The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-07-08
ANDALISM In THE UNITED STATES
By FREDERIC J. HASKIN

matter of preserving such paners nc
we are about preserving landmarIs anS S
ole old buildings; When Washington died.
the relative to whom he willed all his
manuscripts gave bits here and there
TO trends of the late General, and even
soid large portion to an English col
iector The latter was repurchased,
however, by indignant Boston citizens
and preserved for the use of the ma
tlon, In the Library of Congress- in
washington are several mutilated let.
ters of Benjamin Franklin Is, one being
cut into tailor's pattern For long
wnlle the State records of Tennessee
lay IN a damp basement in the capitol
at Nashville, offering excellent mate.
rial for building fires or for nests for
mice, In late years enterprising citi
zens have caused the Legislatnre 70
make better provision for their keep.
ing.
lt is often ignorance or Indifference
rather than wantonness that provokes
acts Of vandalism, The bricks from
the OLD church at jamestown were re.
moved to make sea-wall to preserve
the land from the encroachment of the
waves of the river, with no thought
that the nation IS most important his
Iorlc monument was being dismantled
The baptlsmal font from the old church
at Gurle 8 Neck was used for a hominy
mortar for years, simply because no.
body knew what it was Some church
member finally rescued it, had it re-cut
and took 1t to Richmond The old ter
rltorial capitol of Wisconsin at Bel
mont is now a cow stable, and the old
home of Francis Scott Key in George
town. now part of Washington. is
SCARED and defaced with miscellane.
Gus signs, while fruit stand blocks
the entrance TO the lower floor,
The famous colonial Block House at
Fort Pitt, Pittsburg, was in fair way
to be torn down 10 make right of way
for railroad, until some pubic-spirit-
ed women influenced the Legislature to
preserve 1t as historic monument. The
Daughters of the American Revolution
have also preserved the stones from old
Fort Steuben from further desecration
by builders, by having them restored TO
their original site and held by deed
of their own. Graveyards have not
been spared by vandals. When death
took its heavy daily toll Of Americans
on board the terrible British prison
ships Of the Revolution, swinging at
anchor for seven years in New York
harbor, the bodies were buried on the
shores of Long Island. The waves soon
disturbed the bones and they were
kicked aside or taken up by collectors,
until O patriotic citizen employed the
children of the neighborhood to gather
them up and had them decently In.
tered
One of the most fagrant instances of
vandalism on record is the alteration of
the inscriptions on the gravestones, and
the shifting Of the markers from grave
to grave in Christ churchyard, A1exan-
dria. Someone who was clever with the
use of n stone-cutter' tools has perpe-
trated a ghastly joke by placing the
figure "1" before many of the figures
telling the age, of those inferred there;
making "1S,' for example, read
"llS.' Anyone having such a per
verted sense of humor deserves 10 be
put in Jail,
Unintentioual vandalism has caused
confusion in more than one cemetery.
With the hest possible intentions Bos-
ton official many years ago rearranged
the tombs in old Kings Chapel bury
ing ground to suit his own fancy He
thought they looked best in rows, and
placed them that way Now no one
can exactly locate the graves of such
Prynne. 1t is this same unintentional
spirit that has worn away part of
the good work of cart in the Smith
sonian Institution, each visitor placing
a hand on the cart to get better view,
and so wearing away the grain
Possibly we inherit this spirit, An
cient inscriptions on Egyptian monu'
ments are often deciphered as the pleas
antries or criticisms of Greek and Ro
man visitors. Justin tells us that even
until the days of Augustus the tools
used for making the famous Wooden
Horse for the scige of Troy were grave
ly exhibited by a collector, Washing
ton Irving in his Sketch Book re
fcrs to that phase of national spirit |
which provoked vandalism in West
minister Abbey, depriving Edward the |
Confessor of his scepter, and the cffgy
of Henry V of it's head.