Christopher Columbus and His Monument Columbia Part 6

This shaft, though unpretentious in height and material, is the first ever erected in the "Monumental City" or in the whole United States. The monument was put up on his estate by Charles Francis Adrian le Paulmier, Chevalier d'Amour. The property is now occupied by the Samuel Ready Orphan Asylum, at North and Hartford avenues. It pa.s.sed into the hands of the trustees from the executors of the late Zenus Barnum's will.

It has ever been a matter of surprise, particularly among tourists, that among the thousand and one monuments which have been put up in the United States to the ill.u.s.trious dead, that the daring navigator who first sighted an island which was part of a great continent which 400 years later developed into the first nation of the world, should be so completely and entirely overlooked. It is on record that the only other monument in the world, up to 1863, which has been erected in the honor of Columbus is in Genoa. There is no authoritative account of the construction of the Baltimore monument. The fact that it was built in honor of Columbus is substantial, as the following inscription on the shaft shows:

Sacred to the Memory of CHRIS.

COLUMBUS, OCT. XII, MDCC VIIIC.

It can be seen that the numerals are engrossed in the old English style, and show eight less than 1800, or 1792, and the date October 12th. The shaft towers among the boughs of a great oak tree which, like itself, has stood the storms and winds of nearly a hundred years. It has seen Baltimore develop from a little colonial town to a great city. The existence of the monument, strange to say, was known to only a few persons until the opening of North Avenue through the Barnum estate about twelve years ago. It looms up about fifty feet, and is attractive.

Tradition says that it is built of brick which was brought from England, and covered with mortar or cement. At any rate it is substantial, and likely to stand the ravages of time for many more years. The Samuel Ready estate is on the east side of the Hartford turnpike and fronts on North Avenue. The old-fas.h.i.+oned country house, which was built many years ago, was occupied by the proprietor of Baltimore's famous hostelry, and is still in use. It is occupied by girls who are reared and educated by money left by the philanthropist Samuel Ready. Forty or fifty years ago the elder David Barnum resided there.

In the southeast corner of the beautiful inclosure stands the monument.

It is on an elevated terraced plateau. The plaster or cement coating is intact, and the inscription is plain. The shaft is quadrangular in form, sloping from a base six feet six inches in diameter to about two feet and a half at the top, which is a trifle over fifty feet from the ground. The pedestal comprises a base about thirty inches high, with well-rounded corners of molded brick work. The pedestal proper is five feet six inches in diameter, ten feet in height, and a cornice, ornamental in style, about three feet in height. From this rises a tapering shaft of about twenty-eight feet. The whole is surmounted by a capstone eighteen inches high. Three stories are told about the monument.

Here is the first: Among the humble people who have lived in that section for years the legend is that the monument was erected to the memory of a favorite horse owned by the old Frenchman who was the first French consul to the United States. For years it was known as the "Horse Monument," and people with imaginative brains conjured up all sorts of tales, and retailed them _ad lib_. These stories were generally accepted without much inquiry as to their authenticity.

This, however, is the true story: Gen. D'Amour, who was the first representative sent to the colonies from France, was extremely wealthy.

He was a member of a society founded to perpetuate the memory of Columbus in his own land.

It is said that Gen. D'Amour came to America with Count de Gra.s.se, and after the fall of Yorktown retired to this city, where he remained until he was recalled to France in 1797. His reason for erecting the monument was because of his admiration for Columbus' bravery in the face of apparent failure. Tradition further says that one evening in the year 1792, while he was entertaining a party of guests, the fact that it was then the tri-centennial of the discovery of America was the topic of conversation. During the evening it was mentioned incidentally that there was not in this whole country a monument to commemorate the deeds of Columbus. Thereupon, Gen. D'Amour is said to have made a solemn vow that this neglect should be immediately remedied by the erection of an enduring shaft upon his own estate.

He bought the property around where the monument now stands, and lived in grand style, as befitted a man of his wealth and position. He entertained extensively. It is said that Lafayette was dined and feted by the Frenchman in the old brick house which is still standing behind the mansion. In the year and on the date which marked the 300th anniversary of the discovery of America the monument was unveiled. The newspapers in those days were not enterprising, and the journals published at that time do not mention the fact. Again, it is said that D'Amour died at the old mansion, and many people believe that his body was interred near the base of the shaft. It is related that about forty years ago two Frenchmen came to this country and laid claims on the property, which had, after the Frenchman's death, pa.s.sed into other hands. The claim was disputed because of an unsettled mortgage on it, and they failed to prove their t.i.tle. They tried to discover the burial-place of the former owner. In this they also failed, although large rewards were offered to encourage people to aid them in their search. It is said that an ingenious Irishman in the neighborhood undertook to earn the reward, and pointed out a grave in an old Quaker burying-ground close by.

