I THE BONES OF COLUMBUS. |
Mystery Enshrouds the Final Resting Place of
the Great Discoverer.
Mystery and secrecy surround the
oxhumation in Havana, Cuba, of the
remains of Columbus, and this fact
has given rise to grave rumors, whioh
appear to have some foundation, as
there has been no attempt at denial
from any source. The removal of the
remains was effected behind the closed
doors of the Cathedral, which were
guarded by an armed forced. Few of
the authorities were present, the
uames of those who were to attend be
ing handed to the Chief of Police the
night before in General Blauco's own
handwriting.
No official account of the ceremony
or statement regarding t' condition
of the remains has been e public,
but it has leaked out from aa authori
tative source that they are not in the
same condition as when they were
placed in the niche.
When the remains were placed in
the mausoleum a small cask t was en
closed, containing coins, gold and
silver medals, precious stones and
rolls of parchment, as was then the
custom upon the occasion of a burial.
It appears that this casket had been
tampered with and rifled of its con
tents, and further rumors say that
only portions of the remains are left.
Gossip and speculation are rife, the
exact truth of which the authorities
make 110 effort to affirm or contradict.
A. quasi-official explanation, however,
is to the effect that secrecy was given
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It
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TOMB OF COLUMBUS IN THE CATHEDRAL AT HAVANA.
to the ceremony because a cable dis
patch received reported that General
Toral had been murdered in Madrid
the day before, and fears were enter
tained that disorders might occur if
the public aud military came together
in great numbers.
Some of the more rabid Spaniards
goto the length of saying that the
■whole ceremony was a farce, the
Washington Government having ob
jected to the removal of the remains
and their Government going through
the pantomime in order to make the
public believe that the remains, which
really are left there, were shipped to
Spain.
Spain's pitiful appeal to be permit-
VIAL CONTAINING THE ASIIF.S or COLUM
BUS AT GENuA, ITALY.
ted to remove the bones of Christo
pher Columbus from Havana to Madrid
will likely be passed upon by the Paris
ppace commissioners, but before any
discussion is reached four nations will
become involved in the controversy.
The four nations not only claim the
right to posses the remains of Lhc
great discoverer, but they assert that
they already have them and are pre
pared to back up the assertion with
all sorts at proof. There is a quartet
of Columbian graves in different parts
112 I
W (?ij<oVaAtfo\ov»
LEAD CHEST CONTAINING THE BONES OF
COLUMBUS.
of the world and each one is sepai ately
worshiped as the real article. One of
these is in Havana, one is in Santo
Domingo, one is in Genoa, Italy, and
one is in Valladolid, Spain.
When Santo Domingo, where his
body was interred after having been
brought from its resting place in
Seville, became a possession of France,
the Spaniards removed what they sup
posed to be the bones of Columbus,
with many of the other valuable and
and sacred relics of Spanish rule, tc
Havana, where they have since re
mained. As a matter of fact historians
are now agreed that the bones which
the Spaniards conveyed to their only
remaining possessions in the Western
Hemisphere were not those of the great
navigator, but of his son, Diego Col
umbus, a former Governor-General of
Santo Domingo, who was buried in
the samo sepulchre with his father.
The certainty that the Spaniards had
made a blunder in removing the body
was established through a very curious
circumstance.
Just before his death, Columbus,
greatly aggrieved by the injustice and
cruelty with whioh he had been treat
ed by the people for whom he had
done so much, requested that the
chains in which he had been brought
back a prisoner from his last voyage
to the West Indies, and whioh he al
ways kept in his room as a memento
of Spanish gratitude, might be buried
in the coffin with him. His request
was scrupulously regarded by the
members of his family, and without
the knowledge of the Spanish officers
these relics were placed in his coffin
before it was finally sealed.
A Frenchman who chanced upon
some autograph letters written by the
explorer found among other interest
ing documents the navigator's will.
He was struck by the strange clause
relating to the shackles, and made in
quiries whether or not any such things
were found when the coffin was re
moved from the tomb in Santo Do
mingo. As no one remembered to
have heard of any such thing, an in
vestigation was set on foot, with the
result that the bones of Columbus
were found to be still peacefully re
posing in the new French colony. As
a matter of course, the Spaniards have
derided the notion that they could by
any possibility have made a mistake,
but subsequent discoveries have only
tended to strengthen the idea that the
Spaniards had merely given one more
example to the world of the careless
ness and superficiality with which they
carry out all their official acts.
