The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-21
From the New York Sun

From the New York Sun.
A n old dispute is recalled by the
~ announcement from Santo Do
\ mingo that the bones of Chris
topher Columbus, now reposing in the
Cathedral of Santo Domingo, probably
will be sent to San Francisco for the
Panama Pacific exposition. The dispute
began 371 years after the death of Co
lumbus. The disputants We're the re-
public of Santo Domingo and the Span
ish city of Havana de Cuba, and the
question was, which had the authentic
remains of Christopher Columbus, Ha-
vana or Santo Domingo? AT present
there are two remains of Christopher
Columbus" in existence.
One authority says that the bones
of Christopher Columbus were In the
Cathedral of Havana until the Spanish
American war, after which, Cuba no
longer being a possession of Spain.
they were removed and placed in the
Cathedral of Seville, where they now
remain.
But the bones that are to be sent to
San Francisco in 1915 are those which
are now in the Cathedral of Santo Do
mingo. And that is not Seville. Nor can
there be two Christopher Columbuses
both discoverers of America.
Both circles have long searched for
evidence to corroborate their claims.
With Spain it was an affair of official
Importance and was made the subject
of a report by the Academy of His
tory to the King. This report was In
support of Havana's claims
The facts of the case seem to be as
follows:
Columbus, overlooked by the court of
Spain, died in want at Valladolid on
May 20, 1906. saying. Into Thy hands,
Q Lord, I commit my spirit" The only
record of his death was in an official
document issued 27 days after his
death, one phrase of which was that
''The said admiral is dead
At first his body was put in a vault
of church of Franciscan fathers.
Then, at some time between his death
and the month of May. 1909, his re-
mains were transferred to the Carthu-
sian monastery of St. Maria de las
Cuevas, In Seville, where the bones of
his son Diego, the second admiral were
also laid Exhumed in 1912. his body
was then removed to Hispaniola, which
Columbus had stipulated as his last
resting place. Later the coffins of his
brother Bartholomew and his son
Diego were also moved to Hispaniola,
or Santo Domingo.
All three were inferred in the Cathe-
dral of Santo Domingo, which had but
recently been built The fact that Co
lumbus' remains were in the cathedral
was mentioned In 1549, in an official
document by the Archbishop of Santo
Domingo, saying that "the tomb of the
great Admiral Christopher Columbus,
In which his bones lie, was greatly
venerated and respected in our holy
church, in the main sanctuary"
For the next two centuries little was
known about the tomb. In fact, Tor at
least one century there was nothing
to show where the tomb of ColAnbus
was located. Later 1t became generally
known that the remains Of Christopher
Columbus, In a leaden case. We're con-
signed to vault within the sanctu-
ary of the cathedral to the right Of
the altar platform. 1t was also known
that one of his family. named Don Luis,
lay on the other side.
1t was not until 1888 that anyone
took the trouble of making a search
for the exact location of Columbus
bones. This was L. e. Moreu de St.
Merry, a French writer. He was In
formed that "the remains of Christo-
pher Columbus are inclesed in lead
en- coffin. surrounded with a case of
stone, which is buried on the gospel
side of the sanctuary, and that those
of Don Bartholomew, his brother, are
inferred in the same manner on the