El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-09-10


will officially open the big waterway
He says that the remains Of the great
discoverer repose in the cathedral OF
Santo Domingo. Spain claims that
they rest in the cathedral of Seville
The story of how the controversy arose
constitutes a little known chapter in
history.
The controversy arose as a result of
the Obliteration of the inscription over
| the tomb of the discoVerer in the
] eighteenth century, when the author1-
| ties Of the Santo Domingo cathedral
| were afraid that it would be desc
| Grated by the British admiral. William
| Penn This left the location of the
J tomb to tradition. and 1t MADE II pos
7 Slble for an error to creep IN when the
] supposed remains were removed from
| SanJO Domingo to Havana If the con-
| tentiOn of the SantO Domingo author
/ tiles is true. such an error did creep
/ in, and the real ashes of Columbus
1 now are to be found in eight different
/ places in Europe and America
! Moved Three Times in Europe.
The ashes of the diScoverer were
| moved no less than three times before
I they were brought to America. Co
lumbus died in the city of NalladOid,
| Spain, on May 20 1906. There is no
| record of his first burial place, and
indeed no official notice of his death
or expression of public sorrow is re-
corded by the historians or chronOl-
| Ogers of his time. Peter Martyr was in
| Nalladold both Immediately before
and Immediately following his demise,
and, although he left full records of
his visits never once mentioned the
I illness, death or burial of Columbus
The first record there is of his death
seems to have been written by an IN
known clerk on the back of a decree
of the Catholic king, in which endorse
ment it was stated: THE said admiral
is now dead"
There is a general idea that Column
bus Willed that his body should be in
TERED in SantO Domingo, but a persual
of his will shows that this is not true
Eight years before his death he did
instruct his son to build church in
Santo Domingo to be called Santa
Maria de Ia Conception, together with
a chapel in which masses for his soul
and those of his ancestors and success
sors should be said, and in his will he
did look to the future enough to provide
that there should always be maintained
at the expense of his estate, in the
city of Genoa a person of gentle birth
descended from him, to keep his mem
DRY alive Yet there is no record to
show that he ever made any request
with reference TO the disposition of
his ashes
There is no documentary evidence as
to where the body of Columbus was
first inferred Three years after his
death however. the body was carried
from Valladolid and deposited in the
Sometime later it was carried to the
Cave of Seville, where masses were
said for the repOSe Of the soul of the
discoverer under a grant of 10000 mar
avoids a year made by Diego COlum-
bus in his will Here the ashes re-
NAMED for about a third Of a century
without the suggestion of any further
removals
But in 1887 Luis Columbus, the
grandson of the discOverer. who was
born in Santo Domingo in 1922, and
who made that city his home began to I
take an interest in his ancestors menu
DRY and peutiOned the king to permit I
the removal OF the body TO the cathed-
raj there The king granted his re-
quest. and issued royal edict pro-
vlding for the removal Of the remains l
of the first admiral to Santa Domingo. !
This order provided that the Capllla /
mayor of the cathedral in SantO Do
mingO should be used exclusively by /
the descendants OF Columbus for the /
purpose of interment and for the plac- I
ing of memorials to the discoveries |
excepting only the head of the |
chapel reserved for the royal arms
Royal Edicts Are Ignored.
Luis Columbus was a disSOlute char /
acter and the cathedral authorities |
ignored the order of the king to make 1
ready for the ashes of the admiral, !
both on that account and because the |
placing of memorials might interfere J
with worship there A second edict !
was issued and still the cathedral au-
thorities ignored the king. Finally /
there came a preemptOry decree that /
the first edict be carried out, and so, /
sometime between 1871 and 1547. the ]
remains of Columbus were brought to /
SantO Domingo and inferred. History
is as silent about the character Of the /
ceremonies of this over sea transfer 1
as it is about the exact date.
Here the ashes remained undistUrbed /
and undiscussed- until 1876 when the I
sought from the Royal 1
council of the Indies contribution for
he s~lor. Of ma -1~ ha1 r-an
ing that on the 'trighthand of the altar
Capilla mayor lie inferred the remains
of the great discOverer."
Reinforced In Havana
In 1895 a treaty of peace was en-
tered into between Spain and France,
giving France control over SantO Do
mingo. 1t was decided that IN view of !
this the remains of Columbus should
be removed to Havana. so that they
could not fall into the hands of a
foreign power. A vault was therefore
opened and some lead plates found to-
sether with pieces OF bone and earth
mixed with fragments of buttons etc. /
These were gathered upon a salver, !
placed in a gilded coffin of lead, having
-ook the key. The coffin was carried
20 Havana amid ceremonies both upon
is departure from SantO Domingo and
Ipon the arrival in Havana They
md tomb known as the Template
vas constructed hardly the cathedral
md the governors house
Back to Old Seville.
In 1898, after the was with the !
United States, Spain asked permission |
o carry the remains at Havana back |
o Seville and on December u. 1898,
hey started on new Odyssey. They
we're carried to Cadiz on a Spanish
ruiser, opened and inspected there,
nd placed on board a yatch and car
led to Seville. There they were placed |
lnder the principal altar in the cathed-
al until a fitting monument could be ]
rected by the Spanish government and 1 ,
he Spanish people
The world might have gone on for
yer thinking that the ashes of the
iscoverer of the new world were those 7
which were taken from Santo Domingo ,
o Havana. and from Havana to Seville. !
f il had not been for the fact that the I
in Santo Domingo was built r
n unstable ground This made it :
ecessary. in 1877, for the church au-
horities to remodel the edffice An !
rchitect of Spanish extraction was 2
mployed to plan and execute the
york. which was placed under the
upevision of the Rev. Father Xavier
8illinf vicar of the cathedral. There +
ad been some intangible tradition to
he effect that the remains which had Z
cen taken to Havana were not those
f Christopher Columbus but no one q
ook these traditions seriously. and no