The sepulchre whioh oontained what
passes among the Spanish inhabitants
of Cuba for ' he bones of Columbus is
extremely temple in character. The
SLAB OVEB THE COLUMBUS TOMB AT
HAVANA.
cathedral in which it is situated, how
ever, is a very handsome structure.
The bones were in a plain stone vault
made of marble, placed to the right
of and at the foot of the main altar.
The stone vault surmounted by a bust
supposed to resemble the explorer,
but said to differ in every detail from
his portraits. The bones of Colum
bus, the Spaniards say, were taken to
Havana in 1795 and placed in a grave
dug under the spot where the vault
now stands. In 1822 the Spaniards
in Cuba erected the present tomb and
placed beneath the bust of Columbus
the followiug inscription:
O, grand Columbus!
In this urn enshrined
A thousand centuries
Thy bones shall guard!
A thousand agos keep thine image fresh,
In token of our nation's gratitude.
When the supposed bones of Colum
! bus were removed from Santo Dom
ingo, the ceremony was made the oc
casion for a display of Spanish gran
deur such as had never before been
seen in Jie Western Hemisphere.
It easy to concede that the lead
found at San Domingo was not
the one in which the bones of the
Admiral were taken to San Domingo,
for it is generally admitted that the
name America, which appeared on the
casket, was used before 1509, and the
Gothic characters iu the interior of the
chest were not common until the
seventeenth century.
The circumstance that the chest
found at San Domingo is small, also
confirms the suspicion that it was
made to contain half a skeleton. That
sent to Havana, although of the same
length and depth was wider, perhaps
to give more room to the hip bones
and the skull, besides the other bones
corresponding to those found at San
Domingo.
The San Domingo chest contained
some fragments of lead which bear the
unmistakable signs of age. This sug
gests the probability that the chest
was cast from an older one.
After a distinguished career in Eu
rope and Asia, Mgr. Roccococchia, the
discoverer of the remains of Columbus
at San Domingo, was made Bishop at
Orope, Vicar of San Domingo, and
delegate to Hayti and Venezuela in
1874. The leaden chest was found on
September 10, 1877. The work in the
cathedral had just begun when a hid
den tomb was discovered at the left
of the altar. A leaden chest was
found. It contained the remains of
Don Pietro Colombo, the discoverer's
grandson.
The chest containing the bones of
Columbus was at the right of the first.
When the discovery was made, be*
sides Mgr. Cocchia, the Italian Con
sul; Giobatta Cambiaso, his brother,
Luigi, and the authorities of San
Domingo, were present. The Consul,
CRYSTAL CONTAINING TnE ASHES OF
COLUMBUS, AT PAVIA, ITALY.
who was a Genoese, seized a pinch of
the ashes in the chest and placed
them in a crystal vial. A ribbon was
attached to the vial, bearing an in
scription iu Italian to this effect:
"Ashes of the immortal Christopher
Columbus, discovered in the Cathedral
of San Domingo the 10th of September,
1877. To the City of Genoa, from
her affectionate sons, Giobatta and
Luigi Cambiaso."
When the vial arrived at Genoa the
muncipality decided to preserve it iu
an urn of bronze. The urn was
executed in 1886 by Pandiani, of
Milan. It is in the style of the seven
teenth century. Four sea horses sus
tain it at the corners, and graceful de
signs adorn the frame, which bears on
each side the arms of Genoa. The
whole is surmounted by a female
figure representing Genoa, the Queen
of the Mediterranean. The left hand
rests upon au anchor, and with the
right the figure holds aloft the wreath
of victory.
Pavia received a similar honor, for
at her university the discoverer of the
New World completed his studies.
The ashes were placed in a small
pyramid of crystal, and that was de
posited in a splendid receptacle.
[FOR FARM AND GARDEN.]
Thorough Preparation for Wheat Pays.
