The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-03
A MYSTERIOUS STRANGER

Many a mysterious stranger in the early history of our country as repub- lie. visited us and left an impress upon it's story which aids in it's romantic side. One such story comes out of Virginia, the unraveling of which has been ire quently tried but without success.
 In St. Pauls churchyard at Alexandria is q grave of an unknown which has baf- fled every effort to discover the identity of its occupant.
 On d marble slab covering it is the in- scription, 'To the Memory of a Stranger Also carved upon the slab is the informa- tion that it was erected by her disconso- late husband, and 1t contains this verse of poetry:
 How loved, how honored once, avails
 thee not,
 To whom related or by whom begot;
 A heap of dust alone remains of thee
 Tis all thou art, and all the proud
 should be-
 One theory as to who was the myste- rious stranger buried in the unnamed grave was that it might contain the re- mains of Theodosia Burr who had mar ried a man who later became the goVer- nor South Carolina, and she was sup posed to have been lost at sea while on a trip to visit her father Aaron Burr, one time vice president of the United States.
 It was never known what became of Aaron Burrs daughter and by some it was supposed that she had been captured by pirates. Might it have been possible that one of the pirates had fallen in love with her. and when she died he put into the Potomac to give her respectable burial?
 Another theory was that the stranger was Sarah Curran, the fiancee of Robert Emmet, the Irish revolutionist. and that the "affectionate husband" mentioned on the stone was none other than Major Sturgeon of the British navy, whom that unhappy lady was forced to marry after Emmet's untimely death.
 Little credence, however, has been given to either of these theories
 All that Is known of the incident is that on the 18th of July, 1816, a small brig. which 1t reported was on it's way to the West Indies, sailed into the Po- tomac and dropped anchor off Alexan- dria. and there was sent ashore a sick woman and her husband. When the sick woman was carried from the boat to the nearest hotel she was heavily yelled which fact attracted considerable atten- tiOn as the weather was extremely warm
 The best room in the hotel was en- gagged and the anxious husband hurriedly sent for a physician, The physician pledged his honor that he would reveal nothing he would see or learn regarding his patient. The physician always de- clared that he had not seen the lady's face. He attended her for 10 successive weeks. but he never found her uneviled No nurse was secured but the husband watched by her bedside practically day and night until her death.
 The husband. in order that no one should see the face of his wife with his own hands prepared the body for burial After he attended the funeral he ordered the monument, dictated the inscription and paid the bill and then disappeared.
 On the anniversary Of the death of Ifs beloved for a dozen successive years the husband returned to place fresh flowers on her grave. and on these visits he came secretly from Washington and returned to that city, without stopping at the tav- ern where his wife died, nor did he give anyone a chance to speak to him.
 At the end of dozen years he evidently died, for his visits ceased and the grave became neglected. The columns of the monument toppled and remained so for number of years, until one spring morn ing when an unknown friend of the faith full husband and his deceas sed wifa came to Alexandria and ordered that the grave be put in condition, left some cut flowers upon 1t, and then he. too, vanished into the unknown, no one ever hearing fur ther of the two men, nor have they ever been able to fathom the mystery of tho identity of the female stranger odd Philadelphia Press.