Evening star., 1938-10-09

tlOn OF JOnn Marshall, WHICH prOVloeo
for the erection OF marble monument
in the Capital. and that the family OF
the General be requested to permit
his body to be deposited under it.
But matters Jagged, the question be-
ing brought up in 1915 and again in
1919. to no effect. A vault was pre-
pared for Washington's remains be-
meath the floor of the crypt under the
dome Of the Capitol. But Washington
sleeps at Mount Vernon.
At last, in 1888, body of influential
residents of Washington determined to
redeem the failure of Congress and to
undertake the erection of monument.
The Washington National Monument
Society was organized, and Chief
Justice Marshall was chosen presi-
dent. At his death in 1885 he was
succeeded by ex-President James
Madison. A national campaign was
inaugurated to secure contributions.
In the following years American
artists were invited to submit designs
for monument to cost approximately
ST 100000. The competition was won
by Robert Mills His design provided
for q circular colonnaded building $50
feet in diameter and 100 feet high,
adorned with an equestrian group over
the portal, from which rose an obelisk
shaft 10 feet square at the base and
rising to a height OF 800 feet. The
pantheonic features of this design were,
thankfully, not adopted.
Congress, in 1848. authorized the
society to erect q monument and des-
ignated the President of the United
States and the Board Of Managers of
the society to select a suitable site.
The site for the equestrian statue Of
Washington provided in the L'Enfant
plan was at the intersection of the
meridian line through the Executive
Mansion and the east and west line
through the dome of the Capitol. But
the Mall had not been developed as
proposed, and in l848 this location was
a dank marsh. So q mound q few
hundred feet to the southeast was
chosen as the site and on July 4, 1848,
OlAC CoI cUOLlC VI G1lC was
laid, with all the great and near-great
in attendance. About $88, 900 had been
raised by the society to carry on the
work.
CONSTRUCTION progressed slowly
until 1854, when an act occurred
at the Monument which created great
indignation throughout the country.
estranged a large body of citizens, and
so discouraged the collection of public
contributions that all work was
stopped.
An invitation had been extended by
the society for nations, States, organ
izations and individuals to donate
stones for the Monument. These, it
was promised, would be inscribed as
directed by the donors and set In places
Of honor on the numerous landings to
the stairs which the hardy tourist
climbs to the top Of the shaft.
The idea appealed strongly at home
and abroad. Stones were shipped to
Washington from foreign potentates,
States governments, municipalities,
fraternal organizations, churches and
Sunday schools, volunteer fire COM
panies and many more.
Among the donors was Pope Plus TX,
who sent a magnificent block Of mar
BILE which originally had stood in the
Temple OF Concord, Rome.
The gift arrived at time when the
so-called Nothing party was
making itself an exceedingly discord-
ant element in the American scene.
and the members of this party viewed
the stone sent by the Pope with open
resentment. The block of marble was
stored in work shanty on the Monu-
ment Grounds pending its emplace-
ment in the shaft. One dark night .
band of hooded vandas crept up on
the shanty, seized, bound and gagged
the watchman and carried the stone
away on . wheelbarrow. It was
never seen again. Legend has 1t that
1t was sledge-hammered into frag-
ments and pitched into the Potomac,
another Of the worlds many innocent
victims of stupidity and bigotry.