stolid as sphinx.
zone fine afternoon, just after a heavy
shower, we were all out driving IN open
carriages, perhaps twenty in the party,
4v..l IL
tor in calash al the head of the process
sion. The streets in the shopping dis
trict are very narrow--no room for one
vehicle to pass another between the curbs
or footpaths-so when one stopped the
whole procession was held up.
in OReilly street this narrowness was
particularly embarrassing for nobody lik-
ed to hold the whole cavacade up when
ever two of us happened 10 want a drink
or cigar. At 'O'Reilly 9--they put the
number after the name of the street down
in Havana-we all alighted to buy Span
ish fans, but even those of the most out
re and diZzily suggestive designs failed
90 arouse the interest of Proctor or to
force a smile from him. Even when Fred
Dubois, of Idaho. offered him a half doz-
| en- choice selections FOR free distribution
among your Vermont constituents, Sena-
| tor the acknowledged Redfeld never
! funereal thanks.
Ten minutes la ter when our carriages
were all moving again at a rapid pace
and our guide had assured us that we
would soon be i'm a wider thoroughfare
| than O'Reilly, what should Proctor spy
but an undertaker's shop with a lot of
! cheap gravestones and diminutive monu-
ments in the yard at one side?
He got out of his coach, stopped the
| whole push went into the yard and be-
gan to fondle the advertising bric-a-brac
with both hands, giving an occasional
| kick to a footstone, just to see if 1t We're
solid or uncracked; then he changed his
eyeglasses for a pair of spectacles and
! scrutinized the grain of the marble very
closely, not forgetting to ask the under
taker the price of each piece and where
he got it, meanwhile his face fairly beam
| ed with satisfaction and keep pleasure,
despite the guying of his committee con-
freres, who insisted that he finally felt
al home with these tombstones, as II in
| the company of his Barre constituents!
For fully twenty minutes this sort OF
| things was kept up-and have no doubt
! that the great marble monopolist now
! looks back on that incident as the one
red-letter event in his ten days visit to
| Cuba. Talk about Pygmalion and Galatea!
! Why in the matter of infatuation for
statuary the sculptor king of Cyprus
wasn't in it a little bit with Redfed Proc
| tor of Vermont!