Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-26
PURPOSE TW0F0LD
Indian Memorial Proposed for
New York Harb0r.
FOR STATUE AND BEACON
Rodman Wanamaker's Offer Con-
tingent on Congressional Action.
HONORING THE RED MEN
Beautiful Piece of Sculpture on the
Site for Cooper's Home-Mian-
tonomah and White Swan.
HONORING THE RED MEN
EY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.

EY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
Rodman Wanamaker of Philadelphia
and Paris has offered to erect bronze
statue of an American Indian upon the
site OF Fort Lafayette, in the middle
of the NaIrous, near the entrance to
New York harbor, providing Congress
will appropriate $500, 600 for the founda-
| tons and pedestal.
| The statue itself will cost q quarter Of
a million dollars, and will correspond in
dignity. proportions and impressiveness
with Bartholdis "Liberty Enlightening
the World which was erected little
further up New York bay some years
ago.
! A bill has been introduced into both
houses of Congress authorizing the cree
ton of statue on the spot designated
and appropriating 100000 for the pedes-
tai and approaches. 1t has been designed
by Mr.. Teffs, the artist, who proposes
shaft 400 feet high. rising from
| circular rotunda, 100 feet in diameter, in
closed with a colonnade. Within the
rotunda will he a room, which may be
used either as an auditorium for cere-
monies as a historical museum or for
any similar purpose.
Above the dome OF the rotunda the
| frame Of the shaft is to be constructed
of steel overlaid with bronze plate and
surmounted by a gigantic bronze figure
of an Indian warrior in full panoply,
carrying a bow and arrow in his hand.
Within the shaft will be a spiral stair
case leading to the top, where a lantern
of great power will be placed to serve
as a lighthouse and beacon for mariners
entering the Narrows of New York har
Dor. At the base. adjoining the rotunda
auditorium. will be accommodations for
the lighthouse keeper and his family and
the usual storage accommodations for
supplies.
| Thus 1t is proposed to serve two pur-
poses--a permanent and appropriate
memorial for a vanishing race and a
glowing welcome for the commerce which
civilization has developed.
There is no monument or memorial of
any kind standing upon the soil of
America in honor of its original owners.
| No tribute has been paid to the noble
red men, although. as I have shown in
previous letters. many individuals. chief
tainS, warriors and statesmen in bronze,
| friends of the white invaders, have been
honored by statues and other forms of
monuments in different parts of the
country.
| Mr.. Wanamaker is very much inter-
| ested in this project. and has sufficient
sentiment to actuate his generous offer
! of quarter of q million dollars to in
sure, as his representative has said. by
(
the preservation of at least the outward
semblance of picturesque type, whose
motlrnful decadence from his former
high estate is one of the tragedies of
tardy reparation to the original occu-
pant of country to erect a statue to
him some centuries after he has been
crowded off the most valuable portion
of his territory, but the proposed monu-
ment will at least serve as reminder
to the present and future generations
of the brevity of their tenure of the
land. 1t will have something of the
subduing effect of the message of ''The
Recessionsr' upon any tendency to over
weening national conceit based upon the
| divine right, i'm this country OF mag
niticent distances"
Uncas Statue at Cooperstown.
One of the most beautiful Indian statues
| in tho country, and, indeed, one of the
finest pieces of sculpture In America, Is
a bronze figure of Uncas the Last of
the Mohicans.' and the hero of several
| of the Leather Stocking Tales, which
were SO eagerly read by young and old
two generations ago.
This statue stands upon the site of he
former home of Fenimore Cooper the
| author, In the village of Cooperstowu,
n. y, and within d few hundred yards
of his grave. it was erected by Mrs.
Edward Clark, WHO later became the
wife of tho late Bishop Henry Codmat
Potter of New York. Mrs. Clark pur-
chased the site of the Cooper family
home. had 1t laid out as a park, and
presented il to the village of Coopers-
| town as perpetual memorial of the ia
nous writer.
Near the center of the park AN cnor-
| nous boulder rises from the lawn, and
upon 1t Is the heroic bronze figure of
A warrior in hunting garb, crouched. as
If listening for signs of wild animal.
In his left hand and a bow and an ar
row, and his right hand clutches the col
lar of a dog poised to spring at the
game The expression upon the face
of the Indian is vivid with animal ion,
and the dog. with his jaws parted, is
eager for the sport. Upon the boulder
is bronze tablet marked by the fol-
lowing inscription:
On this site stood Otsego Hall
built by William Cooper,
the founder OF Coopcrstown, in 173S
The home of James Fenimore Cooper
where he lived
from 1854 to the day Of his DEATH
September II, 1851
Destroyed by fire in 1851
Within sight of the monument are sew
eral places which are associated with
THE Misunderstanding Tales Lakewood
cemetery now occupies '.Hannah's HILL"
where towering column of white marble
has been erected in memory of Leather
stocking and is surmounted by his figure
In bronze. Prospect Rock. on Mount
iSioH, OHcFS d WOnueTIul view OF lake
and mountain scenery. Near Leather
| stocking Falls is Natty Bumpo's cave
where occurred, as you remember. the
forest fire and the death of Chingachook
You can see Council Rock, where Natty
Bumpo and his Indian guide met the
Huron chiefs to negotiate for the rescue
of captive girl. The site Of Gen. CItn-
toms dam. which he built to hold back
the waters of the lake, so that his boats
might safely descend the river on a fol-
lowing flood. is now marked by a tablet
erected by the Daughters Of the American
Revolution.
There is another statue of Uncas in
Norwich, Conn.