The past season one field at the
Kansas experiment station was given
thorough treatment before seeding,
[t was harrowed, disked and dragged
until a fine dust mulch four inches
deep was formed. This yielded 223
bushels per acre, weighing 54.7
pounds. Another field given ordinary
tr atmeut yielded 19 bushels weigh
ing 53.7 pounds. This is a difference
of nearly 18 per cent, in favor of good
culture.
Harvesting Potatoes.
One reason why potatoes frequently
bring low prices is that they are
bruised or out in digg ng. Wlieu the
tuber is thus injured in its tender and
moist state it rots quickly. Hardly
one grower in a dozen realizes how
tender freshly dug potatoes really are,
and the habit of roughly dumping
them into barrels or wagons is almost
universal. Then there is the common
practice of assorting them as soon as
they are dug, which should not be
done unless they are designed for im
mediate shipment. After digging,
store the tubers in a cool, dry and
dark placa that should be kept at au
uniform temperature. Assort into
grades after they nave been dug for
two or three weeks, and if they are to
be stored for any considerable length
of time, they shou d be closely ex
amined at least once a week for dis
eased specimens, in marketing, the
same careful handling should be ob
served as in harvesting in order to
put the tubers on the market in the
best possible condition for the highest
prices.
LOUR of New S warms.
Every beekeeper who relies on
gathering his swarms of bees after
they have escaped from the hive knows
that despite his best efforts, some of
the largest and earliest of his swarms
take to the woods, and become the
common property, by law, of whoever
can find them. But if the beekeeper
be active, h ) can, after fiuding which
direction the swarm is going, follow
as fast as he can and locate its new
residence. In such case the swarm is
no longer a wild ole but belongs to
the owner of the bees fro u which it
came. It is usual in the fall to stupefy
these be.-s with smoke, taking the
honey out of the tree. We have
known beckee ers to take up all of
the stupefied bees they can find,being
sure to secure the queen, put all to
ge her in a hive with some honey for
winter feed, and have a new swarm iu
their apiary next spring, iut usually
these bees are not very successful.
Probably those of them which remem
bered their previous life made the
mistake when going out to secure
honey of trying to find their old home
in the woods.—American Cultivator.
lltiiltl the Poultry HOU«P Now.
At this season of the year, before
there is need for shelter, houses needed
for poultry should be built. How to
build them, what size they should be
and where located are largely matters
for each one to decide for himself.
Good ventilation, light, dryness and
warmth are all necessary no matter
where the building is to be, aud if
possible a scratching shed,such as re
cently illustrated and described in
this department, should be provided
for or added to buildings al
ready erected. For the beginner in
poultry raising, a comfortable house
that will do for from twelve to eigh
teen hens can be built at au expense
of about twenty dollars if one does
the work himself. Such a house
would be about twenty feet loug by
ten feet wide, sheathed and battened
aud the roof covered with building
paper. It would also include doors
end windows. If a scratching shed
is provided iu connection with such a
building from six to ten additional
hens can be easily cared for, as the
house proper would only be occupied
at roosting time and the hens huddle
close together at night, requiring very
little room. The floor of the house as
well as the scratch shed should be
kept covered with litter so that the
hens will be kept busy scratching it
over.
Hone anil Kg^s.
In selling eggs at market price the
question of profit hinges on the cost
of the production of eggs. The keep
ers of pure-bred poultry—that is, the
fancier, who raises only fancy stock
and who gets from one to five dollars
a setting for his eggs, aud the same
figures for his fowls—has no need to
count the cost so closely in the pro
duction of his stock, as the prices ob
tained are sufficient to cover even ex
travagaut outlay, and to leave a good
margin of profit.
With the marketer, however, it is
quite different. He must bring his
bill of expenses low iu order to real
ize any profit iu eggs. In this con
nection we would suggest the free use
of one of the modern inventions for
the poultry yard—the bone cutter,not
the dry bone crusher, but the green
bone cutter, and the liberal use of
green cut bone in feeding the laying
stock. With the writer, green bones,
fresh from the butcher, are obtain
able at 50 cents per 100 pounds, and
their value as food, iu the production
of eggs, is worth from three to five!
cents a pound. In fact, the fresh-cut
bone we find the best and cheapest
egg-food that we can buy. There is
certainly a good margin of profit iu
selling eggs at market prices when the
hens are fed plenty of fresh-cut, clean
boue. Of course it must not be fed
exclusively. But it may, we believe,
constitute one-third of the feed given
tho hens without any bad effects. Too
much boue will cause dysentery or
bowel trouble. But with the coming
of cooler or cold weather the haas can
eat a great deal of it to advantage.
