Show DOUBT CAST UPON HISTORIC LEGEND washington on elm story held mere tradition A bulletin of the arnold arboretum casts doubt upon the legend that the so called washington elm which un til 1926 stood on cambridge corn com mon cast its shade upon george washington when on july 3 1775 he took tool over from gen artemas ward the command of the colonial forces but especially it declares that the numerous cuttings which have been distributed as direct descendants ants of the tree are of dubious ancestry the tradition about the tree anfor tuna tely rests upon no trustworthy indisputable evidence and it has been discredit el because a document called the diary of dorothy dud ley published in 1875 which pur ported to give the testimony of an eyewitness eye witness to the event proved to be a literary forgery when the tree fell in it was estimated that in 1775 the tree was only six ty tytko two years old and less than 28 inches in diameter and therefore was not so conspicuous as to be sm sin aled out as the background of the historic scene the fact Is that mat no body who took part in the ceremony appreciated its significance the ex change of commands was effected with the utmost simplicity with no prophetic sense of its importance in eyes of posterity all that can be affirmed positively of the washing ton 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 may not have been the identical tree in these matters however we can not altogether reject a tradition handed down from sire to son SOIL ed ward everett hale among many oth erg ers accepted the story of the wash ington elm as authentic history and his belief in it went back to 1830 or beyond he probably had it from his parents or grand grandparents paren ts with whom it was no doubt a troa treasured anecdote for edward everett s great uncle nathan hale the revolution ary nry patriot was stationed with his regiment at cambridge in september 1775 within three months of the time that washington assumed command it Is not at all unlikely then that this ardent young soldier was one of the sponsors for the story told it to members of his family as a tact fact dur ing the few brief months that remained to him of life bost boston on tran script |