Tread softly, this is consecrated dust
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/50744970@N00/ / CC BY-SA 2.0
Erected by voluntary subscription to the memory of those who were killed by the explosion at the Allegheny Arsenal, September 17, 1862. Tread softly, this is consecrated dust. Forty five pure patriotic victims lie here, a sacrifice to freedom and civil liberty, a horrid memento of a most wicked rebellion. Patriots! These are patriots’ graves, friends of humble honest toil, these were your peers. Fervent, affection kindled these hearts, honest industry employed these hands. Widows’ and orphans’ tears have watered this ground. Female beauty and manhood’s vigor commingle here. Identified by man, known by him who is the resurrection and the life. To be made known and loved again, when the morning cometh.
Through some mysterious and nominally larcenous New Year’s mischief, my pal Bobby and I ended up with a wilting poinsettia covered in red glitter.
Not seeing it fit for rehabilitation (and because it was shedding all over the apartment) we decided to leave it in tribute to some deserving soul, dearly departed.
It was bitter cold this morning, but we hiked to the far side of the cemetery to leave it at the headstone of some of the victims, mostly young women, who perished in the explosion of the Allegheny Arsenal in Lawrenceville during the Civil War.
According to my shallow research, the explosion was probably started by a spark from a horseshoe. Most of the young men were off at war, of course, and the young women were not able to escape through the windows because of their hoop skirts. The headstone has been replaced, but the original inscription is on the brass plate, along with some names of some of the identifiable victims.
I’m glad we found the arsenal victims because our runner-up poinsettia recipient was the far-less-deserving murderer, sadist and sexual predator, Henry Kendall Thaw. His story is almost absurdly disturbing, especially in how lightly he managed to get off, being judged insane and released after two fairly heinous crimes–including the kidnap of his fiance to a remote German castle– to become a fireman by the end of things, if his dastardly wikipedia article is to be believed.
Oh, history…
This is where I wish WordPress had a Tumblr-like reblog function. What a great inscription — here’s to timeless underwriting over today’s adjectival struggling — and backstory, both on the monument and your almost gift.