Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-14
WITH MILITARY P0NP
Memorial to the Prison Ship
Martyrs Dedicated.
TAFT ORATOR OF THE DAY
Parade in Brooklyn Of Nearly TO-
600 Men.
HUGHES ACCEPTS MONUMENT
elimination Of Efforts to Care for
the Remains of Revolution
ary Soldiers.
HUGHES ACCEPTS MONUMENT

NEW YORK. November 14.-With mill
tary pomp and impressive ceremony the
prison Ship Martyrs" monument was
dedicated today in Brooklyn. Mr.. Taft
made a special trip from Hot Springs.
Va, to deliver the oration of the day. He
arrived in Jersey City at 1 o'clock this
afternoon and he and his party were con-
veyed from there to Brooklyn on tug
boat The exercises began at 3 o'clock
Secretary Wright. on behalf of the gov
ernment. made the presentation address
and Gov. Charles E. Hughes. on behalf
the state, accepted the memorial
The Dedication Celebration.
After more than a century of agitation
by individuals and organizations bones
representing approximately 1900 mar
tyrs" of the revolutionary war. who died
on the prison ship Jersey and other ves-
sells in Wallabout bay. Brooklyn. lie at
last in a fitting.y marked burial place.
for which the government. New York
state and hundreds of individuals made
contributions. An imposing Dorc column
of granite go feet high, surmounted by
funeral urn and flag staff. rises above
the tomb at Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn.
AMI it's dedication today was marked by
a remarkable military parade of nearly
2OOOu soldiers and marines, and memora-
BILE addresses by William H. Taft and
Gov. Charles f. Hughes.
The procession of naval and military
organizations. said to be one of the largest
in the history of Brooklyn. the tre-
mendous outpouring of people from i
over Greater New York. crowding densely
the line of march, and at Fort Greene
Park massed by tens of thousands. pre-
sented an inspiring spectacle. Maj. Gen
.lnC IA
tional Guard of the state. was grand
marshal of the parade. which comprised
four divisions-troops attached to division
headquarters 1st and I'd Brigade mead
quarters and the naval militia. In thesr
were included two sQuadrons of cavalry
three batteries of field artillery. two or.
ganizatious of the state Signal Corps. one
Field Hospital Corps. three Coast Artii-
lery regiments. headed by Gen. David +
Austen: the 7th. 18th, 14th. 23d. 41th, Sis,
tional Guard; fourth division of the @. A
R., veterans associations and patriotic
societies, squadrons of mounted police and
many military and other bands
Martyrs Bones Neglected.
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
been many. and have caused more than
one outburst of public Indignation.
was in 1872, at Brooklyn town meeting,
that definite steps were first urged to
properly bury the remains. Nothing was
done, however, until 1878, when the Tam.
many Society secured funds for a tenn
porary wooden tomb, which was con-
structed on Hudson street. To this the
bod .es, dug from the trenches along the
Wallabout banks where they had been
hastily inferred, were removed.
With passing years the structure fell
into decay the bones became exposed and
children played with them. Public feel
ing became aroused. and finally the city
of Brooklyn removed all that could be
collected, several loads of them. to tomb
at Fort Greene Park under the stairs oil
the entrance, where they had been until
work had begun on the present handsome
memor al which the late Stanford White
designed, and which represents about
100000. To these bones were added, four
years ago, after a public service at Ply
mouth Church. many more. filling about
eight coffins which had been unearthed In
construction of warehouses at the Brook
lyn Navy Yard. All the remains are now
encased in metallic coffins in the spac .ous
tomb which is approached by stately
flight of several hundred steps
Sufferings of the Prisoners.
The experiences 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. a ship constructed to
accommodate only 400 men, into which
more than a thousand prisoners were
usually crushed. Many were kept there
for years. A survivor. Capt. Thomas
Dring. vividly depicted the scenes OF the
horrible Incarceration: Registered and
sent below, newcomers suffered terribly
from the intolerable heat and foul air,
and when they sought the narrow air
holes they found them blocked by others
who fought with all their strength for
even the faintest breath of the precious
air.
Utter arrangement was common
symptom of the fever that caused many
deaths on board. and, to increase the hor-
ror of the darkness that enshrouded US,
for we were allowed no light betwixt
decks. the voice of warning would be
heard: Take heed to yourselves! There
is a madman stalking through the ship
with knife in his hand 1 sometimes
found the man a corpse in the morning
by whose side / laid myself down al
night"
OF the bread furnished to the prison
ers the Rev Thomas Andres wrote in
his account: Il do not recollect seeing
any which was not full of living vermin.
But eat it. worms and all. We must or
starve."
The condition of the great copper in
which the prisoners meat was boiled
is thus described in the memoirs of Eb-
enezer Fox, also a prisoner aboard the
Jersey:
1.-The inside Of the copper had become
corroded to such a degree that it was
lined with coat of verdigrs. The Jer-
sey, from her size and lying near the
shore, was imbedded in the mud, and
do not recollect seeing her afioat during
the whole time 1 was prisoner. All the
filth which accumulated among upward
of thousand men was daily thrown
overheard and would remain there unit
carried away by the tide. The impurity
Of the water may be easily conceived. and
in this water our meat was boiled. Not
Jess revolving than these scenes of cruelty
and distress was the manner In which
the inanimate bodies of these martyred
prisoners were hastily and indecorously
consigned to the earth--in some cases
almost before they had become cold"
Four Killed in Kentucky Explosion.