Show DOUBT CAST UPON A HISTORIC LEGEND Waa hington elm story held mere tradition A bulletin of the tha arnold arb arboretum casts doubt upon the legend that the so bo called washington elm which until nu 1020 stood on cambridge common cast Us its shade upon george washington when on july 3 1775 1776 he b e took over from gen artemas ward r the command of 0 the colonial forces but especially it declares that the numerous cuttings which have been distributed as aa direct descendants ants of the tree are of dubious ancestry the tradition about the tree unfortunately tuna tely rests upon no trustworthy indisputable evidence and it has been discredited discredit el because a document called the diary of dorothy dudley published in 1875 which purported to give the testimony of an eyewitness eye witness to the event to be a literary forgery when the tree fell in 1020 it was estimated that in 1775 the tree was only six ty two years old and less than 28 inches in diameter and therefore was not so conspicuous as to be singled out as the background ot of the historic scene the tact fact Is that mat nobody who took part in the c ceremony appreciated its significance the exchange of commands was effected with the utmost simplicity with no prophetic sense of its ita importance in eyes of posterity all that can be affirmed positively of the washington elm is that it stood at or near the spot where washington became the military leader of the army of the revolution it may or ma may y not have been the identical tree in these matters however we cannot altogether reject a tradition handed down from sire to son edward everett hale among many others othere accepted accept od the story of the washington i n 9 on elm its as authentic history and hla his belief in it went back to 1830 or beyond lie ile probably had it from hla bin parents or grandparents with whom it was no doubt a tra treasured anecdote tor for edward everetts everetta great uncle nathan hale the revolutionary patriot was stationed with his regiment at cambridge in september 1775 within three months ot of the time that washington assumed command it to Is not at all unlikely then that aba t this ardent young soldier was one oneff ot the sponsors for the story told it to members member of his family as a 91 tact fact during the few brief months that remained to him ot of life boston transcript |