The cut bone is cheap and it stim
ulates laying wonderfully. We be
lieve that every person who is produo
ing eggs for market should utilize, a*
heu food, the cheap and wholesome
bones, that can be had at any butcher
shop. —H. B. Greer in Agricultural
Epitomist.
Do Not Pasture Meadow* in Autumn.
There is no time of the year when
we farmers should be more careful ol
our next year's hay crop than just
now. It is an old practice and a bad
one which some of us have followed
for generations, of turning stock into
the meadow just as soon as the hay is
well secured. I have found from re
peated trials that it causes a loss in
the long run and no longer sanction
such methods Of course, every dry
year pasture gets short in July, August
and September, so when the farmer
sees a good living for his stock in his
newly mown meadow it is a great
temptation to turn them in, and in
nine cases out of ten in goes the
stock.
How much better would it be if
farmers would only get into the habit
of sowing plenty of fodder corn early
in the spring and summer, having it
to use at this time of year when it is
so njuch needed and so well liked by
the stock. No doubt in some sections
nearly all farmers have been taught
the result of pasturing meadow sin the
fall from experience, but in parts of
Ohio, Michigan and Indiana I have
observed that farmers are pasturing
their meadows. The ground is so
bare when winter sets iu that much
damage is done to the unprotected
plant roots.
The best crop of mixed hay I ever
had was on a new seeding. After the
wheat was cut several showers brought
forth the seeding to such an extent
that several neighbors warned me
that if I did not cut and remove this
second growth from the field it would
smother out the plant life and ruin
the Ci-op for the coming season. Prom
what I had read on the subject I was
led to believe that no damage would
result from letting it re naih, but on
the other hand great and lasting re
sults would be accomplished toward
the rebuilding of soil fertility.. Had
this surplus crop been harvested it
would have made two tons of hay per
acre; so you can see it was a large
tttnouut of green stuff to let go back
on the ground. In the spring I rolled
dowu the dead clover aud what other
grasses there were (it should have
been cut in the fall) and got the best
crop in my experience.
This was not the end, however, of
so great a nourishing crop. Today
this same field produces the best crops
on my farm, and the reader may be
sure that hereafter what growth comes
after the first cutting (Juue clover ex
cepted) either from wheat, oats or hay
it will remain on the grotind for two
purposes—one, the rebuilding of the
soil and the other winter protection.
—Elias F. Brown in American Agri
culturist.
EfttablUbliiff a Strawberry Bed.
Young, vigorous strawberry plants
set out during tile, mouth of August
stand an excellent chance of fi»«tuing a
first-class bed for summer and fall,
and of yielding the next season a large
crop of fine berries. Preparatory to
setting plants, choose the richest and
best-tilled plot of ground which is
available for use. It is also highly
important that the land upon which
strawberries are to be grown has been
well kept aud is reasonably free from
weed seeds, for weeding is the most
expensive and unsatisfactory labor
connected with strawberry culture.
As the strawberry needs lots of
plant food to do its best, we may ap
ply some well rotted horse or cow
manure, or if such is not available, we
can use what is actually better for the
purpose, namely,highgrade unbleached
hardwood ashes, which, for all frufts,
are au unsurpassed fertilizer, natural
and effective. A seedsman in this
vicinity once applied a large dressing
of ashes to an acre of ground, which,
a few years later was set to straw
berries. The large crops of magnifi
cent berries which this piece of land
produced for several consecutive years
were proof positive of the fondness of
the strawberry plant for wood ashei.
We would apply the ashes to straw
berry ground at the rate of from three
to four tons an acre, spreading the
same broadcast and thoroughly har
rowing it into the soil. The addition
of from one-half to a whole ton of
finely ground bone to each acre will
be a wise practice. With such fertil
izing and careful preparation of the
soil, we are ready to set the plants.
