Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-02
RELICS OF COLUMBUS
They Are Very Numerous in
the City of Seville.
SIX YEARS HIS HOME
AN UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT
OF THE GREAT DIsCOvERER.
Books From Which He Obtained His
Belief in the Rotundity of Earth
Whereabouts Of His Remains.
SIX YEARS HIS HOMI
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM 1Oh1lo.
| Special Correspondence of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record-Hersld
SEVILLE, November %, 1908.
| For a wonder no one has shown us a
| house in which Cervantes lived, and no
body has claimed that Don Quixote' was
| written in Seville. This is the first city in
| Spain we have visited that does not claim
| these honors At the Historical Society in
! Madrid we were shown the only existing
| autograph of Cervantes, but here In the
! Biblioteca Colombia, which was founded by
| Fernando Columbus, son of 1.-The great ad-
| miral of the ocean seas as they call him
| in the official documents, they have long
| letter written by Cervantes to friend, two
| charming sketches of the prison and the
hospital of this city, a story of the prison
| of Seville and several other papers in his
| handwriting
| These are extremely interesting because
they show his method of work. and among
| the archives of the Indies there is a letter
| written by him to King Philip II asking for
| a reward or pension for the hand he lost
| at the battle of Lepanto. The king wrote
| few lines on the margin, referring the COM
| municaton to the council of the Indies,
which had nothing whatever to do with
| such matters, but had jurisdiction only
| over the affairs of America. 1t is difficult
| to tell whether the reference was due to
| carelessness or design, but the communica-
| ton went to the place directed. and still re-
mains among the archives of the American
| colonies with the reports OF Pizarro con-
| corning his operations in Peru, in the ma n
| uscript of his secretary, for he never
| learned to write, but signed them with his
| mark. as a labOrer the railroad signs
| the pay roll.
| Relics of Columbus.
The relics of Columbus are numerous and
/ into TING fnr ba lnra
| years. and for more than thirty years Sc
! vile was the home of his son Fernando, an
| able and upright citizen, a. learned scholar
| and good soldier for he fought with
| Charles V in Italy Flanders and Germany
| The house in which he lived was torn down
many years ago to make way for some
] public improvements but part of his gar
den remains, and in 1t there is the stump
| of a tree which tradition says was brought
| as slip from the new world by the great
| discoverer. AS told you in a previous let
| ter, Don Fernando bequeathed his library
| OF 1000 volumes and his ashes to the ca
thedral he loved so well. AS he was dying
| he cast dust over his head and said hum
Oily: "Memento homo quia pulvis es ct in
| pulverfem reverteris.'
the library of Fernando Columbus must
| nave been one of the most valuable in the
world at the time Of his death, and we
KNOW that 1t was highly priced, because
otherwise his body would not have been
| pui ieu' DeIoTe the great altar In the Cathe-
| diai He left large sum of money in
| trust, the interest upon which was to be
| appiled 10 It's care and increase, but dur
| ing the $40 years that followed the prin-
| clpal was diverted to other uses the books
We're neglected, many of them were miss
| Ing and 1t was not until 1885, when Henry
Harr1sse the famous American scholar and
historian; called public attention to the
| matter that the Spanish government or
dered the minister of education to look into
| the matter
He appointed a librarian, who gathered
| up the precious volumes that were heinr
kicked about repaired the shelves. made q
catalogue, and has since kept them in an
pie-pie order But comparison with the
catalogue left In the handwriting of Fer
nando Columbus shows that at least one
| third of the books are missing and among
| them several volumes of inestimable value
| Among those missing is a manuscript on
the new world by Fernando Columbus HIM
| self.
Tomb of Fernando Columbus.
The epitaph upon the slab of marble that
covers his bones under the floor of the
cathedral pays him a high tribute for 1t
reads:
Here rests the most magnificent
| Senior Don Fernando Colon
who applied and spent all of his life and estate in
AIDING to the letters and collecting and
| ing in this city all his books.
OF an the sciences which he found in his time,
He died in tbs city on the he 18th Of july 1890
at the age Of fifty years. nine months and fourteen
| days.
He was son Of the valiant and memorable
senior Don Christopher Colon. the first admiral,
who discovered the Indies and the New World
IN the lifetime of their Catholic majesties -
Don Fernando and Dona Isabel Of glorious men,
| ory, tz.,--f .-l--, -
| on the 18th of October, 1892,
with three gslleys and ninety people,
cry on the "a Of August previous. and returned to
Castle. with victory. the 7th Of May, the fol.
lowing year.
He returned twice to the people that he had dis.
| covered.
he died in valladolid on the Goth of August.
1908, aged -
/ Entreat the Lord for them.
Beneath this 10 described In a circle q
| globe, presenting the western and part of