94
The Green Bag,
Beatty r'. Kurtz, Judge Story said : ' It [the lot] was origi nally consecrated for a religious purpose. It has become a repository of the dead, and it cannot now be resumed by the heirs of Charles Beatty.' In Cincinnati v. White, the court said : ' There is no particular form or ceremony necessary in dedication to public use. All that is required is the assent of the owner of the land, and the fact of its being used for public purposes." Beatty r. Kurtz, 2 Pet. 566; Cincinnati v. White, 6 Pet. 431. "In the appropriate and elegant address made by Mr. Bassett, chairman of the monumental committee, to the Presi dent of the United States, at the laying of the corner-stone of the monument, he said : ' In looking upon this monu ment the citizens of these States will remember that they are brothers. They will remember that here lie the ashes of the " Mother of the Father of his Country." They will acknowledge too this just tribute to the merits of her who, early deprived of the support of her consort, en couraged and fostered, by precept and example, the dawn ing virtues of her illustrious son, and nurtured into maturity those nobler faculties which were the ornament and glory of her waning years. They will acknowledge the hallowed character of this romantic spot, ever to be remembered as the place chosen for her private devotions. Here she asked, as a dying request, that her mortal re mains might rest. Hallowed be this wish! Sacred this spot I Lasting as Time this monument! Let us cherish the remembrance of this hour. Let us carry with us hence, engraved on our hearts, the memory of her who is here in terred. Her fortitude, her piety, her every grace of life, her sweet peace in death, through her sure hope of a. blessed immortality.' To this, President Jackson re sponded in an address exquisitely beautiful and justly proportioned to the great occasion and the mighty theme, in the conclusion of which he said : ' It is to me a source of high gratification that I can speak of him from per sonal knowledge and observation. I witnessed the public conduct and private virtues of Washington, and I saw and participated in the confidence which he inspired when probably the stability of our institutions depended upon his personal influence. In the grave before us lie the re mains of his mother. Long has it been unmarked by any monumental tablet, but not unhonored. You have under taken the pious duty of erecting a column to her memory, and of inscribing upon it the simple but affecting words : "Mary, the Mother of Washington." No eulogy could be higher, and it appeals to the heart of every American. Fellow-citizens, at your request and in your name, I now deposit this plate in the spot destined for it; and when the American pilgrim shall in after ages come up to this high and holy place, and lay his hand upon this sacred column, may he recall the virtues of her who sleeps be neath, and depart with his affections purified and his piety strengthened, while he invokes blessings upon the mem ory of the mother of Washington.' "This proud history has been recited argitendo to show that the hallowed tomb of her who gave to the country and to humanity the foremost man on the files of time has been consecrated by private dedication and by public ceremonial as the pfculiittn of patriotic pride and protec tion, and could not be made the subject of legitimate con tract, much less of venal and vulgar traffic. . . .
"On the 28th day of February — the very next day after the paper sued upon was signed and delivered to them — there was published in the ' Free Lance ' news paper in Fredericksburgh an interview had with Messrs. Colbert and Kirtley, in which they said : ' Yes, sir, we have the property in hand for sale, and will offer it at public outcry in the city of Washington, on the 5th of this month [March]. There being no disposition on the part of either Congress or people to finish the monument or to care for the grave of Mrs. Washington, and feeling the general depression of all kinds of business, and to enliven up things, we have determined to sell graves, if, by so doing, we can attract the attention of the country to this locality, and bring money here from other sections. We have ordered the " Post," at Washington to insert the fol lowing advertisement for us; and if parties will purchase, we mean to sell. The title to the land and all there is on it — above and below — will be made perfect to the pur chaser. We think it would be better than Libby prison to some Northern relic-hunter; and thinking the opportunity a favorable one to offer the property, we have decided to do so in the manner described. As real-estate agents, we mean business in this and in all other matters. The prop erty is in our hands for sale, and we mean to sell it, if pos sible, at the time and place designated.' The advertisement: ' The grave of Mary, the mother of General George Wash ington, to be sold at public auction. ' To the ladies attend ing the inauguration of President-Elect Harrison : On Tuesday, the 5th of March, 1889, at 4 o'clock P. M., we will offer for sale at public outcry at the Capitol of the United States of America, twelve acres of land, embracing the grave and the material of the unfinished monument of Mary, the mother of General George Washington. Col bert & Kirtley, Real-Estate Agents and Auctioneers, Fredericksburgh, Va.' On Saturday morning, the 2d day of March, 1889, Hampton Merchant said to Mr. Kirtley : 4 1 notice that you have advertised to sell the Mary Wrashington monument. You can't do it. I have examined the records, and find that the monument is reserved in the deeds; and neither Mr. Shepherd nor you have any right to sell it." Mr. Kirtley answered : ' I propose to sell it; ' to which Merchant replied : ' The hell you do I You can't do it;' to which Mr. Kirtley rejoined : ' I propose to sell according to the option.' After 2 o'clock p. M., on Satur day, the 2d day of March, after Kirtley had had the inter view with Merchant above detailed, and information of the recorded deeds, which showed the express reservation and exclusion of the monument from the title to the lot con veyed to G. W7. Shepherd, Messrs. Colbert & Kirtley had printed, at the office of the ' Free Lance,' 2,000 copies of a handbill as follows: 'General George Washington. The Tomb and Unfinished Monument of Mary, His Sainted Mother! On Tuesday, the 5th instant, at 4 o'clock p. M., at the Capitol of the United States of America, under authority vested in us by the " real " own ers of the property, we will offer for sale, at public outcry, about twelve acres of land, situate within the corporation of Fredericksburgh, embracing the grave of Mary, the mother of General George Washington, and also the material of her unfinished monument. At the same time and place we will offer to the highest bidder the house in which she lived and died, and within eight
