Tri-State Unity Coalition

Tom Quick

Pocono Record Online - June 16, 1999
www.poconorecord.com

Time for Quick to be laid to rest

Milford Borough Council has a problem: A monument to a man honored in 1889 for "killing Indians" was vandalized three years ago. But changing community standards mean Tom Quick — who is buried beneath the monument, in the middle of West Sarah Street — is no longer regarded as a hero.

What to do?

American Indians are understandably not happy over the possibility that the monument might be restored. They turned out in force recently to protest; press accounts indicate that they simply don't want the monument returned to its original condition.

Elected officials know a politically correct minefield when they see one, and the prevailing thought now is that if everyone just does nothing, things will get better.

Meanwhile, Tom Quick is buried in the middle of the road with nothing but a battered stone over him. That might strike some as an un-Christian outcome. It might strike almost anyone as an inappropriate and incomplete solution.

Why not move the grave to a cemetery, where most people are buried, and give the man a simple headstone? A small metal marker noting that he'd been considered a role model in the 18th and 19th century and an embarrassment in the 20th, with some indication of the facts, the legend, and the date and circumstances of the reburial, would be something appreciated by those who, in future centuries, wonder exactly what happened and why.

They can also learn a lot about us from how we handle Tom Quick and his now-embarrassing legacy.

Changing community values. Changing historical perspectives. We need to establish Tom Quick's rightful place in history, and we need to distance ourselves morally from the value system that made him a hero worthy of a monument. We don't need to be petty and spiteful in the process. Put the man where he belongs, physically and historically, and let's move on.

Tri-State Unity Coalition