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Show THE SUN, PRICE, PAGE SIX U TA H E VERY FRIDAY FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 1926 mymm lLtt.Oclut$ rfWw - UiajflliiM cuuFl fatakuk Alt I Record Price of fornery nature Recalls $22,500 Romance of "Man of Mystery" . By JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN thousand live hundred dollars paid for the signature of Hutton Gwinnett sets a new world record for autographs. This most valuable of all autographs was purchased by A. (L W. llosenbach of New York at ths recent sale of Part 1 of the famous collection of the late James 11. Manof Albany, N. Y. ning Have you ever heard of Button Gwinnett T No I Well,' you need not feel lonesome. Who was hef Well, he was (me of the three delegates from the ConColony of Georgia to the Second Continental delesuch as 1776 In and In gress Philadelphia gate affixed his signature to the Declaration of Independence. g There la nothing sentimental about this the with accord In Is It strictly price. universal law of supply and demand which obtains In autographs Just as It does In pork or known sigpotatoes. There are only twenty-odnatures of Gwinnett in existence. There are probably ten times that number of rich men In the country who want his signature. comes especially from men who , This demand are ambitious to own a complete set of the signatures of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. A census made last yenr by Charles F. Jenkins of Philadelphia showed iwenty-seveof these complete sets, seventeen of which are permanently In public Institutions and ten In private hands. Most of the Gwinnett autographs In these sets are either documents signed, or cut signatures. The J. IMerpont Morgan collection No. 14, has the draft of a will In Gwinnett's handwriting. The, Henry E. Huntington set No. 16 has a letter signed, duted March 21. 1777, less than two months before his tragic death. The Louis Bamberger set Not 24 has a note written by Gwinnett In the third person, beginning as follows: Mrs. Gwinnett's compliments to Mr. and Mrs. Slieftel, hopes Mrs. Sbeftel Is recovered," and so on. Mr. Jenkins, owner of set No. 26, paid 814.000 In 1024 for Gwinnetts signature on an Indenture of a mortgage on St. Catherines Island, Ga., April 25, 1770. This autograph la Button Gwinnetts signature as witness on the original will of Joseph Stanley of Savannah, Ga, May 29, 1770, as seen by the reproduction. Mr. Manning paid 64,600 for this document at the Danforth sale la Philadelphia In 1912. How Inexorably the law of supply and demand obtains In autographs Is shown by the following fist of the prices brought at the Manning aala for the other signatures of the set Doubtless It will also elicit expressions of surprise from students of American history. The list: VVENTY-TW- O (1854-102- record-breakin- d n record-breakin- g , I' , . NEW - HAMPSHIRE Joalah Bartlatt. June IS, William Whipple, March Matthew Thornton. 1TTT, 1T7I. 4M. IT. 1T1S, (MS. IBIS. ;; MASSACHUSETTS Samuel Adame, 1T7B, I10. John Adame. March 10, 1TTC, Silk Treat Paine, 1TSI, S0. 'Robert ' -Slbrldga Carry, 1701, III. RHODE ISLAND 'Stephan Hopkins. 1744, 17.10. William Ellery. September SI, 1TIS, to General Millar, denying that ha had voted sgalnet Washington fur commander In chief. 310. (At the Dan-fort- h ISIS, this Ideatioat III sale, December brought Ilk Others now, 117.10, CONNECTICUT tiegor Sherman, 177k -- o W. Williams, on news of the battle of Lexington, I00. Samuel Huntington, 1777, S0. a, William Williams. MS. Ilet' of Delegates to September, 1771, 40. Oliver Wolcott. July TO. 1777, 1M. NEW YORK William Floyd, 1777, 1100. , ' T, nos-gree- ' Philip Livingston, 1771, (I1D. Francis Lewie, December IS, 1T7S. ISIS. Lewis Morris, 1771, to Governor Clinton, NEW JERSEY Richard Stockton. 1711, Silk ui IS. 177k Tk John Witherspoon Francis Hopklnen. 17S0, llk 4lk John Hart, September I. 1771, 51k Abraham Clerk. 