The longer text on one side of the monument was selected from from an article in the New York Times, dated October 11, 1885.
There was a natural poetry to the news reportage that jumped off the page and spoke to me:
AWAY IT FLEW, THAT VIEWLESS SPARK,
TO LOOSE THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND CHAINED DEMONS
BURIED IN DARKNESS AND THE COLD,
SALT WAVES UNDER THE IRON ROCKS….
FOR A TREMBLING MOMENT THE SUBLIME SPECTACLE
STOOD SHARP AGAINST THE SKY
LIKE A MIGHTY VISION OF DISTANT SNOW-CAPPED MOUNTAINS
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