Heavy rain accompanied by strong winds late Saturday evening led to the fall of a giant tamarind tree damaging the historic gravestones of British Collectors and Generals in the cemetery near the Collectorate.
The more than 200-year-old tree was uprooted in the strong wind and crahsed on the gravestones.
The gravestone that was damaged was that of Lieutenant Colonel Fehrszen, who commanded the battalion that captured Napoleon Bonaparte, the French Emperor, after his defeat at the Penisular War. The winds were so heavy that the 25-feet tall obelisk of the tomb came crushing to the floor.
Another historical gravestone that got damaged in the tree fall was that of Frederick Mole, British Collector of Salem, which dates back to 1840s. The gravestones of the daughter of George Samson, a renowned medical professional, dating back to 1860s, and the family members of David Paul Pillai, Hozur Sharishtadar, the number two officer in the official hierarchy after the District Collector, too have suffered damages along with few other gravestones of historical importance, according to J. Barnabas, General Secretary, Salem Historical Society.
These gravestones and the cemetery stood testimony to the hoary past of the district. Many historians of the past and present had visited this cemetery for collecting information on the historical background of the people buried here.
Mr. Barnabas called upon the district administration and the church authorities to take immediate steps to restore the damaged historical monuments.
He also urged the official machinery to take initiative for collecting the details of the people of the past buried in the cemetery and display the same prominently for the benefit of the future generation.
