To put to rest the mystery surrounding the death of Meriwether Lewis, it is necessary to dig up his long-buried remains, a relative of the famed explorer said.
Retired physician William Anderson, 80, a great-great-grandson of Lewis' sister, asked the National Park Service on Tuesday to allow the remains to be exhumed.Lewis, who with William Clark led the famed expedition from 1804-1806 exploring the American West, died in 1809 of gunshot wounds. Some historians say he committed suicide, while others say he was killed or died accidentally.
"The tendency has been to picture him as a bumbling, incompetent drunkard . . . who didn't even know how to commit suicide," Anderson said. "It makes him appear anything but what I had always thought of him."
Lewis and Clark's expedition explored the Louisiana Purchase Territory from St. Louis to the Pacific Northwest. Lewis died near present-day Hohenwald, Tenn., about 80 miles southwest of Nashville.
His bones are buried underneath a monument near Meriwether Lewis Park, seven miles south of Hohenwald.
Anderson, of Williamsburg, Va., and his son support James E. Starrs, a forensic scientist and law professor at George Washington University who wants to reopen Lewis' grave to prove his theory that Lewis was slain.
"I never dreamed that it might be possible to someday find out what really happened," Anderson told a panel of southern regional park service officials in Atlanta.
The park service in September denied Starrs a permit to exhume the body, citing a policy that prohibits the disturbance of burials at national parks.
Starrs said his appeal is a step in what could become a federal court case if the park service doesn't change its position.
Jerry Belson, the park service's southeast regional director, said he wants to look into some of the points brought up by Starrs.
Southern regional park service officials are again expected to reject Starrs' request. They have previously said it's a matter that the park service's Washington office should take up.
A decision is expected within two weeks.
Starrs also has been involved in forensic investigations into the deaths of the notorious outlaw Jesse James and Lizzie Borden, who was acquitted of killing her father and stepmother.