Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-28
FOR GOVERNMENT USE
Property Bought From Catholic
Church in Havana.
CRITICISM OF PURCHASE
Considered by DISTINGUISHED Bargain
for the Authorities.
CONTROVERSY OVER COLUMBUS
Probable That His Bones Rest in
santo Domingo-Massacre Of
the Cuban Students.
CONTROVERSY OVER COLUMBUS
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
of Tho Star and the Oh

BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.
Record Herald.
HAVANA, March g. 1907.
With the approval of the authorities at
Washington, Gov. Magoon has purchased
several valuable pieces of property in Ha-
vana from the Catholic Church which have
been occupied by the government under
lease for many years. A contract for the
purchase at a price fixed by commission
of experts was made with Bishop Sbaretti
by Gov. Gen. Wood in 1901. The most i'm
portant piece is ancient church and
monastery built in 1875 by the Franciscan
Fathers and occupied by them until 1s41,
when it was taken over by the Spanish
government and has since been used for
custom house The church Is warehouse;
the refectory is occupied by the clerks, and
the collector has his desk in the former
office of the prior.
The next important building is the uni
versity originally erected by the Dominican
Fathers in 1878, and reconstructed in 1921.
There are also the docks used by the gov
eminent for the landing of dutiable freight
and passenger luggage, building used by
the Academy of Sciences, upon which the
Palma government spent $4,000 in improve
ments; an old academy, building used by
police headquarters, and half a million
dollars worth of lands in Santiago prov
lnCe, at the Otner end or the island. Inc
buildings in Havana were appraised at
81, 419 $50 in 1901, and since that time the
government has been paying per cent Of
that amount annually for rental Under
the contract 25 per cent of this rental is to
be deducted from the purchase price, MAX
ing the entire cost 81 ,932, 143, of which
81 900 900 is TO be paid in cash before the LIST
of July and the balance in equal monthly
nstallments of 100000 thereafter.
The transaction has been criticised, and
probably will be criticised still more, but
| disnterested people say that the govern
ment has made very good trade. for the
property has increased in value since the
| contract was made by Gen. Wood. The
| church was offered a considerable advance
| by a syndicate of spectators only few
| months ago. 1t is all in use, and Is needed
| for public purposes, although the buildings
| are oldfashioned, inconvenient and con-
| sderably out of repair. Col. Black of the
army, who is acting as minister of pubic
works, has already made plans for their
reconstruction, especially the monstrous old
monastery which Is a gloomy pile, with
walls six feet thick and covering a large
area.
Alleged Remains Of Columbus.
La Cathedral de la Virgen Maria de la
| Conception" in which one of the two al
| legged collins of Columbus rested until the
| evacuation of Cuba by Spaniards, is no
| longer as interesting as 1t used to be, be-
| cause the bones of the old gentleman who
discovered us have been taken away, and
| the tablet which covered them is no longer
| to be seen. They have gone back to Seville,
| and are now resting under a costly sar-
| cophagus of marble in the beautiful cathe-
| dral of Seville. 1t is to be hoped that they
are at rest at last. This is the second time
| Columbus has been buried in Sevlle-as-
| Stunning that the Spanish set of bones is
genuine, which is exceedingly uncertain.
| Columbus died in the city of Valladolid
where, after the death of Isabella, he was
waiting tardy justice from the hands of
King Ferdinand. He had sent in a long
petition setting forth the terms of his con-
tract, made at Granada in 1892, and appeal
ing for at least a portion of the moneys
that We're due him and the honors that
were promised him to comfort his declining
full entreates. He evidently did not read
the document at all, and the only public
record of the death of the man who gave
Spain her greatest glory consists of sin
gle line written on the back of this paper
by a clerk. 1t reads: