Show e re OILIN IOU fie W j P Z 4 A r W A F aca 6 4 N ay iy y ELMO SCOTT WATSON 1 Is Dir illel koone boone tile the great frontiersman buried ask a kentuckian that and lie will probably nil in awer eliy lit in our state capital r frankfort r a n k f 0 r t of course 11 1 tell a what tho the kentuckian Kentuck lan lina said and ills his comment may pos poa ably be the traditional Sl show lov mot diet nd d any of the dozens of blos ca es of daniel boone and bly find it a statement something this ills one iio was burled buried in missouri in nt at the urgent request of icky the bodies of boone and his hig were removed to Ren kentucky and led in frankfort hut but its just ble that nil all ot of the histories are g and that daniel noone boone still is beneath beti cuth the soll soil of missouri Blisso url ini of tile tho blue gross grass of kentucky rising as t statement wily may he be seems to be some foundation of for tho the belief that somebody ered lit in 1845 clat its a rethe body of tiu an unknown stran instead of the body of tile the fart famous ious ier er rests beside that of rebecca Ite becca e in tho the kentucky capital of which cumo came about through discovery lis Is covery recently lu in an old hair E in ID the attl attic of a near ville mo of several letters writ to copt capt authan boone daniel es son eon by the governor Ro vornor of neuten kenten and other distinguished i men in state caking asking its his permission slon for ei noval of the bodies 0 of daniel e and his wife to frankfort tor for I 1 the discovery af 0 o f these let started a representative of tile tho as city star upon nn an which has raised the question of e daniel boone Is actually burled has w uncovered evidence which ines that lint it li Is in missouri and not kentucky tucky in en a necessary background for a aeration de ration of title this startling theory ay ay iy be well to go back into some he familiar history ot of daniel 0 it will be remembered bow fant state of kentucky 1 display 11 ingratitude riot not at nil all unusual 0 history of ameri america a tilled failed to in llo Ilo onea ones title to landi land 3 within orders so the old pioneer took nally to missouri which was then sli territory the news newa of ills his ing is had I 1 preceded him and the sh ish governor gave him in grant of baand acres of fine bottomland bott botto le e femme osage creek and made kyndle nn an onico combining the 9 of judge jury military tury comer und and sheriff for hi a district lie he lived happily for foe several but when missouri ns as a part parl of loussi a I 1 its base came under american erlean erl can ug flag misfortune over noone the federal government ed d to recognize tile the title to the i granted him by the spanish it he found himself landless ile he in I 1 memorials to both the ken Y legislature and congress but it biot t until six fix years hud had passed onErea On gress a awk action to sh laud land grants ranta ff after the 11 of ills his wife lie ho bandit lila ills honin 1113 li son nathan in st charles charlea ty and there he died september 0 ut at the age of eighty glie hn t becca el 0 0 no died in 1813 a burgod lh H on n u pon the bank of teague creak ts incle iella und tind it half north of the fit it town 1 it I in war collity ty mo it had been wone mooned j Teli witted ted request be 16 plowed de her wile when or lia lied died and by allej bhoj of r er lie iw had tj a for ills hta own civil it Is at this ills polut in the that tho possibility that somebody blundered enters nc ac cording to of athor live tit in Misso missouri url and ami who have made I 1 it ct ireful investigation of the circum stauts connected with the burial end and removal one olle of these la Is jesso jesse 11 I 1 crump vice president of tile the kansan city title and trust company director lit in Miss missouri ourt of the hoano family association and un tin authority on the life of lits his illustrious ancestor F from rom ills his statements end and front from those ot of david gardyne of mo who lina has spent years tracing up every item connected connect Pd with the life of boone boona ns its presented by tile kansas city star writer tile the evidence sums huing up us as follows follow when the oro grove grave diggers had nearly completed tile the grave beside eliat of rebecca boone they uncovered a human inman skeleton so the grave was waa re filled nud and this unknown pro preoccupant occupant was waa left in possession they then attempted to make a grave on the other side of the rebecca lle becca boone grave but liere here the hill sloped sharply away making it unsuitable tor for a grave so they had to try again and a grave was wai dug cither at tho the head or the foot of i rebeccas grave no 0 one ne knows for certain which so ns its to earry carry out hla his request to lie beside hla his beloved there daniel boone was waa burled and there his descendants believe he sleeps today the next chapter in the somebody blundered chain of events occurred it little later when headstones wora were placed ut at tile tho boona graves cravea gr avea the to stones were dragged to the graves by a yoke of daiv driven an by a man roan whose name nama Is lost to history when he arrived there lie he was not certain as aa to the placing of the stones ind and went to a farmhouse nearby the woman there returned with him to the graves and after discussing the tha situation for a time finally pointed to tile tho two graves hide by side and said 1 I think those aro are the graves accordingly the it 0 headstone for rebecca boone wits wad placed PI need correctly but the one for daniel boone wua was placed pieced at the head of the grave occupied by the unknown stranger tile the final blunder it such tt it was 1813 when kentucky lu in w was as made in un tin 01 effort TOrt to pay P ity tta its tardy honors to the man to whom it owed so eo much started tile the movement to have the bodies of boone and ills his wife returned to the blue grass state As the result of the letters from kentucky officials to nathan boone such as aa those recently discovered tile tha boone family finally gave its ita conceit con coll seit to the removal A delegation delf of Kentuck lani arrived to obtain the bodies they opened tile the grav of Ite rebecca becca boone and found the conin in an excellent stata of pherva tion but wh enthey opened the grave grava beside her which they believed to coi contain tain the body of tile the old pioneer they alicy found only it few pieces of tile the coffin and tile the larger bones bonea of skeleton apparently no one at tile timo wits was struck by the inconsistency of this tact fact how could coan be in uil perfect state of presen rv atlon while the other mip posed d to contain the bwy of her huband who was burled seven years lifter after lier her had so nearly perished at tiny any rate the contents of the two graves wem placed 1 aid carried t to it la ela elaborate elah COMO the ceremony of reburial frankfort Frink forr ut tile the kentucky capital as a described 1 i in till article in harpers in IBM tells us that navan oata ined the consent of 0 tho the surviving relative of 0 the 11 loneer for or removal ct the th vernaine f eom com t tho he execution of 0 charged with the tb the th will of the legislature appointed the of september 1845 its AS the day when public funeral honor should be 1 mid to th the illustrious dead mid and their remains be deposited la in the tt bosom bodom of 0 kentucky the events of that day will vr form un n interesting page in the acha anha annals a of 0 the lie abate on that oc occasion caslon historic grimn men wheat names nam w will lit never be forgotten gathered around tile corlin conin ot of a more eminent historic character hax acter and bore it to the grave c the tha pallbearers pall bearers e aber were atly chosen from among the cloers and the lie honored men of the commonwealth thousands 0 of f people had gathered from nil all parts ot of the state to emte in the solemn funeral rites A procession was for formed nied consisting of military companies compani eq masonic and other s c lettes in regalia regal lB and a a great number 0 of I 1 I 1 citizens on ho horseback and on foot rn biking the line more than sk mile in length the broad grave brave for the two cobins was dug due in it a lovely shaded hollow near the banks banka of the kentucky river arnd around it the multitude gathered the ceremonies cere were we performed by ilov mr godell of the baptist church and were followed by an oration by hon J J crittenden the able representative of kentucky in the senate of the united states when the prayer had boon been offered ott ered and th the benediction pronounced the coffins coffan 11 were lowered into tile the gra grave ve and over them was plied piled a mound of earth yet the only monument that mar marlc ka the th spot where alis noble pioneer plo neer art ar burled buried ahat was true in I 1 1850 was still true 20 years later that this mound of earth wits was yet the only monument that marks maiks the spot where tho the noble pioneers tire ore burled buried for strange to eny any having paid these signal honors to its great pioneer kentucky again I 1 allowed a n indifference to him and it was not until 1880 that tho the I 1 present monument was waa erected la in frankfort daniel beono has jw been honored by memorials in many other places in ln the tha monument which marks the althof tile the station which he established in 1775 in the statue of him in cherokee Chero keo park in louisville la in tho monument which stands in cumberland gap where boone abood and looked into his land of promise even I 1 though it was tho the dark and bloody rhoody ground find which way may I 1 some day be replaced with a heroic statue of the great pioneer lind in tho the boone boode trail highway which follows his path into the west anve at last year he became one of americas immortals when it bust of him bill was unveiled in the nail of fame at new kew york university the monument but to la in F frankfort rank fort nn an unpretentious one it v bould ault beem considering the worth of tits his services to that commonwealth Is something of a state shrine it will lie le startling news to kentuckians Kentuck lans ians if definitely proved that dantal daniel it ta is ever boone does not sleep beneath that monument there were times during the bloody years of the Ite in t ho be west that kentucky owed her very existence to tho the strong right firm luida stout heart of daniel boone Y yet et for rill nil that he be did for her abe she allowed lintn to bo be defrauded of his langsand lands land sand i and saw him saddened by her ingratitude set forth to seek a new home in another state elate A quarter uart er of I 1 n century otter hla his death site elic paid him tardy honors I 1 then hen neglected his bis memory for another 85 years the misso missouri url descendants of jfe if os is believe 1 it to Is not only possible D boone 00 ne tut hut probable that tha t daniel boone boona still sleeps in gis missouri and not in kentucky how bow fate roust must mile at the delicious irony of the situ situation atlon E ken en tuc kluna of 0 today m milking aking it pilgrim pilgrimage abw bbate shrine unconscious of it to this tit alio fact that they are standi standing fig in reverence at tho the last re resting place of un an unknown stranger and not that of their great hero whom tile the Kentuck kentuckians ians of yesterday denied the full measure inea sura of honor and the rewards which watch he to so richly deserved I 1 |