Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-06-12


work done upon it by William Burgess,
an apprentice br.cklayer. of Alexandria,
Va in 1881 ami OF Burgess description
of the body of Gen. Washington when the
leaden coffin was opened at that time. and
when he was but Is years of age.
The writer In his story also told of the pre-
senting of the marble sarcophagi, in 1887, by
John Struthers of Phila delphia, at which time
the remains of the distinguished dead were
transferred into them from the inner vault
and also referred to the Inscriptions on the
marble collins as they appear today.
There are few stories written that do not
have an especial appeal to some person in
particular and this enc not only attracted
the attention of Adolph H. Jouvenal of this
CITY, but led him to forward letter to the
writer which brings out bit of history scarce
ly known to any one except Mr.. Jouvenal him.
self. His letter is worthy CT publication, and is
as follows
washington D. c. May 10, 1882.
"Mr. John Clagett Proctor,
Evening Star Washington. D. C.
my Dear M. Proctor:
Il read your interesting description of Mount
Vernon also Of Mr.. Burgess, builder of the
tomb OF Washington, stone mason of Alexan-
dria and 1 also note that he brcklayer
apprentice.
1T may interest you to know why the name
of Washington was repeated on the end OF
the sarcophagus. the name on top of the
entomb Washington designated whose remains
it contained.
1.-The name of George Washington on the
front was purely accidental and placed
there by the donator of the sarcophagus.
The original inscription on the end of the
tomb was as follows:
This sarcophagus
was presented to
GEORGE WASHINGTON
by John Struthers
of PHILADELPHIA
The ladies' Mount Vernon Association assumed
that this was advertisement of the StrutherS
stone contractors and gave in the Summer Of
1878, the contract to my father, the late Jacques
Jouvenal, whose studio and atelier were then
located on street at Tenth northwest, to
erase all but the name
THE order to remove this inscription was
given through Mr.. Peters: the inscribed let
tiers George Washington" to remain origi-
nally inscribed by the Struthers Co.
Being a student under my father, was
selected to remove the lettering with the excep-
ton as noted and to remain at Mount Vernon
until this work was completed was instructed
to leave the name of George Washington as
inscribed and recede the balance of the end
surface one-quarter of an inch to remove the
offensive letters: this left the incsed letters
George Washngton) on a raised band; this
allowed one-quarter inch chips in lengths of
one inch or more, which were saved and highly
priced by our family, also the many visitors
captured quite few of the chips on the arrival
of the steamer to Mount Vernon from WASH
ington, this being the only route to the tomb
at that time This work prolonged the
work ceased on the arrival of the steamer, and
not resumed until all the visitors had departed.
This work being very tedious the utmost
care had to be taken not to shatter or flake
the marble and to avoid any mishap due to
the primitive hand tools o. that date this
cutting consumed about three weeks The
writer suggested at that time that the entire
lettering be erased and. if deemed necessary
to inscribe the name in full on the top of
the sarcophagus; this not entertained.
Credit given by the tablet on the
wall to the Struthers Co. donator of the
sarcophagus was due to protest they en-
tered at that time
This work made such an impression on Mr..
Peters that the writer was recognized 40 years