Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-09-12
MAY BRING BODIES
OF NAVAL HEROES
Now Lie in Graves Said to Be
Neglected at Valparaiso.
Chile.
TRYING TO FIND METHOD
IN THE MEDICAL BUREAU
DR.. Mccullough Declares Patriotism
Would Prevent Objection
to Expense.

Ways and means of bringing hon. the
remains Of about sixty officers AMI sail
ors OF the American navy. which have
lain neglected for many years ii
Valparaiso. Chile. are being considered
by the office of the surgeon general %
the navy. it was learned today. follow
ing publication In Tuesdays star Of a
complaint from a traveller IN South
America. DR.. W. L. Aughinbaugh. form
erly Of Washington.
Records of the officers and sailors ara
being looked up. and the conditions TN
der which they were buried arc being as
certained DR. +. T. Mccullough OF IL.
surgeon generals office Of the navy said
today that 1t Is possible that an Amegi-
can cruiser, when next at VALPARAISO.
could bring the remains home. Tor SUI
able burial at Arlington. without muca
expense beyond that OF the leadcn
caskets required by law; or thai pos
sibly the expense of bringing them home
could be borne out OF the cont.ngeitt
fund of the surgeon generals office and
II not, that there would undoubtedly -
little objection on the part of Congress
to inserting an item in the next nava
appropriation bill for the necessary eA-
pense. as a matter of patriotism. He e.
Inmates that the expense would be about
$4,000.
Use of Fund Barred.
DIR. Mccullough is taking the mater up
with the surgeon general today on the
complaint Of DR.. Aughinbaueh rat the
graves are neglected and that the r.
mains are entitled to as much respect as
were the bodies of various soldiers and
sailors brought home from the Philip
pines and Cuba. He said that the sur
gcon generals Office has an annual APP
preparation of $1,000 for the purpose OF
bringing home bodies of dead sailors
but that there is prohibtory clause IN
the law excluding the bodies OF those
who died before 1895.
TIE remains now at Valparaiso are eX-
Guided under the law. According to the
list furnished by DIR. Aughinbaugh. those
buried there are Lieut.. James p. Wilmer
and Lieut. John C. Cowell. four petty Of
;icers and fifty-seven members of the crew
of the United States frigate Essex, VINO
were killed in Valparaiso harbor Fepru-
ary 80 1S14 in an engagement with the
British frigate Phoebe and the brig Cher-
ub. In addition there are said to be BUR
led at Valparaiso Boatswain's Mate {. W.
Riggin and Coal Passer W. Turnbuii, 'two
sailors of the Baltimore, killed In the
streets Of Valparaiso. October 10, 1881.
Another grave is that of w. r. schlet,
third assistant engineer, [. 3. Saranac,
who died in Chile in 1883 He was u
brother of the late Rear Admiral w. ;.
Schley. Another il that of Lieut.. Fran
els Eppes Baker, L. S. S. Cyane, VINO died
in Chile in 1914. Thomas +. Mcdonald,
apprentice, L. S. S. Pensacola, who dieo
in 1882 and Thomas 4. Tate, seaman, =.
s flagship Hartford, who died in 1881 are
also buried there.
To Confer With Relatives.
!. 1t was said at the Office of the surgeon
general of the navy today that IT will be
necessary to get in touch with the next OF
kin of those buried at Valparaiso, Il
their records at the department will show
those facts, before setting about any
plans for bringing home the remains.
Very often, it is said, relatives do not
wish the remains of their dead to be dis
turbed
The surgeon generals office attempts, as
far as possible, to follow the wishes OF
the relatives in cases of the sort. There
is In the office a record of the death and
burial at Valparaiso of Lieut. Selim Wood
worth of the United States Navy. retired
He resigned from the service and died at
VALPARAISO I'm 1907. He had often eN-
pressed a wish that he be buried at sea.
and the Navy Department sent the erui-
ser Philadelphia, when she belonged I"
the white squadron, to Valparaiso year
after Lieut. Woodwork was buri.d, to get
the body and conduct it to sea and bury