The grave was opened and the remains exhumed. Examination proved the bones those of a colored man. Old Mrs. Reilly, who was the wife of famous old Barnum's Hotel hackman Reilly, used to say that some years after the two Frenchmen had departed there came another mysterious Frenchman, who sat beside the monument for weeks, pleading to the then owners for permission to dig in a certain spot hard by. He was refused.

Nothing daunted, he waited an opportunity and, when the coast was clear, he dug up a stone slab, which he had heard was to be found, and carried away the remains of a pet cat which had been buried there.

Frequent inquiries were made of Mr. Samuel H. Tagart, who was the trustee in charge of the estate of Zenus Barnum, in regard to the old Frenchman. Antiquarians all over the country made application for permission to dig beneath the monument, and to remove the tablet from the face of the shaft. He felt, however, that he could not do it, and refused all requests.

Early in the present century the Samuel Ready estate was owned by Thomas Tenant--in those days a wealthy, influential citizen. One of his daughters, now dead, became the wife of Hon. John P. Kennedy. Another daughter, who lived in New York, and who is supposed to be dead, paid a visit in 1878 to the old homestead, and sat beneath the shadow of the Columbus monument. She stated that the shaft has stood in her early girlhood as it stands now. It was often visited by noted Italians and Frenchmen, who seemed to have heard of the existence of the monument in Europe. She repeated the story of the wealthy Frenchman, and told of some of his eccentricities, and said he had put up the monument at a cost of 800, or $4,000.

The old land records of Baltimore town were examined by a representative of the _American_ as far back as 1787. It appears that in that year Daniel Weatherly and his wife, Elizabeth; Samuel Wilson and wife, Hannah; Isaac Pennington and Jemima, his wife, and William Askew and Jonathan Rutter a.s.signed to Rachel Stevenson four lots of ground, comprising the estate known as "Hanson's Woods," "Darley Hall,"

"Rutter's Discovery," and "Orange." Later, in 1787 and 1788, additional lots were received from one Christopher Hughes, and in the following year the entire estate was a.s.signed by Rachel Stevenson to Charles Francis Adrian le Paulmier, Chevalier d'Amour, the French consul, the eccentric Frenchman, and the perpetuator of Columbus' memory in Baltimore.

The property remained in his possession up to 1796, when Archibald Campbell purchased it. In the year 1800 James Hindman bought it, and retained possession until 1802, when James Carere took hold. Thomas Tenant purchased the estate in 1809. At his death, in 1830, it changed hands several times, and was finally bought by David Barnum, about 1833.

At his death, in 1854, the estate pa.s.sed into the hands of Samuel W.

McClellan, then to Zenus Barnum, and subsequently fell to his heirs, Dr.

Zenus Barnum, Arthur C. Barnum, Annie and Maggie Barnum. After much litigation, about four years ago the estate pa.s.sed into possession of the executors of Samuel Ready's will, and they have turned the once tumbled-down, deserted place into a beautiful spot. All the families mentioned have relatives living in this city now. In all the changes of time and owners, the monument to Columbus has remained intact, showing that it is always the fittest that survives, and that old things are best.

Mr. E. G. Perine, one of the officers of the Samuel Ready Orphan Asylum, has collected most of the data relating to the monument.

THE ITALIAN STATUE.

The Italian citizens resident in Baltimore propose to donate a magnificent statue of Columbus to the "Monumental City," in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America.

COLUMBUS--THE FULFILLER OF PROPHECY.

GEORGE BANCROFT, Ph.D., LL.D., D.C.L., America's premier historian.

Born at Worcester, Ma.s.s. October 3, 1800; died January 17, 1891.

From "The History of the United States."[28]

Imagination had conceived the idea that vast inhabited regions lay unexplored in the west; and poets had declared that empires beyond the ocean would one day be revealed to the daring navigator. But Columbus deserves the undivided glory of having realized that belief.

