The Savannah morning news., 1903-03-03
IN HONOR OF WESLEY
TABLETS WILL BE PUT ON CUSTOM
HOUSE AND POsTOFFICE.
TO BE OF BRONZE OF MARBLE.
PERMISSION GRANTED THROUGH
RESOLUTION BY SENATOR BACON.

Tablet on Custom House VIII be on
Southwest Corner Facing on Bull
Street-That on POstOfIice to be
Near Corner of President nnG
whitaker Streets-Must Not Ex-
coed Four Feet Square and In
scription Must be Approved by
Secretary of Treasury - Custom
House Stands on Site Where Wes-
ley Preached His First Sermon in
America Preached for Eighteen
Months in Building That stood on
PostOfTice Lot.
Both the Custom House and post
Office of Savannah will be marked with
a white marble or a bronze tablet
concentrating the labors of John
Wesley, conducted on the sites now
occupied by these buildings. The tab
let's are to be prepared and placed in
position by the Methodists of Savan-
nah as a part of the programme to
celebrate the bi-centennial of the birth
of Wesley, which is to be held in Sa-
vannah June %.
The tablets must not exceed four
feet square, and the inscription each
is to bear must first be approved by
the Secretary of the Treasury. That
on the Custom House must be placed
on the southwest corner, facing on Bull
street, while that on the postoffice will
be placed near the corner of the build
ing at Whitaker and Presidents streets.
pxxh Inf
The idea in selecting the places for
the tablets was to have them as near
as possible to the sites of the build
ings used by Wesley. The tablet to be
placed on the Custom House will COM
memorate the fact that in a public
building which had been erected by
Oglethorpe on that site John Wesley
preached his first sermon in America,
March I, 1886. The postoffice is to be
marked because in a public building,
which also had been erected by Ogle-
thorpe and stood on that site, Wesley
preached periodically from May 9, 1876,
to Nov. 81, 1877.
The monument committee of Savan-
nah Methodists had been in corre-
spondence for some time with Senators
Bacon and Clay, and with Congress-
man Rufus E. Lester, relative to Sc
Cul1IlS tue lIIdl has NOW
been granted. First application was
made to the Secretary of the Treasury
but as he said he had not the au-
thority to grant the request, Senator
Bacon introduced a joint resolution
that the necessary authority be grant,
ed and this was passed.
The Committee Gratifled.
Information to this effect was re-
ceived yesterday from Congressman
Lester who in a letter to Mr.. w. H.
Fifer, secretary of the monument
committee, enclosed letter from the
Secretary of the Treasury giving the
desired permission and specified the
maximum size of the tablets and the
positions that they may be placed in.
The gentlemen in charge of the
preparations for the bi-centennial
are gratified with the action of Con-
gress, is had permission to place the
ia blets been refused they had intended
to place a monument to Wesley in the
Court House Square, and such a me-
mortal would not only have been more
expensive than those proposed, but
would have taken much greater time
to prepare as well.
The questions as to whether bronze
or marble shall be used for the tablets
and the wording of the inscriptions for
them will be settled at a meeting of
the committee to be held the latter
part of this week or possibly Sunday
afternoon.