The Admiral and the Ambassador (49 page)

3
. “Decoration Day in Paris,”
New York Times,
May 31, 1899.

4
. Letter from Johnson to McKinley, June 7, 1899, record group 59, M79, roll 1039, National Archives.

5
. Vignaud to Ricaudy, February 1899, record group 84, Records of Foreign Service Posts, France, volume 0598, National Archives.

6
. Vignaud to Hay, June 28, 1899, record group 59, Dispatches from U.S. Ministers to France, 1789–1906, roll 127, National Archives.

7
. Vignaud to Marion Stuart Gombauld, Mayeren in Pau, France, November 15, 1898, record group 84, Records of Foreign Service Posts, France, volume 0595, National Archives. The letter was written in English, suggesting Gombauld was an American or British expatriate.

8
. Vignaud to “Monsieur de Selves,” prefect of Paris, June 28, 1899, record group 84, Records of Foreign Service Posts, France, volume 0599, National Archives.

9
. “John Paul Jones,”
New York Times,
July 30, 1899, and “W. Churchill Dies; Famous Author, 75,”
New York Times,
March 13, 1947.

10
. Blackden to Taylor, August 9, 1792, reprinted in
Life and Correspondence of John Paul Jones,
543.

11
. The Sims detail is from “His Grave Has Been Found,”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
November 14, 1899.

12
. Vignaud to Alfred Leroux, August 22, 1899, record group 84, Records of Foreign Service Posts, Diplomatic Posts, France, volume 0599, National Archives.

13
. Unless otherwise noted, the details that follow are gleaned from Porter's report to Hay, April 29, 1905, and Ricaudy's report to Porter, October 29, 1899.

14
. Letter from Porter to Bailly-Blanchard, undated in the files but apparently written after Porter left the embassy, box 5, Horace Porter Papers.

15
. David S. Barnes,
The Great Stink of Paris and the Nineteenth-Century Struggle Against Filth and Germs
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 2006), 238–240.

16
. Porter wrote several variations of his hunt for Jones's body. This is from the forward to
Letters of John Paul Jones
(Boston: Bibliophile Society, 1905), 78–79.

17
. “John Paul Jones's Grave,”
New York Times,
Aug 4, 1899.

18
. Porter to Hay, November 9, 1899, record group 59, Dispatches from U.S. Ministers to France, 1789–1906, roll 127, National Archives.

19
. “John Paul Jones's Grave,” article dated October 28, 1899, published in
New York Tribune Illustrated Supplement,
November 12, 1899.

20
. Memorandum by Charles W. Stewart, November 4, 1911, in which Stewart reports on interview with Porter in which Porter said Ricaudy had deceived him. Contained in John Paul Jones, ZB files, Navy Department Library.

21
. Porter to Bailly-Blanchard, undated, in box 5, Horace Porter Papers.

12. DREYFUS, THE EXPOSITION, AND OTHER DISTRACTIONS

1
. Legend has it that the act was oral sex. There was a touch of the black widow to Steinheil. Her husband and mother-in-law were murdered in 1908 during a purported burglary in which Steinheil was found bound and gagged. Police accused her of committing the killings and trussing herself afterward, but Steinheil was acquitted by a court, and she later moved to England.

2
. Walter F. Lonergan,
Forty Years of Paris
(London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1907), 237.

3
. Burns,
Dreyfus: A Family Affair,
220–221.

4
. Porter to Day, April 28, 1898, box 2, Letter Book, May 24, 1897–November 10, 1902, Horace Porter Papers.

5
. For a good overview of the Exposition Universelle 1900, see Richard D. Mandell,
Paris 1900: The Great World's Fair
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1967).

6
. Details drawn from contemporary news accounts, particularly from the
New York Times
and the
Chicago Daily Tribune,
April 13–16, 1900.

7
. “Day's Events Told in Detail,”
Chicago Daily Tribune,
April 15, 1900. The twentieth century, of course, would go on to become the bloodiest in world history.

8
. “Disappointed Tourists,”
Los Angeles Times,
May 13, 1900.

9
. Mende,
An American Soldier,
234–236.

10
. Marilyn McCully,
Picasso in Paris: 1900–1907
(New York: Vendome Press, 2011), 15–25.

