The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1927-05-13

place for his own. 1t Is at this point
in the narrative that the possibility
that somebody blundered' enters, ac-
cOrding to descendants of Boone who
live In Missouri and who have made
careful investigation of the circum
stances connected with the burial and
removal. One of these is Jesse p.
Crump, vice president of the Kansas
City Title and Trust company, d.
| rector in Missouri of the Boone Family
association and an authority on the
life of his illustrious ancestor. From
his statements and from those Of
David Gardyne of Marthasville, Mo-,
who has spent years tracing up every
item connected with the life of Boone,
as presented by the Kansas City Star
writer, the evidence sums up as fol-
lows:
When the grave diggers had nearly
completed the grave beside that of
Rebecca Boone, they uncovered hui
man skeleton. So the grave was re
filled and this unknown preoccupant
was left in possession. They then at
tempted to make grave on the other
side of the Rebecca Boone grave But
here the hill sloped sharply away,
making it unsuitable for a grave. So
they had to try again and grave was
dug either at the head or the foot of
Rebecca's grave (no one knows for
certain which) so as to carry out his
70 I;n hal
There Daniel Boone was buried and
there, his descendants believe, he
sleeps today.
The next chapter In the somebody
Numbered" chain Of events occurred
a little later when headstones were
placed at the Boone graves. The
stones were dragged to the graves by
yoke Of oxen, driven by man whose
name is lost to history. When he ar
rived there he was not certain as to
the placing of the stones and went to
farmhouse nearby. The woman
there returned with him to the graves
and after discussing the situation for
time, finally pointed to the two
graves side by side and said II think
those are the graves" Accordingly
the headstone for Rebecca Boone was
placed correctly but the one for DAN
lei Boone was placed at the head of
the grave occupied by the unknown
stranger.
The final "blunder" (if such it was)
was made in 1916 when Kentucky, in
an effort to pay its tardy honors to
the man to whom 1t owed so much,
started the movement to have the
bodies of Boone and his wife returned
to the Blue Grass state. AS the result
Of the letters from Kentucky officials
to Nathan Boone such as those recent
ly discovered, the Boone family finally
gave its consent to the removal. A
delegation of Kentuckians arrived to
obtain the bodies. They opened the
grave of Rebecca Boone and found the
coffin in an excellent state of preserya-
ton but when they opened the grave
| beside her, which they believed to
contain the body Of the old pioneer,
they found only few pieces of the
coffin and the larger bones Of a human
skeleton.
Apparently no one at the time was
struck by the inconsistency of this
fact: how could Rebecca's coffin be In
| such perfect state Of preservation,
While the other, supposed to contain
the body of her husband, who was
buried seven years after her, had so
nearly persisted? At any rate the
contents Of the two graves were placed
in elaborate collins and carried to
Frankfort. The ceremony of reburial
at the Kentucky capital as described
in an article in Harper's Magazine In
| 1859 tells us that:
Having obtained the consent of the
surviving relatives of the pioneer for
| the removal CT the remains, a COM
mittee, charged with the execution Of