Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-04-22

-ACS VI /ux
Duncan Elliott, then stationed at Phila-
delphia, to permit his remains to rest
in sarcophagus which he had brought
from abroad, the former President re-
piled in part as follows:
HERMITAGE, March 81, 1845.
Every monument erected to perpetu-
ate the memory of our heroes and states
men ought to bear evidence of the
economy and simplicity of our republican
institutions, and the plainness of our
republican citizens, who are the SOW
ereigns of our glorious Union, and whose
virtue is to perpetuate it. The virtue
cannot exist where pomp and parade
are the governing passions. 1t can only
dwell with the people, the great laboring
and producing classes, that form the
bone and sinew of our confederacy.
For these reasons I cannot accept
the honor you and the president and
directors of the National Institute in
tended to bestow. I cannot permit my
remains to be the first in these United
States to be deposited in a sarcophagus
made for an emperor or king. 1 again
repeat, please accept for yourself and
convey to the president and directors
of the National Institute my profound
respect for the honor you and they in
tended to bestow
Il have prepared an humble depository
for my mortal body, beside that wherein
INV hnln yxrffn u,tn Io,.t
any pompt or parade, have requested,
when my God calls me to sleep with
my fathers, to be laid, for both of us
there to remain until the last trumpet
sounds to call the dead to judgment;
and we, l hope, shall rise to gather
clothed with that heavenly body prom
ised to all who believe in our glorious
Redeemer, who died for us that We
might live and by whose atonement I
hope for blessed Immortality
Il am, with great respect, your friend
and fellow citizen.
ANDREW JACKSON.
ITO Hon. ]. D. Elliott,
United States Navy
This sarcophagus now stands on the
lawn of the Arts and Industries Build
ing of the United States National
Museum
Martin Van Buren,
Martin Van Buren, was born in the
old town of Undertook, in Columbia
County, New York, December 5, 1882,
and died there at his fine estate called
Lindenwald July "a, 1862 He is buried
in Undertook Cemetery.
William Henry Harrison
When Gen. William Henry Harrison
arrived in Washington in February, 1841,
to be inaugurated President, he was met
by committee and a party of about
fifty men and boys, and ALL including
the President-elect, walked westward
along the Avenue to John Marshall
place, and then north to the Courthouse,
where the general was received by Col.
w. w. Seaton, Mayor of the city.
Though there was a driving snowstorm
then, yet Gen. Harrison had his hat off
most of the time and 1t is generally
believed that he contracted the cold
which caused his death, which occurred
in the White House on April 4, 1S4l.
His remains rest in the Harrison Tomb,
opposite Congress Grenn Cemetery,
North Bend, Ohio.
James X. Polk
James K. Polk was 81 years of age
at the time of his death, and was the
youngest ex-President in all the NOR
tuary list. He was the only one of our
Presidents whose family name was said
to have been abbreviated, Polk being
a shortening of Pollock" He died
June Is, 1849 in Nashville, Tenn, and is
buried in the grounds of the State
Capitol.
Zachary Taylor ~.
President Zachary Taylor was not
privileged to be President for long, and
he died on July 9, 1850. The press re-
ports at the time are not satisfying
in details. Indeed, the National Intel
ligencer makes its first reference to
the Presidents illness on the day pre-
ceding his DEATH though it must have
been known that he was seriously ill.,
for his sickness began on July 4, when
he attended a patriotic celebration at
the Washington Monument, the corner
stone of which had been laid just two
years before
On July 10, 1850. appeared the first
public announcement of the Presidents
death. %
The funeral was held from the East
Room Of the White House on July 49,
and the public was permitted to view
the remains. The Rev. DR.. Pyne of ST.
Johns Episcopal Church, assisted by
the Rev. G. B. Butler and other clergy
men, conducted the religious services
and after an imposing funeral parade
the body was temporarily placed in the
public vault at Congressional Cemetery
and later inferred in the Taylor vault
on what some years ago was referred to
as "a by-road leading into what is known
as the Brownsboro road"
The body of Gen. Taylor has been re-
moved four times The remains were
first placed in Congressional Cemetery
in this city, then In lot in the Tay-
lor homestead, miles back of Louis
VILE and then IN Gave rJil1 Ceunafn,v