Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-13
THE DEAD PRESIDENTS
Proposition to Remove Re-
mains to Arlington
BEFORE CONGRESS
WHERE THE DUST OF THE ILLUS
TRIoUs MEN REPosE.
States Not Likely to Relinquish Their
Claims-Previous Attempts to
Effect Transfer.

Twenty men have in turn been elected
President of the United States. Five men
who were elected Vice President have
come into the highest Office through the
death of the head of the nation. OF these
| twenty-five men so honored twenty-three
have responded to the final summons.
bill is now before Congress looking to the
gathering into Arlington cemetery of the
dust of these dead Presidents Of the United
States. Not everybody can name the
twenty-three or tell where the honored dead
lie sleeping. Most of them are inferred AT
| their old homes, among the friends of their
youth.
The tomb of Washington has been the
mecca of the patriot for many years. The
last resting places of Lincoln. the liberia.
tor of Grant, the soldier President, and
of Harrison and Mckinley are probably
known to all, but the world little notes
nor long remembers the going of its great
men. Their deeds remain embalmed in ms
tory. but their dust might have been scat
tered to the four winds of heaven for aught
the great world knows.
The resolution before Congress. in its
provisions for the removal to the national
capital of the remains of those who once
presided over the destinies of the country.
excerpts the name of Washington. who it Is
well known, sleeps in the spot OF his own
selection. at Mt. Vernon. Even if Wash
ington had not expressly and explicitly dl-
rected where his body should lie in death, il
is not at all likely that Virginia would ever
consent to give up the sacred dust of her
distinguished son. Nor is 1t any more
probable that Illinois would yield to tn
request for the dust of Lincoln, Ohio OF
Garfield or Mckinley, or Indiana her Har-
risons. So ii is with the other states. They
feel a proprietary right in their honorad
dead, and would not yield these up to other
keeping.
MANY ATTEMPTS have been made to have
the remains of Washington placed in the
gloomy mausoieum under the dome of the
Capitol. but these have always failed. ana
probably the matter will never again be
preached.
Mt Vernon. which Washington loved, is
one of the most beautiful spots In the
United States. In a great marble sarcopha-
gus, bearing the coat-of-arms of the United
States and festooned flags in exquisite
sculpture. is the dust Of the first President
OF the United States. Inaugurated April 30
1889, Washington served two terms, dying
two years later, December IA, 1879. at Mt.
Vernon. This great marble coffin bears the
single deeplycut word-"Washington. BY
its side is another marble coffin, where
Martha Washington" also sleeps.
A single block of Pennsylvania marble.
eight feet in length and two feet in height,
is followed out for each sarcophagus. They
were made from a design by William
Strickland. the sculptor being John Struth-
ers of Philadelphia, and were presented to
the relatives of Washington by Mr.. Strick-
land.
AS ordered by Washington in his will, his
body taken from the old vault at Mt.
Vernon and placed in the new one upon its
completion. This occurred October Z, 1887.
On the archway is a plain marble slab on
which is inscribed: within this Enclosure
rest the remains of General George Wash
ington.' and that is ALL except line or two
of Scripture a tablet within.
Elder and Junior Adams.
J, I'll obi e;, a,,;
taph is that of John Adams, the second
President of the United States, and that of
his son, John Quincy Adams. In Quincy,
Mass, under the portico of the Stone Tenn
pie" or Unitarian Church, are the tombs
of the Adamses, father and son, the second
and the sixth Presidents of the United
States.
The tomb is in the cellar under the por-
tico, which forms the entrance to the
church. and is an apartment walled up with
huge blocks of roughly hewed granite. over
it is a granite slab. which has great iron
hinges of rust-eaten wrought iron, and a
huge paddock in its clasp Within the rock
ribbed home the body of John Adams
lies in lead casket incased in a single
block of hewn-out granite. Over this tomb
an odd Gothic structure has been built 1t
has tower and a peaked roof supported
by four pillars. In the church big me-
mortal tablet, at the right of the pulpit, re-
cites the NOUOTS OF ADAMS, MS Dlrtn ana
death, and above it is a fine bust executed
by Greenough
The epitaph on this tablet tells Of an era
in history that it is meet to remember to-
day. Beneath these walls" it says, "are
deposited the mortal remains of John
Adams, son OF John and Susanna (Boylston)
Adams, second President of the United
States. Born October 80 1875. On the
Fourth day of July. 1916. he pledged his
life, fortune and sacred honour to the in
dependence of his country. On the third of
September, 1873. he affixed his seal to the
definite treaty with Great Britain. which
acknowledged that independence, and con-
summated the redemption of his pledge On
the Fourth of July, 1926, he was sum-
moned to the independence of Immortality
and to the judgment of his God This
house will bear witness to his piety; this
town, his birthplace. to his munificence:
history to his patriotism; posterity to the
depth and compass of his mind
Then follows a long inscription to his
wife, Abigail Adams.
This memorial was erected by John
Quincy Adams who only a few years later
was laid to rest in the same vault, with !
his wife at his side. In turn, his son, Rev |
c. F. Adams, erected a marble tablet in |
the Stone Temple" which occupies posi- |
ton at the left of the pulpit. 1t recites that |
John Quincy Adams was the son of John |
and Abigail (Smith) Adams; that he was |
the sixth President of the United States, |
born July IL, 1867, and that on the 24th |
of December. 1914. he signed the second |
treaty with Great Britain which restored |
peace within her borders. 1t relates in |
conclusion that ''on the 23d of February, |
1S4S, he closed sixteen years of eloquent |
defense of the lessons of his youth by dying |
at his post in her great national council"
This last has reference to his being
stricken with death while in his seat in the I
old House of Representatives A brass ,
plate bearing his name marks the spot |
where he fell.
The Third President.
Thomas Jefferson, the third President i
of the United States, sleeps under the trees |
at Monticello, his old home, near Char |
lottesville, Va Aliens own the old place, |
but reverence the honored dead. The fami- |
ly cemetery in which the Jeffersons sleep is |
surrounded by a brick wall about ten feet /
high. On the north side. in a shaded Sc |
cllded spot. Jefferson's body servant, |
Warmely, dug the grave of his old master, |
according to instructions left by Jefferson. !
The monument that was placed above the |
grave was of coarse granite 1t was de- 1
signed by Jefferson himself, as was also /
the inscription: Here lies buried Thomas
Jefferson, Author of the Declaration of In
dependence; of the Statute of Virginia for