177S. 420. DELAWARE Caeear Rodney, July 4, 177S. to Cspt. Thomaa heavy thunRodney (describing hie ride thr-tugderstorm (n algn the Declaration I, 11,100. This US. sold for 9I0 in the llenkela ltodney sale, June 11. lllk Ueorge Reed, November 4, 1771, to Morris, up7k holding state rights, Thomaa McKean, letter, Auruat 11, 1111, to Caesar Aug. Rodney (nephew of the signer), giving an account of the adoption and the signing (not until long after July Fourth!) of the Daclaretloi brought l,000. Thle MS sold at the Hankele Rodney eels, June 11,' 1010, for 67l. The report elgned by McKean na apeeker, of the Delaware resolutions, May I, 1777, on the Declaration, eold for 17k PENNSYLVANIA Robert Morris, 1777, I7.I0. Benjamin Rush, 1771, 110. Benjamin Franklin. May IT, 1777, to hie nephew. Jon. Wllllama (on the future of the U. 8, eta). 410, 010, L. 8. (71). 1,010 others 1700, John Morton, 1707, (I. George Clymar, November II, 1771, (Ilk James Smith, end othere. 1771, (Ilk George Taylor, 1710, (47k Jam Wilson, December Ik 1770, 1110 George Rosa 1771, (100. MARYLAND . Samuel Chest 1771, 100. William Pace, 1711, SI. Thomas Stone, 1711, 114k Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Jane Ik ITTk M0h VIRGINIA George Wythe, 1771, 1100. Richard Henry Lea, December Ik 1770, Ilk Thomaa Jefferson, 1711, 2lk Benjamin Harrison, September lk 177k (Ilk 1777. 1111. Thomaa Nelson, Jr., Francis XJghtfoot ' Lea, September Ik 177k Carter Breston, 1777, lllk NORTH CAROLINA William Hooper, November 1, 177k 1400. Joseph Hawes. 177k 100. John Penn. 1770, to Hewea, 410. SOUTH CAROLINA Edward Rutledge, 1770, (lit. Thomne Heyward, Jr., August k 1101, Introduc100. Thle MS. to Jefferson, ing John 191Huger tn the Danforth sale In lllk brought Thomaa Lynch, Jr., cut signature only, attested by Tefft In 114k sold for 1.000. This signature wee bought by Mr Manning, November 11, 1007, at the Philadelphia eels of the collection of Joshua I. Cohen of Bn Minora for (101. On January 10. 100k a similar signature was snld at the Anderson Henry Goldsmith sale for !k At the Danforth aale, December. 111!, a similar signature on a title the Thomas Bale, Novempage brought SI0, and at ber 11, 1014, e copy of John Mertyn'e Bucollcka of with Lynch's signature, sold Virgil London, 1744, for 1,000. Arthur Middleton, document. January IS, 1711. being note for loo Spanelgned by him end others, ish milled dollars. 411. Also a letter elgned by him and eaves other Signers. October II. 177k ,MM' GEORGIA $11,100. Gwinnett, Button Lyman Hall Hay IT, 177k llk 10. Qoorge Walton, 1711, Button Gwinnett has been railed the "Man at Mystery." It oeenu to flL lie shot np Into prominence like a meteor end fell 11kg onk And out-lid- s of those two yean of prominence little is known of him. and was born about 1731 lit was an Englishman to As circumstance of birth, Bristol at possibly family, schooling and business nothing definite g known. Was Ida Christian name "Button" or was Button a corruption of Burton or Bouton. The mme of Gwinnett la rara In England today. He Is believed te have been married, but no one knows when or whom he married. "We know of none among the living In thla state," writes a Georgia historian, "in whose velne courses k drop of blood Inherited from or kindred with that of Button GwlnnetL" He arrived about 1862 at Charlestown, 8-- Ol What ho did there la not known. About 1763 ha engaged In general trading et Savannah, Ga. About 1770 ht bought the Inland of 81 Cathertna from Bev. Thomas Bosomworth and hla Indian wife. The price Is said to have been 5.250 English pounds. Thereupon he took np the life of t planter. la there an authentic portrait of Gwinnett in existence? Only one seems to havo any sort of claim to being genuine. This la or was In thg possession of Hampton L. Carson of Philadelphia. It has this merit: It shows a face which corresponds fairly well with Gwinnetts known characteristics. Where lie the body of Gwinnett? This seems an open question. HU burial may have taken place In the old Colonial cemetery at Savannah. Or his remains may lie on the Island of 