The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-06-13
The Late Major John Andre,
at Tappan, on
4h1 InAI 80 =, sy,Yc,t 1901

Everybody is famlllar with the MIS-
torical facts connected with the cap
ture of Major Andre and the finding
upon his person of papers having an
important bearing upon the ultimate
outcome of the war of the revolution,
as told by American historians.
The English historians tell another
story. Andre was one of the most
popular young officers in England and
long after his execution his friends
in England kept his memory green.
In boyhood he had been the playmate
of the Duke Of York and in young
manhood the two were students at
Oxford and boon companions. The
majors capture and execution was a
blow that the Duke of York never
forgot and he firmly resolved that
some day the ashes of Andre should
rest on English soil. Not until the
closing years of his life however, was
the realization of his resolution pos
sible. The hatred of Englishmen and
all things English was little abated
in the few years intervening between
the war of the revolution and the war
of 1912, and attempts made to secure
permission to take Andres body back
to England several times failed. In
1920, however friends of Andre again
took the matter up and ]. Buchanan,
Esq, his majesty's consul New York,
went to Tappan to remove the body.
In book Remarkable Events
published by Porter & Coates Of Phil
adelphia, and collected and compiled
from authentic sources by L. H.
Young, is Mr.. Buchanan's account of
the removal of Andres body. An
dre's grave was in the center of a
plowed field, and at it's head one Of the
Tory women of the neighborhood had
planted a small peach tree. 1t had been
covered with loose stones and two
cedar trees beside the peach tree mark
ed the spot. The American newspapers
of that day, speaking of the intended
removal Of Andres remains, had said,
according to Mr.. Buchanan, that amy
honor paid to Major Andre was cast
ing an imputation upon General Wash
ington and the officers who tried him"
The English consul had prepared an
elaborate sarcOphagus to receive An
dre's remains and quite a crowd con-
gregated when the grave was opened.
The crowd made up of Americans gave
evidence of making trouble, according
to Mr.. Buchanan, and he informed them
that before he opened the grave he
would resort to an old custom in vogue
! in Ireland Of taking spirits before OPP
ening a grave. 1t is then related that
| the crowd took so much spirits that in
| a short time they didn't care whether
every grave in Amsterdam was opened
| and the consul proceeded with his work
| The grave was finally opened and the
| bones of'Andre were found in perfect
order. Buchanan relates that the roots
of the peach tree had completely en-
! twined the skull.
| The remains were then placed in the
sarcophagus and taken to the home OF
! the Rev. Mr.. Dearest, the grandfather
of ], D. Brevell of Minot. In the mean
time the villagers had recovered from
the coup effected by the English consul
with the whisky and it was decided. to
make demonstration upon the remov-
al of the sarcohagus. Rev. Demarest
aided the consul in preventing this ana
thereby he earned the everlasting graf
itude Of his highness, the Duke of York.
Buchanan said of Demarest in his ac-
count of the affair:
Having represented to his royal
highness the generous conduct of the
Rev. Mr.. Demarest I recommended that
his royal highness should convey to
him a snuff box. made out of one of
| the trees which grew at the grave,
which sent home. But my suggestion
was far outdone by the princely munif-
icence of his royal highness, who or
dered box to be made out of the tree
and lined with gold with an inscrip-
| ton"
| This is the snuff box that Mr.. Bre-
veil of Minot has and, going on the
theory that Caesar dead and turned
to clay, might stop a hole to keep the
wind away" and that the relies of his
ancestors are about of equal conse
quence he has offered 1t for sale. He
expects a large price.
/ Breveu does odd jobs about town
and is not in particularly plethoric
circumstances. One OF his daughters
was some time ago committed to the
| insane asylum at jamestown, her
mind having become affected while Iiv-
/ ing the lonely life of homesteader on
a claim in Ward county, some years
ago, and her ALTERATION reaching pro-
nounced stages a short time ago.