The writers of to-day are disposed to consider Magellan's voyage a greater feat than that of Columbus. I can not agree with them. Magellan was doubtless a remarkable man, and a very bold man. But when he crossed the Pacific Ocean he _knew_ he must come to land at last; whereas Columbus, whatever he may have heard concerning lands to the west, or whatever his theories may have led him to expect, must still have been in a state of uncertainty--to say nothing of the superst.i.tious fears of his companions, and probably his own.

The enterprise of Columbus, the most memorable maritime enterprise in the history of the world, formed between Europe and America the communication which will never cease. The story of the colonization of America by Northmen rests on narratives mythological in form and obscure in meaning; ancient, yet not contemporary. The intrepid mariners who colonized Greenland could easily have extended their voyages to Labrador and have explored the coasts to the south of it. No clear historic evidence establishes the natural probability that they accomplished the pa.s.sage; and no vestige of their presence on our continent has been found.

Nearly three centuries before the Christian era, Aristotle, following the lessons of the Pythagoreans, had taught that the earth is a sphere, and that the water which bounds Europe on the west washes the eastern sh.o.r.es of Asia. Instructed by him, the Spaniard Seneca believed that a s.h.i.+p, with a fair wind, could sail from Spain to the Indies in the s.p.a.ce of a very few days. The opinion was revived in the Middle Ages by Averroes, the Arab commentator of Aristotle; science and observation a.s.sisted to confirm it; and poets of ancient and of more recent times had foretold that empires beyond the ocean would one day be revealed to the daring navigator. The genial country of Dante and Buonarotti gave birth to Christopher Columbus, by whom these lessons were so received and weighed that he gained the glory of fulfilling the prophecy.

COLUMBUS THE MARINER.

HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT, an American historian. Born at Granville, Ohio, 1832.

As a mariner and discoverer Columbus had no superior; as a colonist and governor he proved himself a failure. Had he been less pretentious and grasping, his latter days would have been more peaceful. Discovery was his infatuation; but he lacked practical judgment, and he brought upon himself a series of calamities.

A COLUMBUS BANK NOTE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COLUMBUS MONUMENT, PASEO COLON, BARCELONA, SPAIN.

Dedicated May 2, 1888]

Since the Postoffice Department has decided to issue a set of stamps in honor of Columbus, it has been suggested that a Columbus bank note would also be in good taste at this time. Chief Meredith, of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, originated the latter idea and will lay it before Secretary Foster when he returns to his desk at the Treasury.

Issuing a whole set of Columbian notes would involve not only a great deal of preparation but cost as well, and hence it is proposed to choose one of the smaller denominations, probably the $1 note, for the change.

There is an engraving of Columbus in the bureau made by Burt, who was considered the finest vignette engraver in the country. It is a full-face portrait, representing Columbus with a smooth face and wearing a brigandish-looking hat.

THE BARCELONA STATUE.

The historic Muralla del Mar (sea wall) of Barcelona has been effaced during the progress of harbor improvements, and its place supplied by a wide and handsome quay, which forms a delightful promenade, is planted with palms, and has been officially named the Paseo de Colon (Columbus Promenade). Here, at the foot of the Rambla in the Plaza de la Paz, is a marble statue of Columbus.

This magnificent monument, erected in honor of the great Genoese mariner, was unveiled on May 2, 1888, in the presence of the Queen Regent, King Alfonzo XIII. of Spain, and the royal family; Senor Sagasta, President of the Council of Ministers, the chief Alcalde of Barcelona, many other Spanish notables, and the officers of the many European and American men-of-war then in the port of Barcelona.

It was dedicated amid the thunders of more than 5,000 guns and the salutes of battalions of brave seamen. The ceremony was such and so imposing as to be without a parallel in the history of any other part of the world.

The following s.h.i.+ps of war, at anchor in the harbor of Barcelona, boomed out their homage to the First Admiral of the Shadowy Sea, and, landing detachments of officers, seamen, and marines, took part in the inauguration ceremonies.

_American_--United States steams.h.i.+p Winnebago.

_Austrian_--The imperial steams.h.i.+ps Tegethoff, Custozz, Prinz Eugen, Kaiser Max, Kaiser John of Austria, Meteor, Panther, and Leopard.

_British_--H.M.S. Alexandra, Dreadnought, Colossus, Thunderer, and Phaeton, and torpedo boats 99, 100, 101, and 108.

_Dutch_--The Johann Wilhelm Friso.