Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1894 — CHARLOTTE TEMPLE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CHARLOTTE TEMPLE.

lomvic* and Myatery of a Grove tn a New York Churchyard. In a sheltered spot In Trinity ihurchyard, New York, lies prone on the earth a slab of brownstone bearing tbe sole inscription, “Charlotte Temple. ” In a part of Ward’s Island overlooking Hell Gate, is another

grave, covered with a slab and with a etone standing at each end. Connected with these tombs there is much of mystery and romance, and tbe mystery does not decrease with the advancing years. .True, one of the jjslabs bears the wo i ds, “Charlotte Temple," but who was Charlotte Tem-

pie, and what pari did she play in the drama of her time? Toward the close of the last century a novel entitled “Charlotte Temple” made its appearance from the pen of Mrs. Susannah Rowson. The story tells how Charlotte was the daughter of the younger son of an English nobleman, and eloped with a British officer, “Montraville," for

New York; how here the lover abandoned her and married another; bow Charlotte, after passing through fear* ful suffering, died in a miserable hovel, leaving an infant, Lucy, who was taken by her grandfather to England. But is this Charlotte Temple the same as she who sleeps in Trinity churchyard, or was she only a creature of tbe novelist's imagination? Borno believe that tho Charlotte

Temple of Mrs. Rowson was a real being and that the slab in Trinity churchyard covers her remains. For a long time tradition pointed to several houses In New York, notably one In Doyers street, a few doors from the Bowery, where the supposed Charlotte Temple ended her days. Many, however, hold that the Charlotte Temple of Mrs. Rowson is only a myth and that the slab in the

churchyard covers the remains of some other being whose life history is forgotten. Similarly about the unmarked grave on Ward’s Island, there is controversy, some maintaining that there repose the ashes of “Montravltle;" Charlotte-s false lover, while others ddny that the Mpntravllle of Mrs. Rowson ever existed.

CHARLOTTE TEMPLE

DOYERS STREET, NEW YORK. [Where the reputed home of Charlotte Temple was located.]

GRAVE OF CHARLOTTE TEMPLE.

SUPPOSED GRAVE OF MONTRAVILLE.