Evening star., 1932-05-01

this country as the first Of its kind seen in
our Western Hemisphere.
Prom 1t we would deduce the moral, that,
while we would disclaim the pride, pomp, and
circumstance of imperial pageantry as unfit
ting institutions and professions, we would
sedulously cherish the simple republican prin-
ciples of reposing our fame and honors in the
hearts and affections of our countrymen
IT have now, in conclusion, to say, that as
the sarcophagus was originally presented with
the suggestion of using it as above mentioned,
I now commit it wholly TO the institution as
their own and sole property exempt from any
condition.
IT am very respectfully yours, etc.
JESSIE DUNCAN ELLIOTT"
With the eventual dissolution Of the National
Institute and the establishment of the Smith
sonian Institution in 1886, the latter took over
what remained of the old Patent Office exhibits,
including the old sarcophagus. For q number
of years it displayed within the building
and during this period the authenticity of its
association with Alexander the Great was
raised. The matter was carefully investigated
and finally cleared up by letter from Rear
Admiral A. A. Harwood, who, a lieutenant,
had assisted in getting it aboard the Constitu-
ton years before follows:
WASHINGTON, December IT, 1869.
monuments removed from elevated grounds
just in the rear of Beirut Syria, and embarked
on board the U. S. frigate Constitution, the
flag ship of the Mediterranean squadron, of
which 1 was, at the time, first lieutenant. I
left the ship shortly after and on my return to
the United States, learned from reliable sources
that one of the sarcophagi referred to had been
presented by Commodore Elliott to Carlisle Col
lege, in Pennsylvania, and that the other, after
having been offered to Gen. Andrew Jackson to
be buried in and the old heros declining the
honor, deposited in the Patent Office as the
tomb of Emperor Alexander Severus.
"As you have probably observed. there is no
inscription on this coffin Ito give it its English
name), consequently, who the occupant was,
or what his position, is a subject of pure con-
lecture.
The somewhat profuse carving upon it might
suggest that its former tenant was well to do
in the world but the style is hardly chaste
and simple enough to encourage the supposition
that he or she was of imperial or patrician
rank Nevertheless, for nearly 20 years this
relic was exhibited in public building of the
metropolis, labeled as the last resting place Of
the Emperor Alexander Severus, and nobody
took the pains to question the accuracy or
expose the absurdity of the legend.
1T was found near to the referred to
as having been presented to Carlisle College,
which is inscribed with the name of Julia
Mamaea,' and in virtue of that fact assumed
to be the coffin of the Roman Empress of the
same name and the wish thus becoming
father to the thought the contiguous recep-
tacle was incontinehTly credited as having con-
tanned the mortal remains of her imperial son.
Any respectable coffin in the same graveyard
would have had good a claim to the honor
OF having inclosed emperor; but, after ALL
the first step to be taken should have been
TO ascertain who the Julia referred to by the
inscription was. She might have been q rela-
tive of the Empress, the mother of Alexander,
both because the Empress of a Syro-
Phoenecian family, and because the style of
the sarcophaguS,e incorrectly represented as
hers, Is simple and elegant and such as might
have contained the bones of the kinswoman of