Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1908-11-25
BONES OF MARTYRS
GATHERED AT LAST
VICTIMS OF PRISON SHIP JERSEY
OF REVOLUTIONARY
FAME HoNoRED.
TALES OF HORROR REToLp FROM
MEMOIRS or THOSE WHO
SUFFERED.

/ New York, Nov. 15-After more
than a century of agitation by indiyid-
aals and organizations, bones repre-
senting approximately $4,000 martyrs
of the revolutionary war, who died
on the prise nship Jersey and other
lesser vessels in WaIlabout bay,
Brooklyn, lie at last in a fttingly
marked burial place, for which the
/ government. New York state and hun
dreds of individuals made contribu-
lions. An imposing Doric column OF
/ granite, go feet high. surmounted by
funeral urn and flag staff. rises
above the tomb at Fort Greene park,
Brooklyn, and its dedication yesterday
was marked by a remarkable military
parade of nearly 10000 soldiers and
marines, and memorable addresses by
President Elect William H. Taft and
| Governor Charles E. Hughes.
The procession OF naval and mill.
| tary organizations, said to be one of
the largest in the history of Brooklyn,
the tremendous outpouring of people
from all over Greater New York,
crowding intensely the line of march,
and at Fort Green park massed by
tens of thousands, presented an in
piIing spectacle. Major General
Charles F. Roe, commanding the ma
tional guard Of the state, was grand
marshal of the parade, which com
prised four divsions-troops at
tached to division headquarters, first
/ and second brigade headquarters and
| the naval militia. In these were in
cluded two squadrons of cavalry,
three batteries Of field artillery, two
organizations of the state signal
corps, one field hospital corps, three
coast artillery regiments, headed by
General David E. Austen; the 7th,
18th. 18th, 23rd. 47th, 61st and I'D
infantry regiments of the national
guard; fourth division of the G. A. r,
cieties, squadrons of mounted police
and many military and other band.
! The vicissitudes of the remains of
The sailors and soldiers who died of
fever and starvation, and rotted in the
! foul hulks of the British prison ships
long anchored in Waliabout bay,
which they polluted have been many,
! and have caused more than one out
burst OF publii Indignation. 1t was in
/ 1872, at a Brooklyn town meeting,
+bot JaHuito ctare, vvera ., .g,t ,,rood IN
properly bury the remains. Nothing
was done, however, until 1880 when
] the Tammany society secured funds
/ for temporary wooden tomb which
was constructed on Hudson street.
To this the bodies. dug from the
trenches along the Wallabout banks
where they had been hastily inferred,
were removed
With the passing years the struc-
ture fell into decay, the bones became
exposed and children played with
them Public feeling became aroused
and in 1875 the city of Brooklyn re-
moved all that could be collected, sew
era loads of them, to a tomb at Fort
Greene park under the stairs of the
/ entrance. where they had been until
work had begun on the present hand
some memorial which the late Stan
/ ford White designed, and which repre-
| sents about 100000. To these bones
were added four years ago after a
| public service at Plymouth church,
many more: filling about eight cot
! fms, which had been unearthed in
construction of warehouses at the
/ Brooklyn navy yard All the remains
are now encased in metallic collins in
the spacious tomb which is approached
By stately flight of several hundred
steps.
The experience OF the prison ship
martyrs constitute one of the most
! frightful chapters in American history.
Eleven thousand sailors and soldiers
died in the Jersey alone. ship con-
structed to accommodate only 400
men. into which more than a thousand
prisoners were usually crushed
Many we're kept there for years. A
survivor, Captain Thomas Dring. Wv
idly depicted the scenes OF the horri-
bic incarceration:- -" Registered and
sent below prisoners suffered terribly
from the intolerable heat and foul
air, and when they sought the mar
now airholes they found them blocked
By others, who fought with all their
strength for even the faintest breath
OF the precious air"
Utter derang ament was a common
symptom of the fever that caused
many deaths on board, and to increase
the horror of the darkness that en-
shrouded US, for we were allowed nc
light betwixt decks. the voice of warn
ing would be heard; Take heed tc
yourselves; there is a mailman stalk
ing through the ship with knife In
his hand sometimes found the
man a corpse in the morning by whose
side laid myself down at night.
OF The bread furnished the prisoners