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Show II 1 ' I Equestrian Statue of Famous I , General Custer Is Unveiled t ,f at Monroe, Michigan. : " PRESIDENT TAFT PAYS S TRIBUTE TO THE HERO (Sreat Throngs, Including Many , j Representative Men, in At- 1 . j tendance at Exercises. ' ., By Associated Press. , jj MONHOK, Mich., Juno -1. With , . I President Taft in attendance as the j ' orator of tho occasion, tho nation, 5 1 state, city and adjacout farming dis I trict united licro today in paying M tribute to the memory of Gen. George r" ,f Armstrong Custer, who. with 251 of. ' ; j his cavalrymen, was slain by Sitting Ji' H Bull's band of Sioux Indians at the I 'i battle of the Little Big Horn in tho 'I Bad Lands of Montana June i!i, 1S7G j Ji An equestrian statue of General Uus- r t' tcr, for which tho legislature-of Mifihi- I . i; gan appropriated $25,000, was unveiled j , ' by tho general's widow, Mrs. Elizabeth (j B. Custer of New York, and among tho Ji , other guests of honor was Nov in J. Ctis- j' jfij tcr, tho cavalry leader's only surviving i' ji' brother, who still resides on a farm III j near here in the neighborhood where fi Ij tho farmer and his military brothers k t passed their bovliood. f, , Governor Fred M. Warner was Miehi- gan's official ropresentalivc at the dedi- ' ji cation and veterans of the four Michi- ' gan cavalrv regiments that comprised i the Custer brigade in the civil war, act- I M ed as escort ot Honor to tne president ,ij in the parade, ji; An interesting participant was "Cur- ' ji 1y," the Indian scout, who, at thev time I i 1 of the battle, was a young boy. and 1 the onl3' member of distorts command j to escapo slaughter. j Multitudo AttoudB. i , Thousands of visitors heard tho ad- tf. dress of President Taft., and there were h many distinguished guests, including I Mrs. John A. Logan, United States J -ifj Senator William Aldcn Smith and a ' ',i number of General Custer's army com- rades of tho civil war. After tho exercises hero President ; ' Taft and his party went to Jackson, fl' Mich., to participate in the dedication ,,fjj, of a tablet commemorating the organi- jil station of the Republican pnrty "under the oaks." at Jackson, in June, 1S54. " Senator W. A. Smith added a striking i tribute to Mr, Taft to his eulogy of Cus- ' tcr. He declared that ihc present occu- ' ,j pant of the whlto house would take rank J with the most Illustrloua of our presl- ;j dents. Ii "While you remember Grant. Lincoln, McKlnley, Uoosevolt and others of the 11-, 11-, 'j lustrlous lino, our president of today. In t j character, In breadth of fitness. In del or is initiation. In patriotism and love of coun- 11 try. Is the peer of them nil," he said. When Mr. Kooscvclt's name wns mon-' mon-' tloned there was a rlple of applause as , the senator's tribute to Mr. Taft was concluded. I President Taft spoke extemporaneously, fi 31c declared that Custer took rank with I ii the greatest cavalry commanders of the ' i . world, j "From Bull Run to Appommattox. In every bloody battle of the army of the .Potomac, he was the right arm of the I 1 commander of the forces as the leader of i tho cavalry brigade." ! The president declared that the phase , 4 of Custer's career, however, which ap- pealed most deeply to him was his share jj In tho Indian wars. |