Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-06-22
WHAT THE VANDAL DOES
HE OvERRUNs THE NOTED PLACES
OF THE CAPITAL.
Everywhere Leaves His Destructive
TOuch-SOuvenir Seekers and the
Ruin They Cause.
Written for The Evening Star.

Nearly every tourist who visits Washing
ton wants to take away souvenir. Sou
venir stores in the national capital are as
plenty as saloons, but your true souvenir
hunter wants something that he has culled
himself. By preference he will hammer,
hew or slice it off from some monument or
landmark. That is why it costs Uncle Sam
a young fortune to guard his treasures of
history, wonder and beauty. Whatever
public building you enter, your cane, UNI
brella or whatever you may have that
would make good hammer is taken from
you and checked; and at the Congressional
Library and Corcoran Art Gallery you are
watched very closely, lest you might get
an opportunity to use your heels. These
two places are particularly enticing to the
vandal. with all their statuary and carved
marble.
Unfortunately the Washington monument
has not been 50 well guarded, consequent
ly it is badly SCARED by the depredations
of the souvenir fiends. Inside it is very
dim in spots, the light being supplied by an
occasional incandescent lamp, along the
stairway 1t is in this atmosphere that
vandalism fourishes. Like white squares
amid the blacks of huge checker board
stand the memorial slabs presented by
the states in the Union at the time of the
monuments erection, and by the societies
and organizations of the country wishing
their names to be immortaliZed at the ma
tional capital. There are more than $50 of
these. and many of them in a distress
full condition of mutilation. Missing heads
arms, legs and drapery from the statuary
pear eloquent witness to the appreciation
OF visitors who were so favorably impressed
with the monument that they couldn't tear
themselves away without taking something
with them to remember it by. Just exactly
what value, real or sentimental, the left
ear lobe of the Goddess of Prosperity for
instance, can have for any person is hard
for sane man to understand. Somebody
got 1t, however.
Most of the slabs presented by the states
bear simply names and dates in large, bold
letters that defy umbrellas and the like,
and these remain untouched save by pen
ellis that mark their owners names only
to have their traces washed off on the next
cleaning day. But of the delicate carving
there is little left. The handsomest slab,
though one of the smallest measuring
3 by feet, is that presented by the Ameri-
can Medical Association representing a
group of the fathers of medicine. 1t is
about midway up the monument, about
where climbers rest, and about four feet
from the fioor--a convenient reach. Hence
the condition of the figures-two headess
and three armleSS. Two landings above is
a slab representing a locomotive. The
locomotive looks as if it had got the worst
of collision. The souvenir hunters did
1t. Not far away is large slab occupy
ing the center of one wall for a height of
SIX feet. In its present condition it would
do for puzzle picture. Before the enthu-
siastic tourists got at it with their umbrel-
las and canes 1t represented a fire engine
of the old type. volunteer fire depart
ment of some city presented it. Probably
the name of the city is in some old record
souvenir sharks got it. One thing that
they haven't got is the fine carving of a
pelican. the symbol of the state of Louis
lana. The reason is that instead of being
has relief, the pelican is carved into the
stone intaglio fashion, and no predatory
| umbrella can dig that out.
When most of the vandalism in the mon
ument occurred no one knows but if Drob-
ably took place before the checking svs-
TEN was there, compelling visitors to leave
all potential implements of destruction be-
lore going up the monument. Great pro-
test against this order is made by the cam
era fiend, who generally wants to take a
d's-eye view of the city from the top of
the monument. But he has to do his best
without his tripod, for that triple crowbar
stays below with the umbrellas and canes.
AT Mount Vernon there is a small army
of "spotters' on the lookout for the worker
OF souvenir iniquity. A quarter admission
Is charged, and the money goes to defray
the expense of guarding the place. In
Washington's old home there is one thing
that strikes the notice by it's contrast to
the prevailing simplicity. 1t is the cary led
mantelpiece of Carrara marble in the din
inS room. One who is not a vandal can
not gaze upon it without anathematiZing
the whole race of relic seekers. Even with
watchers in every room some individual
ihdildStu " get III MS WOTk ana Knock
off the head of a galloping deer in the cen
ter of the group. The animal remained
headless for months. Then one day back
came the head in little box, postmarked
Paris. The culprit had realized the evil of
his ways, the villainy of his vandalism
Said the accompanying note: 1T did not
occur to me in my own country where
everything is perfectly preserved the
outrage that it is to mutilate historic places
for relics. Here nothing is preserved; ev-
Eythng is Clipped and married and broken
by travellers like myself ! return here
with, etc. Signed-nOt at all.
The head was stuck on, the glue stained
the marble, and the milk-white deer has a
yellow streak around his neck