Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-02-23
BY ALBERT EDWARD ULLMAN

in Washington Square interested many of the
readers of The Tribune" on Tuesday, and
some of them anxious to know more about
the old statue of Washington which sur
mounted the temporary wooden arch in Fifth
the square at the time of the Cen
tennial parade. The account given by Mr.
Stewart reads:
"a statue of General Washington, ten feet
high, stood upon pedestal at the apex of the
arch. 1t represented the Father of His Coun-
try in Continental uniform, blue coat with
brass buttons, buff breecheS, and riding boots.
The right arm was extended by the side, and
the left, holding cooked hat, rested lightly on
the hip The statue is said to have been erected
on the Battery in 1892, and the first erected in
this city. 1t certainly bears evidence of great
age"
Let us turn now to DR.. Frank Moss
"The American Metropolis" He saws:
Shortly after General Washington was inaug-
urated President a heroic representation of
the great patriot was made in wood, shaped
and colored to illustrate the roseate glow of life.
1t the best that New York could do a hun
dred years ago. The marvellous production re-
manned in the Bowling Green park for many
years. In 1913 the city's art critics had adj
vanced SO far to allege that the brilliant
statue not really work of art, and in defer
to their views 1t was removed and sold to
a collector of antiquities VINO kept it for forty
years and quietly died. His effects were sold.
and the statue was auctioned to the highest
bidder at the price of three hundred dollars.
1t was forgotten until few years ago. when it
placed on top of the wooden arch at WASH
ington Square that preceded the present marble
structure, where 1t remained until the Celebra-
ton of 1889. 1t is now in a cigar store in
125th-st.
Most convincing proof of all, perhaps, in
regard to the statues authenticity is the
fact that Dr. B. F. Kelly, president of the
City History Club of New York after hav-
+,I 4
eral lectures on the statue, declaring its
genulneneSs.
The present owners own history of the
statue, which has come to him as tradition
handed down to the purchaser at each Sue
cessive sale, is that after having stood for
fifty-one years in Bowling Green it was con-
sidered by the City Fathers to be mot sly
lsh enough" because it was merely wooden,
and that accordingly it was taken down and
sold at auction on Liberty-st. to collector
of relics named Jaques. After Jaques'
death it was again sold at auction to ID.
Schiff, and afterward to F. Theobald, from
whom the present owner bought it in 1892
Its fame has spread across the Atlantic,
according to the owner; for in November,
1896 or 1897, Miss Laura B. Starr of Lon
don, who had crossed the ocean to get
magazine article about it, published its re-
markable story in an English magazine.
The article referred to SAYS that attempts
were made at the time of the Anti-Federal-
list riots during Washington's administra-
ton to hew down the statue. No history
corroborates this. The article says that the
statue bears marks of bullets fired into it in
those riots. 1t is marked here and there. as
CHANGING bullets might have marred its once
gorgeous paint; but these marks might have
come from any or many causes in the career
of such tramp as the George Washington
has turned out to be.
"The Daily News" story puts one Il.
Decorate in as an owner of the statue be
tween Jaques and Schiff, and says that be-
cause of an attempt to steal it from Jaques
it was hidden for time in South Norwalk,
Connecticut. 1t also states that during the
War of 1912 recruiting tent stood ut its
feet in Bowling Green.