THE CHINA MAIL, NOVEMBER 7, 1939 -TO-DAY'S STRANGE STORY OF REAL PEOPLE
NO. 70-JOHN PAUL "JONES"-MAN OF MYSTERY
BY VINCENT TOWNE
"He changed his name for reason unknown."
So says history of John Paul Jones, the "wizard of the sea." He was a
man of mystery from first to last. He was born with the surname of Paul, and his father, a Scotch gar- dener, had been John Paul. Indeed, John Paul had been a good enough name for our hero until at the age of 26 he donned the extra surname which scores of men have gone into court to doff that they might have surer identity.
This precocious youth when 24 was captain of a Scotch brig, which he took upon two trips to the West In- dies. In a quarrel with his ship's carpenter, Maxwell, he is said to have flogged that insubordinate. One account says he shot him.
When in a few weeks his alleged victim died, John Paul was charged
some
with the murder of Maxwell, say, and was indicted. In any event he was not arrested, but the incident preyed upon his mind, and to prove his innocence he sent affida- vits to his family in Scotland. It was to escape the possibility of iden- tification in the event of his capture that he added Jones to his name, according to this theory.
Other accounts give quite a dif- ferent motive. According to one of these, John Paul came to Virginia in 1773 to administer to the cstate of his brother, William, who, on coming to America, had been adopt- ed by a rich. but childless relative of the name of Jones. William had taken this name of his foster parents who had provided that in case WII- liam Paul Jones died intestate, his younger brother, John Paul, might inherit the property if he also should take the name of Jones.
According to a third theory, the little mariner went down from Vir- ginia to North Carolina to settle Wil- liam's affairs in that State and there met two brothers, Allen and Willie (pronounced Wylie) Jones, men of a wealthy and distinguished family, who had been educated at Eton and who were influential in political life. Being out of funds and unable to re- alize upon his inheritance until after many trying delays. John Paul be- came the beneficiary of these brothers' Southern hospitality. Col. Willie Jones became his bondsman for $2,- 500 when he fled his papers ministration.
of ad-
Charmed by his new surroundings, John Paul determined to retain his brother's Southern plantation. So,
Witty
John Paul Jones!
as an evidence of his gratitude, he the long list of exploits which made assumed the surname of his benefac-him famous gained promotion to the tors and became John Paul Jones, a rank of admiral in command of the Virginia planter, possessed of several entire American fleet. thousand acres of arable land and He went abroad after the Revolu- several hundred Negro slaves.
tion and was lionized in London, tion and John Paul Jones again heard Burke, Fox, Walpole Soon came the War of the Revolu- where he became
the intimate of the call of the deep.
and others of Offering his their kind. In Paris, the King, who services to Washington, he obtained, had made him Chevalier of France, through the influence of the Jones during his last illness sent daily to brothers, a commission of lieutenant ask for his health.
If he had lived in the navy of the Colonies, and by but another week he would have been
an admiral of France, whose Assem- bly rose to its feet while a resolution
of respect was being passed at the time of his death. To two surviving sisters he left a comfortable fortune.
Mystery spread its veil also over his last resting place. He was buried in the little Protestant cemetery of St. Louis, his body being incased in a leaden coffin that it might easily be removed to the United States for final interment. But our country did not seek to reclaim it until more than a century later. Meanwhile, Paris had seen the Reign of Terror and 20 years of Napoleon's wars and over the cemetery had been built blocks of substantial buildings. When we
came to look for our hero's they could not be located.
bones,
Sappers were employed to under- mine the surmounting buildings but all of the leaden coffins found within the limits of the one-time graveyard bore names other than Jones, save one, which bore no name. It contain- ed a corpse which had for some time been preserved in alcohol. The legs were wrapped in tinfoil. A shock of dark brown hair reached below the shoulders and was gathered in a clasp at the back of the neck. The most expert anatomists in Paris com- pared it with all authentic busts and portraits of John Paul Jones in ex- istence and pronounced bably the body of that hero.
as pro- With great ceremony, it was removed in 1905 to Annapolis, where it reposes in the Chapel of our Naval Academy.
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