Posted on 04/18/2006 6:06:09 AM PDT by robowombat
I'd rather not know. They say it's Jones it's Jones.
In this situation there is nothing that DNA can do for you; you have no reliable evidence for comparison.
Other than his brother and sister's remains.
Jimmy Hoffa?
Well, such revelation would shatter my entire world.
That crypt is a mighty cool looking thing. So if it's not Jones, some schmuck has got himself a first-class resting place.
So who's buried under the endzone at Giants Stadium? ;^)
I didn't even know the Led Zeppelin bassist was dead. ;)
After the American Revolution, Jones served as a Rear Admiral in the service of Empress Catherine of Russia, but returned to Paris in 1790. He died in Paris at the age of 45 on 18 July 1792. He was buried in St. Louis Cemetery, which belonged to the French royal family. Four years later, France's revolutionary government sold the property and the cemetery was forgotten.
In 1845, Col. John H. Sherburne began a campaign to return Jones' remains to the United States. He wrote Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft and requested the body be brought home aboard a ship of the Mediterrean Squadron. Six years later, preliminary arrangements were made, but the plans fell through when several of Jones' Scottish relatives objected. Had they not, another problem would have arisen. Jones was in an unmarked grave and no one knew exactly where that was.
American Ambassador Horace Porter began a systematic search for it in 1899. The burial place and Jones' body was discovered in April 1905. President Theodore Roosevelt sent four cruisers to bring it back to the U.S., and these ships were escorted up the Chesapeake Bay by seven battleships.
On 26 January 1913, the remains of John Paul Jones were laid to rest in the crypt of the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis, Md. Today, a Marine honor guard stands duty whenever the crypt is open to the public. Public visiting hours are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays, and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays.
If it were a question of justice or a crime, it might be worth digging up his brother to see if they can get enough DNA for a match. But, depending on how and where his brother was buried, there may not be any DNA to sample. (Sometimes there's literally nothing left but dust or a "shadow" in the ground, particularly if the soil is acidic.)
Since nobody's committed a crime and the existing evidence tallies, it doesn't seem worth disturbing everybody just on the off chance that the newspapers can have a field day over a possible mistaken identity.
Huh? He interprets dead people's conversations?
Yup. They kept Lord Nelson in a barrel of rum to take him home after Trafalgar. As a result, the rum ration was known as "Nelson's blood," and sneaking a dram was known as "tapping the Admiral."
Interesting. I wasn't aware of that.
FYI
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