| Show by ELMO SCOTT WATSON HERE la daniel boone the great frontiersman burled ask a kentuckian lan that and he will probably an awer why in our state capital frankfort of course 1 tell a missourian whit the kentuckian lan has said and bis comment may possibly be tho traditional show me I 1 head aay ot the dozens of blo of daniel boone and probably find a statement something like this he was burled in missouri but in 1845 at the urgent request of kentucky the bodies tt boone and his wife were removed to kentucky and re burled in I 1 lankfort rank fort but it s just potable that all of the histories are wrong and that daniel boone still sleeps beneath the soil of missouri instead of the blue grass of kentucky surprising as that statement may be there seems to be some of fact for the belief that somebody blundered in 1845 and that as a result the body of an unknown stran ger instead of the body of alie famous pioneer rests beside that of rebecca boone in the kentucky AU of which came about through the discovery recently in an old hair trunk in the attic of a farmhouse near mo of several letters written to capt nathan boone daniel boone s son by the governor of kentucky and other distinguished men in that state asking his permission for the removal of the bodies of daniel boone and his wife to frankfort Frnnk fort for burial the discovery of these letters started a representative of the kansas city star upon an investigation which has raised the question of where daniel boone Is actually burled and has uncovered evidence which in that it Is in missouri and not in kentucky As a necessary background tor a consideration of this startling theory it may be well to go back into some of UK familiar history of daniel it will be remembered how the infant state of kentucky displaying an ingratitude not at all unusual in the history of america failed to confirm blonea title to lands within its borders so the old pioneer took ills family to missouri which was then spanish territory the news of his coming had preceded him and the spanish governor gave him a grant of a thousand acres of fine bottomland bott on the femme osage creek and made him syndic an combining the duties of judge jury military corn mander and sheriff tor his district here he lived happily for several years but when missouri as a part of the louisiana purchase came under the american flag misfortune overtook boone the federal government refused to recognize the title to the acres granted him by the spanish and again he found himself landless he sent in memorials to both the kentucky legislature and congress but it was not until six years had passed that congress took action to confirm his spanish land grants after the death of his wife he made his home with his son bathan in st charles county and there he died september ag 1820 at alie age of eighty six when rebecca boone died in 1813 he mas burled in a cemetery on a knoll upon the bank of teague creek about a mile and a hilt north of the euit town of in warren county mo it biad been boone a oft repeated request that he bo placed beside tier when he died and by the falde of her bravo he had marked a place or his own it la at this point in the narrative that the possibility that somebody blundered enters according to descendants of doone whir live in missouri and who have made a careful investigation of the dream stances connected with the burial and removal one of these Is jesse P crump vice president of the kansas city title and trust company dl rector in missouri of the boone family association and an authority on the life of his illustrious ancestor from his statements and from those ot david gardyne of Marthas vUle mo who has spent years tracing up aery item connected with the life of boone as presented by the kansas city star writer the evidence sums up as tol lows when the grave diggers had nearly completed the grave beside that of rebecca boone they uncovered a human skeleton so the grave waa refilled and this unknown preoccupant was left in possession they then attempted to make a grave on the other bide of the rebecca boone grave but here the hill sloped sharply away making it unsuitable tor a grave so they had to try again and a grave was dug either at the head or the foot of rebecca s grave no one knows for certain which so as to carry out his request to lie beside his beloved there daniel boone was burled and there his descendants believe be bleeps today the next chapter in the somebody blundered chain of events occurred a little later when headstones were placed at the boone graves the stones were dragged to the gnes by a yoke of oxen driven by a man whose name Is lost to history when be arrived there be was not certain as to the placing of the stones and went to a farmhouse nearby the woman there returned him to the graves and after discussing the situation for a time finally pointed to the two graces bide by side and said 1 I think those are the graces accordingly the headstone for boone was placed correctly but the one tor daniel boone was placed at the head of the grave occupied by the unknown stranger the final blunder it such it was was made in 1845 when kentucky in an effort to pay its tardy honors to the man to whom it owed so much started the movement to have the bodies of boone and hla wife returned to the blue grass state As the result of the letters from kentucky to nathan boone such as those recently discovered the boone family finally gave its consent to the removal A delegation of Kentuck lans arrived to obtain the bodies they opened the grave of rebecca boone and found the coffin in an excellent state of preservation but when they opened the grave beside her which they believed to contain the body of the old pioneer iliev found only a few pieces of the coffin and the larger bones of a human skeleton i apparently no one at the time was struck by the inconsistency of this fact how could rebeccas coffin be in such perfect state of preservation while alie other supposed to contain the body of her hatband hut band who was buried seven sears after her had BO nearly perished at any rate the contents of the two graves were placed in elaborate coffins and carried tu I 1 lankfort rank fort the ceremony of at the kentucky capital as described in an article in harpers magazine in 1859 tells us that hartne obtained the consent of the relatives of the pioneer for the removal c the remains committee chareen with the execution of the will of the legislature appointed the of september HIS as the day when public funeral honor should be paid to the illustrious dead and their remain be deposited in the bosom ot kentucky the eventa of hat dar will ever form an interesting page in the annals of the abata on that occasion historic men men whose names will never be forgotten gathered around the coffin of a more eminent character and bore it to the grave the pallbearers pall bearers were antly chosen from among the elders and the honored men of the commonwealth thousands of people had gathered from all parts of the tate to participate in the solemn funeral rites A procession was formed consisting ot military companies and other societies in regalia and a great number of citizens on horseback and on foot making the line more than a mile la length the broad grave tor the two coffins was dug in a lovely shaded hollow near the banks of the kentucky river nd around it the multitude gathered the religious ceremonies were performed by mr godell of the baptist church and were followed by an oration by lion J J crittenden the able representative of kentucky in the senate of the united states when the closing prayer had been ott ered and the benediction pronounced the coffin were lowered into the grave and over them was piled ft mound of earth yet the only monument that marks the spot where the noble pioneers are burled what was true in 1850 was still 20 years later alint this mound ot earth was yet the only monument that marks the where the noble pioneers ire burled for to say haan paid these signal honors to its great pioneer kentucky again showed a strange indifference to bilm and it was not until asso that the present monument was erected in I 1 lankfort rank fort daniel boone has been honored by memorials in many other placed in the monument which marks the site 0 boonesborough Boones borough the station which he established in 1775 in the statue of him in cherokee park in louisville jn the monument which stands in corn berland gap where boone stood and looked into his land of promise even though it was the dark and bloody ground and which may como day be replaced with a heroic statue of the great pioneer and in the boone trail highway which follows his path into he west last year he became one of america a immortals when a bust ot him was unveiled in the hall of fam at new york but to Kentuck tans the monument in frankfort an unpretentious one it would seem considering the worth of his services to that commonwealth ii something of a state shrine it will be startling news to Kentuck lana if it Is ever definitely proved that daniel boone does nt sleep beneath that monument there were times durin the bloody years of the revolution in the west that kentucky owed her very existence to the strong right arm and stout heart of daniel boone yet tor all that he did for her she allowed him to be defrauded of his lands and saw him saddened by her ingratitude set forth to seek a new home in another state A quarter of a century after his death she paid lardy honors then neglected his memory tor another sa years if as the missouri descendants of boone believe it Is not only possible ant probable that dinael boone still sleeps in missouri and not in ken tucks how fate must smile at the delicious irony of the situation ken tuc klans of today n akong a pilgrimage to this state unconscious of the tact that they are standing in reverence at the last resting pace of an unknown stranger and not that of their great hero whom the kentuckian lan of yesterday bened the full measure of honor and the rewards which he so richly deserved I 1 |