8t. Catherine. Gwinnett's name la on the monument erected In Augusta lu 18X6 with those of I.yinnn Hall and George Walton. The bodies of Hall and Waltoa lie under the monument, but there U no pretense that the memorial marks Gwlunett's last resting srwirt?i$Tr7r&irrrcwixz, Wwwaa an GMHmt place. What haa become of the letters and documents that Gwinnett must have written and signed In his career as a business man uud public offi del? Georgia, when the troublous times of the Revolution drew near, was far from unanimous. In feet the Tories were strong enough to prevent the sending of a state delegation to the First Continental Congress, though the Parish of St. John sent Its own delegate Dr. Lyman Hall, n former Connecticut man who was a leader among the Sons of Liberty. Gwinnett seems to have kept aloof until 1770. Then at Savannah January 20 he was appointed a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, with Doctor Hall and George Walton. In October of the same year he was reappointed. He was also made a member of the Georgia Council of Safety. In February of 1777 he became an official of the state government and probably had a hand In the drafting of the state constitution later adopted. March 4, 1777. Gwinnett was made president of the Provincial Council. In May of 1777 he was defeated In the legislature for the governorship by John Adams Treutlen. 50 a little more than a ymr saw the political rise and fell of Button GwlnnetL Hugh McCall, a Gprgla historian, thus accounts for Its meteoric character: Native-bor- n Englishmen wars In tbs habit of rsaardlng (ha colonials aa Inferior to thomsolvea. and tbay ware apt to aaaumo n bearing toward them highly offensive. In ioma diAa Mr. Owln-na- tt waa obnoxious to thla charge, and ha looked upon hla rapid elevation In public life aa an acfeelings knowledgment of hla superiority. These wars too thinly covered when he was president f the council and soon engendered among tha natives a Jealousy that waa foolishly reciprocated cause ol by him. This waa doubHeas tha prims him toward all the difficulties which surrounded tha close of hla life and brought him to hla trag-Ical death. The duel which brought about the death of Gwinnett soon afterward la passed over lightly by the historians. But here Is the true Inwardness of the situation which brought about the en- counter: August 80t 1776, Gwinnett arrived at Savannah from Congress with a letter from John Hancock y recommending the raising of Georgia troops. Gwinnett waa ambitious to command them. The coveted epaulets fell to Lachlan McIntosh. 51 Andrews Parish waa full of Mcln toshes, who had come over from Scotland In ona of Ogle thorpo'a companies Lachlan McIntosh and Gwinnett were wont to dash in the Council of Safety. Gwinnett's election as President of the Council and Commander-I- n Chief gava him opportunity tc Mcget after the Mclntoshes. He accused George Evl-iln(i- -- Intosh (e brother of Lachlan) of disloyalty, Im pounded hla estate and sent him under guard tc congress at Philadelphia where he wee cleared after Gwinnetts death. Gwinnett sent an expedition against East Flor Ida and gave the command to a subordinate oi McIntosh. The expedition was a rank failure Gwinnett's defeat fer the governorship followed And the Clan McIntosh went shout chortling wltl satisfaction Finally Lachlan McIntosh declsrec publicly that Button Gwinnett was a scoundrel Thai of course, meant but one thing a duel. An account of the duel Is preserved In a docu meat sold at the Manning sale for 530i It la ai undated and unsigned deposition (made In May oi 1777) by George Wells, a witness of the duel, be fore John Wcreat, one of the Judges for Georgia The duel wns fought before sunrise Mey 16, 1777 In Sir Jamas Wright's pasture behind Colonel Mar tin's house. The distance was but twelve feet Both fired together. Each hit the other in thi thigh. McIntosh stood. Gwlnuett fell. Mclntosl recovered to serve his country In the Revolution Button Gwinnett died from his wound May 2 1777. |
