The Washington herald., 1906-11-18
DEAD GIVE UP RELICS
Dissertation of Many Graves
at Jerusalem Is Charged.
AMERICAN CONSUL ATTACKED
Article to Appear in AppIetOn's
Magazine Makes Damaging Ac-
cUsatiOns Against Rev. SeIah Mer-
riII-BOdies Dumped Into Pit With
out knowledge of Relatives.
Decial to Tho Washington Herald

Special 70 The Washington Herald
New York. Nov. TZ-SensaUonaI charges
are made against Rev Selah Merrill, OF
AndoveT. Mass. the American consul gen
eral to Jerusalem. in an article written by
Alexander Hume Ford that will appear In
the December number Of Appleton's Mag
azine. The article. in part. says;
Rev. Selah Merrill, Of Audover. Mass.
early in the administration Of President
Arthur was appointed American consul
at Jerusalem. An enthusiastic ANTIGUA
rian, he made no secret that his desire for
the Office lay in the fact that it permitted
him 10 carry on such research In the Holy
Land. Early IN his career as consul he
selected the American cemetery at Jerusa-
lem as place TO dig for relics. and as ne
turned up the bones Of the dead in doing
sO-inciuding sometimes freshly inferred
bodies-the most bitter religious warfare
Jerusalem has known in century was
engendeFed. Unpleasant friction began
with the American colony. which finally
resulted IN the loss to that body Of all its
dead. who still lie in a jupbled heap in
an out-of-the-way pit.
Service Ii Abandoned
Consul MerrfITs successor under PresI-
dent Cleveland in his first administration
was another clergyman. Rev. Edwin 5.
Wallace.
1t Will seem incredible TO any Amer
lean eeader that our consul, a clergyman,
would have any part in the removal. at
the dead Of night, of the bodies Of his
frf7rtrr- ..fff
his charge. TO be dumped unceremoniously
into a common pit. c0ncealing its very
whereabouts from the knowledge Of the
friends and relatives of the dead
'',Sct only is this true. as documents on
file IN the State Department at Washing
ton Will prove. but it was only through
the British bishop and British consul at
Jerusalem that the members of the
American colony forced their consul 10
reveal TO them where their dead lay hid
den. and prevented him, again at the dead
OF night, from removing them 10 still
another spot About seventy years ago
the American Board OF Commissioners for
Foreign Missions purchased a buTying
ground upon Mount Zion. for the Ameri-
cans who died in Jerusalem
The graveyard was turned over to the
Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions,
ana the key was sent TO the American
consulate at Jerusalem, to be called for
by any Americans wishing to inter their
dead in such a Christian cemetery.
Was Native Of ireland.
This spot finally coming To be identi-
fed by the antiquaries as the veritable
site of the DoTmition de Ia Sainte
Vierge.' the Roman Catholic Church made
most tempting offers to secure the holy
ground In the course OF years ten Of
their dead had been buried in the Amert-
can cemetery, when once again the col
onists applied for the key, only 70 be
informed by the consul that the ceme-
terry had been sold and the dead removed
by Rev William X. Eddy. Of Sidon. rep
resenting the Presbyterian board
In vain the members of the American
colony appealed to the consulate at Jeru-
salem and 10 our Ambassador at Con-
stantinople. They were compelled at last
To turn 10 the British consul. who Off
cially demanded of the American consul
the whereabouts of the body of Capt Syl-
vester, j British subject, who had been
member of the colony
1T was found that the bodies had been
moved at the dead Of night by native
workmen, who had been paid shilling
apiece. They had dismembered the
bodies and forced them into packing
cases. the largest thirty by sixteen
inches, and some OF these containing the
bones of more than one body
Rev. Mr.. Merrill again became the
United States consul to Jerusalem when
President Cleveland retired from office.
and the American colony at Jerusalem
was again cut of from any communica-
ton with the consulate.