Lost For 50 Years
!Чо1ми1у
knows wlio stole the plaque*
from Olil East's rornerslone, or why
it luriuMl up in TenncMsep.
By JOE JO\ES
Л
strange chapter in the history of
UN'C at Chapel Hill concerns the mys¬
terious disappearance of a bronze
plaque from the cornerstone of OKI
East dormitory and its miraculous re¬
covery in another state almost 50 years
later.
America's first state university
building (now designated a national
landmark). Old East was begun in
1793. The objects sealed inside its cor¬
nerstone at that time included the
plaque, inscribed as follows:
"The Right Worshipful William Ri¬
chardson Davie. Cirand Master of the
Most Ancient and Honorable Frater¬
nity of Free Masons of the State of
North Carolina, one of the Trustees of
the University of the Said State and a
Commissioner of the same, assisted by
other Commissioners and the Brethren
of the Eagle and Independence Lodges,
on the 12th day of October in the year
of Masonry 5793 and in the 18th year
of /\merican Independence laid the
Cornerstone of this Edifice."
From that day until after the Civil
War the plaque remained in the cor¬
nerstone. It was stolen by an unknown
vandal during North Carolina’s carpet¬
bagger rule that followed the war and
closed UNC until 1875. As the years
turned to decades, campus officials
abandoned hope of its recovery.
A I.ucky Discovery
In 1903 L’NC's graduating class in¬
cluded I homas Bledsoe Foust of Win¬
ston-Salem. Several years later Foust
became owner and proprietor of the
Clarksville Foundry and Machine
Works in Clarksville, Tenn.
One day in 1916 the foundry's fore¬
man came to Foust and said, ‘‘Here’s
a plate that looks like it might be
valuable and I think I’ll keep it."
In describing the incident later,
Foust said: "He was using the plate to
hold against the smooth surface of a
mould to assist in finishing with a
moulder's trowel. As he handed it to
me, the name William Richardson
Davie caught my eye, and after a little
further examination, for it was so dirty
and tarnished its inscription was almost
illegible, I saw that it was linked with
the history of my alma mater at Chapel
Hill. I carried it at once to the labora¬
tory of the Red River Furnace Com¬
pany, where we cleaned it enough to
make it entirely legible.
"The plate came into my foundry
along with a lot of scrap brass which
was bought from one of the local junk
dealers and was intended for melting
into various brass castings. From what
source it came into the possession of
the junk dealer I have been unable to
learn, as he tells me he has no recol¬
lection of having noticed it. It is pass¬
ing strange that it should have fallen
into my hands when it came so near
the melting pot."
Return to Chapel llill
Foust showed the plate to Prof.
A. R. Shaw of Clarksville's Southwest¬
ern Presbyterian University, an 1884
graduate of UNC. Shaw made the dis¬
covery of the plate the subject of a
newspaper article which came to the
Old Eo»t, built in 1793,
-о»
Awtko’l lint Half
unircmt» building.
At the time of its icco»ciy and narrow eicopc
Irom the mcltcr's pot, the bronic ploque wos so
tomished the words were illegible.
attention of
Л.
B. Andrews Jr. of Ra¬
leigh. a UNC graduate who was then
Grand Master of North Carolina Ma¬
sons.
Knowing the plate’s history, in¬
cluding its mysterious disappearance
and its half-century of absence, An¬
drews immediately got in touch with
l oust. As a result, the plate was re¬
lumed to Chapel Hill a few weeks af¬
ter its reappearance in Tennessee.
In a Masonic ceremony marking the
1 23rd anniversary of the laying of Old
East's cornerstone, Cirand Master An¬
drews presented the long-lost rectangle
of bronze to UNC at the school’s an¬
nual University Day observance on
Oct. 12. 1916.
To thank Foust for his discovery and
return of the plate, UNC sent him a set
of Kemp Plummer Battle’s two-volume
history of the University of North
Carolina. Its inscription was signed by
Battle, former president of UNC; Ed¬
ward Kidder Graham, then UNC presi¬
dent, and Grand Master Andrews.
Foust was 83 when he died in 1967
after a successful career as an indus¬
trialist and chemical engineer. One of
his memorials is the historic piece of
bronze that tells of the actual physical
beginning of UNC. I hanks to him, it
rests safely among the archives in the
UNC library’s North Carolina Collec¬
tion. Anybody wishing to do so may
see it there.
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