11
. “Paris Exposition Awards,”
New York Times,
August 18, 1900.

12
. Porter to Hay, December 5, 1899, box 2, Letter Book, May 24, 1897–November 10, 1902, Horace Porter Papers.

13
. Nathan Miller,
Theodore Roosevelt: A Life
(New York: William Morrow, 1992), 334–335; H. Wayne Morgan,
William McKinley and His America,
rev. ed. (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2003), 154–185.

14
. Miller,
Theodore Roosevelt,
335, 376–380.

15
. Morgan,
William McKinley,
385–389.

16
. Porter to McKinley, November 12, 1900, box 2, Letter Book, May 24, 1897–November 10, 1902, Horace Porter Papers.

13. AN ASSASSINATION

1
. Unless otherwise noted, details drawn from Scott Miller,
The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century
(New York: Random House, 2011), 289–320.

2
. To friend Herman H. Kohlsaat, quoted but not sourced in Arthur Wallace Dunn,
From Harrison to Harding: A Personal Narrative, Covering a Third of a Century,
vol. 1 (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1922), 355.

3
. Hay to Henry White in Newbury, New Hampshire, June 30, 1901, in
Letters of John Hay and Extracts from Diary,
vol. 3 (New York: Gordian Press, 1969).

4
. Porter telegram, September 7, 1901, record group 84, Records of Foreign Service Posts, Diplomatic Posts, France, volume 0603, National Archives.

5
. John Merriman,
The Dynamite Club: How a Bombing in Fin-de-Siècle Paris Ignited the Age of Modern Terror
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009), 206–207.

6
. Hay to Jeune, September 14, 1901, in
Letters of John Hay.

7
. Mende,
An American Soldier,
287.

8
. “What Is Doing in Society,”
New York Times,
May 6, 1902.

9
. Details drawn from numerous contemporary news accounts; Porter's visit made for regular items in the society columns. Also, Porter to Wright P. Edgerton, April 21, 1902, NARA, record group 84, Records of Foreign Service Posts, Diplomatic Posts, France, volume 604, National Archives.

10
. Congressional Medal of Honor Society,
www.cmohs.org/medal-history.php
; and “Army Medals of Honor,”
New York Times,
July 27, 1902.

11
. “Mrs. Porter Dead,”
New York Daily Tribune,
April 7, 1903.

12
. Mende,
An American Soldier,
287, and “Mrs. Porter Dead,”
New York Daily Tribune.
Elsie was in Germany when her mother died, and her account of Sophie's last — she swooned into her husband's arms and died with her head on his shoulder—are suspect and likely romanticized. Contemporary news accounts described an unexpected and fast downward slide, and stated that General Winslow and Sophie's brother, Henry McHarg, were also at her bedside when she died.

13
. Porter to McHarg, April 6, 1903, box 3, Letter Book, May 24, 1897–November 10, 1902, Horace Porter Papers.

14
. Porter to Hay, April 6, 1903, record group 84, Records of Foreign Service Posts, Diplomatic Posts, France, volume 606, National Archives.

15
. His absences are spelled out in a series of dispatches through the summer and fall contained in record group 84, Records of Foreign Service Posts, Diplomatic Posts, France, volumes 0197–0198, National Archives.

16
. Porter to Roosevelt, October 20, 1903, series 1, reel 33, Theodore Roosevelt Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

14. THE NEGOTIATIONS

1
. The letters sent out are contained in record group 84, Records of Foreign Service Posts, France, volume 606, National Archives. Unfortunately, the embassy did not — at least keep—copies of the responses, which are lost to history.

2
. Horace Porter, “The Recovery of the Body of John Paul Jones,” reprinted in
Letters of John Paul Jones,
73. This is one of several Porter iterations detailing his search.

3
. Details drawn from contemporary maps and photos, and “Relief of Madame Crignier, Message from the President of the United States to Congress,” doc. no. 101, July 11, 1921. Several earlier similar reports were made, as well, containing the same information in efforts to get the US government to reimburse Crignier some 70,000 francs she had been ordered by French courts to pay her tenants after the buildings suffered damage in the search for Jones's body. I'm drawing on this one because it was the last in the series and included the earlier reports.

