Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1917 — NO MEMORIAL AT GRAVE OF LAWTON [ARTICLE]

NO MEMORIAL AT GRAVE OF LAWTON

Resting Place of Great Soldier Marked Only by Government Stone. FALLS AT HEAD OF TROOPS Hero of Spanish-American War Had Long Record of Splendid ServiceNative State Honors His Memory.

By EDWARD B. CLARK.

(Washington Correspondent of the Western Newspaper Union.) 'Washington.—ln Arlington, the great National cemetery, lies the body of Henry Ware Lawton, major general United States army. He was one of the most noted soldiers of the American service, and yet save for the little government stone over his grave his resting place is unmarked. Other soldiers of a fame which that of Lawton eclipsed have mighty memorial stones erected in their honor. Lawton is not forgotten, for his name is cherished by the American people, but there has been criticism time and again of the fact that this great American soldier who fell at the head of his troops while leading them in battle has not been honored by the government of the United States with a memorial in Arlington commensurate with his services to the republic. 'in Indianapolis, Ind., from which state Henry Ware Lawton entered the military service as a private at the outbreak of the Civil war, there is a magnificent monument to his memory. There is a strtty connected with the erection of this monument, and it has a bearing on the absence of a memorial in Arlington cemetery. Before going further into the details let it be said that the members of General Lawton's family are in no wise responsible for the absence from Arlington cemetery of a monument to his memory. Left Only Small Estate. General Lawton like most soldiers died leaving only a estate. It was his expressed wish before he died and the understanding is that he left 1 a written request to- the effect, that none of the’ small amount which he bequeathed and which was intended to support his family should be used to erect any monument to his memory. Some years ago the writer of this article noticed that Lawton’s grave in Arlington, except for the little government headstone, was unmarked. He wrote an article about it and called the attention of Louis Ludlow, correspondent of several prominent Indiana papers to the fact that the great Indiana soldier’s, grave was without a fitting memorial stone or monument. Mr. Ludlow wrote to his papers about the matter and his letters being published, a movement Was started in the state to secure funds .for a memorial to Lawton. It was expected that this memorial would be erected in Arlington, but the intention was changed and the money was used to put up a splendid monument in the City of Indianapolis. It is difficult to get congress to appropriate money for mem or i a Is. If Lawton’s grave in Arlington is to be marked with a fitting tribute to his

great services the people probably must undertake the work. % Henry Ware Lawton served all through tiie Civil war and later he was conspicuous in the various expeditions against hostile Indians. It was said of him that he would go into dangers into which he would not send one of his soldiers. It was he who in the spring of 1886 was chosen by General Miles to lead a picked body of troops into Mexico in pursuit of the murderous Geronimo. “For three months with saltless mule meat and sometimes little of that for rations, he marched his command 1,396 miles through parched and barren deserts until Geronimo and his band were captured.”

Victim of Sharpshooter. On December 19, 1899, Lawton was on the firing line at San Mateo, in the Philippines. He was very tail and he wore a brilliant uniform. He was leading his troops into battle. He fell, shot through the heart by a bullet from the rifle of an insiirgent sharpshooter. In the grave next to General Lawton lies the body of the brave Major Llscum of the Ninth Infantry, United States army, who was killed at Tientsin, China, while leading his regiment in the expedition of the allied nations to the forbidden city of China, where the members of the foreign embassies were besieged by the Chinese Boxers and whose lives were in imminent danger. . Probably. the most beautiful monument in all Arlington from a purely artistic standpoint is the one at the head of the grave of Major Llscum. Liscum deserves this memorial, but it brings out more sharply the fact that a major general of the United States army who, like Major Liscum, lost his life in defense of his country, is resting in a grave virtually unmarked. To aid night fishing a tiny electric lamp has been designed to be fastened beside the bait, an insulated cord providing current from dry batteries.