The Wichita Daily Eagle

WASHINGTON'S MOTHER'S GRAVE.
Richmond, Va., April 12.—The Virginia supreme court of appeals yesterday heard the arguments of counsel in case involving the allegation that an option had been given on the lot in which is the grave of the mother of George Washington. The records show that on February 28, 1887, the defendant, Shepherd, gave Kirtley & Kolbert, a real estate firm of Fredericksburg, an option for the purchase of the lot, which included a monument which had been contributed to by a New York man, but never completed. The real estate firm claims, and the records bear it out, that it found a purchaser for $20,000 in G. H. Huntington of Baltimore.
The property was advertised in various parts of the country, and attracted much attention. The result was that the people of Fredericksburg held a mass-meeting, at which resolutions disapproving the proposed sale of the sacred spot were adopted. Shepherd refused to accept $20,000 and make a deed for the lot. The result was a damage suit instituted by the real estate firm. The court holding that the spot containing the grave of the mother of Washington could not be subject to sale. This opinion will, it is believed, be substantially approved by the supreme court, as this tribunal thus intimated yesterday in refusing to hear the long arguments of plaintiffs' counsel.