The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-07-26

l t1795. at the close of the war between France and Spain, the last named coun- | try ccded this island 10 the French, but | decided to first remove the bones of the | tardily y-appreciated Columbus tu Cuta, rather than to allow them to rest Un- der foreign flag Accordingly Span ish fleet proceeded to Santo Domingo and amid imposing ceremonies a vault in the cathedral was opened. and small leaden casket containing few bones, supposed to be those of Chris topher Columbus, was taken out and conveyed to Havana, where it was bur | jed in the cathedral of that city. with the greatest pOmp and most solemn rites, and there it remained bundred years, until after the recent fra"as be- tween Spain and Uncle Samuel when 1 the latter unwsely allowed the Dons to take away everything of value-includ- ! ing the precious box of bones, which , they carried back to their own country. The strangest thing about it is that there are grave doubts in the minds of many as to whether the disCOyerers' re- mains were ever disturbed after their burial in Saint Domingo. nearly five centuries ago. Those who have given the matter most careful attention be- l lieve that q mistake was made at the second removal, and that it was the bones of his son, Diego, which were carried to Cuba and have ever since been so extraordinary hOnored. Diego Columbus was not a son to be altogeth- l CT proud of; yet he seems to have play ed conspicuous part in the early his- tory of Santo Domingo, and to have represented his illustrious father in other important occasions. as well as in the coffin. He came out from Spain with a retinue of followers, in 1909 to rule the island which his father had 1 found. He built magnificent palace, 1 Gas palaces went in those days) near the city gate, and crowded it with gay young courtiers; and on the hill above 1t he erected it's antipodes-a monastery for Francesans. a rigorous order that had always defended the Columbus 1 family. and filled it with gray-cowled monks. So rapidly did the city grow in wealth and consequence that even in that early day it was nearly as large and much more alive than the sleepy old town of to-day. with it's present population of thirty thousand or there abouts.
 Generally the first thing traveller does on landing at Santo Domingo is to visit the Columbus cathedral. where possibly the dust of Amerca's discov- erer still reposes. It occupies one side of the main plaza-and a picturesque pile it is, with it's domes and belfries. and grand hall arched and groined and numerous little chapels to all the saints in the calendar The rusty bells, as old as the church itself, are rung by ropes that hang down on the outside of the building. Their discordant clamor on the sleepy summer air brings to mind visions of long lines of black-robed priests under shovel hats. and san- dalled monks In cowls and hempen girdles, shuffling down through the centuries to the matin and vesper call of the bells. There is an old cross in the cathedral, so gnawed by "the in- siduous tooth of Time" that it looks like bOne-said to be the identical one which the first monks of the order of San Francisco de Assis, sit up over the chapel built at the rivers mouth in 1492 1 The original cross was lent to the Co., lumbian centennial in Spain, and safe ly returned to it's richtful place; but when it was again requested for the Columbus exhibit at the worlds fair in Chicago. '. S. A.. an accurate copy was made and sent instead-the treas ured bit of wood being too sacred to trust to the hands of heretic nation. Scores of fine old paintings, the work of famous Spanish masters. line the moldy walls, and all the dim acoves and chapels are fairly packed with the bones of nobles knights, cOurtiers and soldiers, who came over from Old Cas- tile in the fifteenth century to help set the new world going.
 Until about twenty years ago nobody doubted that the remains of Christo- pher Columbus were taken from this cathedral and sent to Havana. Tn making repairs here. close beside the vault that had been vacated, a second little vault was discovered containing a time-stained leaded casket, precisely like that which had been taken from it's side. three quarters of century before When the mold had been rubbed out of the inscriptions. that on the outside read: ID. de la s. Per. Ate; and on the inside "Illtre Els do Baron Du lCristoval Colon" which, freely translat-
 ed means. ITO the ilustrOus and es- Iteemed Baron Don Christopher COlum-
 bus" Astonished at this wonderful dis covery, the Catholic fathers immediate ly informed the island authorities, who
 hastily called together tha representa-
 tives of foreign countries in Santo DO-
 mingo. The combined hody of church
 and state, after making careful ex-
 animation, took and oath that to the best of their knowledge and be'i~f. theso
 were the remains of the great discov- lerer himself, and that the Spaniards of 1795 had by mistake removed to Ha-
 vana the bones of Diego Colon. The
 leaden casket was then placed in a glass case and carefully sealed with the
 consular seal of England Germany
 France, Spain, Italy and the United
 States and several of the South Amer