4
. Porter to Hay, January 24, 1905, record group 59, Dispatches from U.S. Ministers to France, 1789–1906, roll 127, National Archives.

5
. “To Find Grave of Paul Jones,”
Detroit Free Press,
October 18, 1903.

6
. H.J. Res. 42 and H.J. 48, 58th Congress.

7
. “Where John Paul Jones' Body Lies,”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
November 29, 1903.

8
. Porter to Hay, January 24, 1905.

9
. French ambassador Jean Jules Jusserand to Secretary of State Philander C. Knox, January 9, 1911, included in “Message from the President of the United States to Congress.” Porter wrote to Hay that the outlay was 25,000 francs; I presume the difference is the fee paid to Crignier's architects.

10
. Porter to Hay, January 24, 1905.

11
. “Report of General Porter,” reprinted in Stewart,
John Paul Jones: Commemoration,
62.

12
. Porter to Hay, January 24, 1905.

13
. Porter to Roosevelt, January 24, 1905, record group 59, Dispatches from U.S. Ministers to France, 1789–1906, roll 127, National Archives.

14
. Porter to Hay, January 31, 1905, ibid.

15
. Porter to Roosevelt, February 3, 1905, and Porter to Roosevelt, October 20, 1903, series 1, reel 52, Theodore Roosevelt Papers.

16
. “Researches of the Remains of Admiral John Paul Jones: Report of the Engineer of Mines, Inspector of the Quarries of the Seine,” May 9, 1905, box 5, Horace Porter Papers.

17
. Porter to Hay, April 29, 1905, record group 59, Dispatches from U.S. Ministers to France, 1789–1906, roll 127, National Archives.

15. THE DIG AND THE DISCOVERY

1
. “French Congo Atrocities,”
New York Times,
February 18, 1905.

2
. “Many Gifts to Miss Porter,”
Washington Post,
March 3, 1905; Mende,
An American Soldier,
291–292.

3
. “Mende-Porter Wedding,”
New York Times,
March 5, 1905.

4
. Roosevelt to Porter, February 15, 1905, series 1, reel 337, Theodore Roosevelt Papers.

5
. Porter to Hay, March 25, 1905, record group 59, Dispatches from U.S. Ministers to France, 1789–1906, roll 127, National Archives.

6
. “Grave of Paul Jones,”
Washington Post,
February 23, 1905.

7
. “Bones of John Paul Jones,”
New York Times,
February 25, 1905.

8
. Horace Porter, “The Recovery of the Body of John Paul Jones,”
Century,
October 1905. The article he referenced could not be found in contemporary press accounts.

9
. Unless otherwise noted, details here are drawn from Porter's several written reports and articles about the project, most prominently the report contained in Stewart,
John Paul Jones: Commemoration,
and reports by the attending doctors and anthropologists included in the government reports previously cited, as well as photographs of the scene.

10
. Porter to Hay, April 14, 1905, record group 59, Dispatches from U.S. Ministers to France, 1789–1906, roll 127, National Archives.

16. THE RETURN OF THE HERO

1
. Vignaud to Justice of the Peace, March 20, 1905, record group 84, Records of Foreign Service Posts, France, volume 0611, National Archives.

2
. See “Report of Engineer Weiss” in Stewart,
John Paul Jones: Commemoration,
95; “Echo of Paul Jones Case,”
Chicago Daily Tribune,
July 7, 1907.

3
. Porter to Loomis, June 2, 1905, record group 59, Dispatches from U.S. Ministers to France, 1789–1906, roll 127, National Archives.

4
. McCormick to Loomis, June 2, 1905, ibid.

5
. Julius Chambers,
News Hunting on Three Continents
(New York: J. J. Little and Ives, 1921), 366.

6
. “John Paul Jones's Grave,”
New York Tribune Illustrated Supplement.

7
. “Proceedings of the Fourteenth Annual Meeting of the General Society Daughters of the Revolution” (1905), 48.

8
. “After Search of 50 Years,”
Baltimore Sun,
April 16, 1905.

9
. Porter to Loomis, April 21, 1905, and April 30, 1905, record group 84, Records of Foreign Service Posts, France, volume 0199, National Archives.

10
. “Hay Goes Abroad Ill; Taft Heads Cabinet,”
New York Times,
March 19, 1905.