Several plans of culture, each hav
ing its advocates, prevail. We can
confine the plants to hills, or we can
have the densely matted row, or the
thinly matted row. The largest and
finest berries are grown by hill cul
ture, while the matted row usually
gives largest crops. The writer favors
the thinly matted rows as giving large
berries with good crops. The idea
in this practice is to have the plants
cover the ground well except in the
paths, aijd yet to allow each plant
plenty of room to attain a complete
development. In setting the plants
we may strike out rows three feet
apart and set the plants one foot apart
in the row. Good culture and plenty
of moisture will encourage the rapid
formation of runners and new plants.
Give the plants attention while they
are layering, so that they may become
uniformly distributed over the ground,
thus avoiding either crowding or bare
spots.—M. Sumner Perkins in Col
inan'a Rural World.
Bees are said to see an enormous
distance. When absent from their
hive they go up in the air till they see
their home, and then fly toward it in
a straight linn.
NEW HEAD OF THE MORMON CHURCH.
Lorenzo Snow , President of the Latter D>;
Saint*, a Forceful Character.
Lorenzo Suow, the newly chosen
President of the Latter Day Saints, is
on* of the most forceful characters ia
Mormondom. He is an Ohioan by
birth, and, strange to say, is a product
of tbe famous Oberlin College, the
alma mater of so many distinguished
men before him. Mr. Snow had heard
of the Mormons and was first intro
duced into their circle by a visit to his
sisters at Kirtland, Ohio, which was
then a Mormon centre. He became
convinced that the book of Mormou
was the truth, and, being a man of
decided character, he determined to
give up his life to the cause. As a
missionary in the Mormon religion he
traveled at home and abroad, and his
labors were always successful. There
is scarcely a place in the U,nited States
which he has not visited on his errand
of proselyting,and he has been a mem
/ ilx
x LoRErNZc SNoW
ber of the Morruan faith from the earli
est days, when the celebrated Zion in
Missouri was the hope of the followers
of Joe Smith. Elder Snow is truly an
elder. He is now eighty-four years
old,but in perfect health aud possesssd
of all the keen mental facilities that
are requisite for a leadership of the
Mormon Church.
The Killing of Lieutenant Wansboro.
Close in front of me a slight and
boyish lieutenant compelled my atten
tion by his persistent aud reckless
gallantry. Whenever a man was hit
he would dart to his assistance regard
less of the fire that this exposure in
evitably drew. Suddenly he sprang
to his feet gazing intently into the
village, but what he saw we never
knew, for he was instantly shot
through the heart and fell over back
ward, clutching at the air. I followed
the nieu who carried him to the road
aud asked them his name. "Second
Lieutenant Wansboro, sir, of the
Seventh Infantry, and you will never
see his better. He fought like a lit
tle tiger." A few convulsive gasps
and the poor boy was dead, and as we
laid him in a shady spot by the side
of the road the sergeant reverently
drew a handkerchief over his face and
said, "Good-by, Lieutenant, you were
a brave little officer, and you died like
a true soldier." Who would wish a
better end.—A. H. Lee, R. A., British
Military Attache, in Scribner's.
A I>lno*i»ur» Sixty Feet L.on£.
Remains of the largest reptiles that
ever lived were discoved in large num
bers recently by Mr. Lambe, F. G.
S., of the Geological Survey of Can
ada. Mr. Lambe spent two months
in the Red Deer district, north of Med
icine Hat, in the Northwest Territories
of Canada, and as a result has secured
some splendid fossil remains. The
fossils are the remains of dinosaurs
found in the cretaceous rocks.
The dinosaurs were reptiles varying
from twenty to sixty feet in length.
Some of them had three horns, one
over the nose, the others near the
eyes. They were either herbivorous
or carnivorous, and existed ages be
fore the mastodons. Mr. Lambe also
discovered the remains of turtles, alli
gators and fish. In removing the fos
sils from the rocks great care had to be
exercised, as the remains are exceed
ingly heavy, and the work of getting
them to cump was slow and laborious.
The embroidered coat worn by a
Frenoh academician costs $125, the
white cloth waistcoat st> and the
striped trousers sl7. The plumed
hat aud box are down for $52 and the
sword, with scabbard, for sl2. Total,
$172. ,
There's Always a Way.
Shipwrecked Mariner—"This pad
dlin' with my hands is slow! I'll
never reach port this way."
"Wasn't I a chnmp not to think o*
that before?"