Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1905-12-28
TIE SEARCH FOR A HERO.
Beginning of Search that Brought
to Light Paul Jones' Remains.


There had now been fully estab-
lished by authentic documents and
convincing corroboratlve evidence the
fact that the st. Louis cemetery was
the actual burial place of Paul Jones;
that he had been buried in leaden
coffin; that the body had been pre-.
pared for transportation to the United
States; that the coffin had never been
removed by legitimate means. and
that there was no probability that it
had been carried away by stealth or
had been stolen.
After having studied the manner
and place of his burial and contem-
plated the circumstances connected
with the strange neglect Of his grave,
one could not help feeling panied be-
yOnd expression and overcome by a
sense of profound modification. Here
was presented the spectacle of a hero
whose fame once covered two CONT
nents and whose name is still an in
ing for more than century in for
gotten grave like an obscure Outcast,
relegated to oblivion in a squalid
quarter of distant foreign city,
buried in ground once consecrated. but
since desecrated by having been used
at times as garden, with the molder-
ing bodies Of the dead fertilizing its
market vegetables, by having been
covered later by common dump pile,
where dogs and horses had been
buried, and the soil was still soaked
with polluted water from undralned
laundries; and as a elimination of
degradation, by having been occupied
by contractor for removing night
soil.
1t recalls the remark once made by
a gallant naval officer: when we
give up our lives in the service of oul
country we do not ask that our grave.
be kept green, but we should like t.
have them kept clean"
Having collected all the facts nee
essary to justify an immediate at
tempt to remove the remains from
such offensive surroundings and secure
for them appropriate sepulcher in
America, l was about to open nego-
tiations quietly with the prOprietorS
and tenants who occupied the prop
erty with view to purchasing the
right to enter upon the premises and
make the necessary excavations in or
der to explore thoroughly the ceme-
{np 70 fIlp n fol ~
this intention became publicly known
through the indiscretion of persons
whom it had been necessary to con
suit. Self-constituted agents immedi-
ately began to busy themselves with
circulating fantastic stories regarding
the fabulous prices that were to be
paid for the property, the whole of
which it was said was going to be
bought by rich government. at any
cost, as the only means of getting ac-
cess to the cemetery and making the
excavations necessary to find the body
Of its great admiral. Such represen-
tations naturally created intense ex-
citement, raised false hopes in the
minds Of those interested in the prop
erty, and rendered negotiations on a
practical basis entirely impossible.
This was altogether the most discour-
aging episode in the history Of the UNI
dertaking.
There was then but one course to
pursue however reluctantly, which
was to drop the matter entirely for a
couple of years in order to let the ex
element subside.
At the end Of that time negotiations
were quietly opened upon the basis of
purchasing the right to explore the
abandoned cemetery by means of sub
terranean galleries, provided that all
damages to houses should be repaired.
any victims of disease caused by foul
emanatiOns from the disturbed soil
Unidentified, and the property restored
to it's former condition. After series
of prolonged and tedious negotiations,
appeals to the public spirit of the oc
cupants of the property and an as
surance that the government had
made no appropriation or taken any
action in the matter, and that the
work was simply an individual under
taking, l at last succeeded in prOcur-
ing options in writing from all con
cerned granting the right for three
months to enter upon the premises and
make the necessary excavations
From General Horace Porter's The
Recovery of the Body of John Paul
Jones" in the Century.
An VTnfOreseen ObHtacle.