Washington City Paper: Contents for Mar. 13

Bone Hunter
Prof. James Starrs digs up legends so he can talk about how they really died. And even if he doesn't find out for sure, he can still talk.

Cover Story

Meriwether Lewis shot himself twice in the early morning dark of Oct. 11, 1809. First he shot himself in the forehead with one pistol, then in the chest with another. But that didn't do the trick. For hours, he cried out for water and mumbled unintelligibly. Finally, he sliced at his flesh with a razor blade until he bled to death.

At the time, Lewis was already an American hero. Just five years before, he'd led the famed Lewis and Clark trek to the Pacific Northwest. He'd trailblazed 4,000 miles to reach the ocean, thrashing his way through curtains of mosquitoes, the Rocky Mountains, and the unforgiving rush of the Missouri River. Then, just when most people took them for dead, Lewis and his team resurfaced in victory. As a reward, Thomas Jefferson named Lewis governor of Louisiana.

But back in civilized society, the slow burn of politics and money had Lewis drinking and drugging. Brash and moody, he had no patience for politics. His critics said he was running the statehouse like a military camp. Edging toward bankruptcy, he was reduced to borrowing money from Clark to pay his bills.

Lewis' downward spiral bottomed out on a trip to Washington to clear up some ugly money matters. He stopped for the night at Grinder's Stand—a gritty country inn near the Mississippi-

Tennessee border on the Natchez Trace. After dinner, he asked Mrs. Grinder for some whisky, and she obliged. Then she sat, petrified, listening to him pacing and muttering angrily in the guest room before the shots rang out.... Continued

Issue of Mar. 13 - 19, 1998

News and Features

Bone Hunter
Prof. James Starrs digs up legends so he can talk about how they really died. And even if he doesn't find out for sure, he can still talk.
Cover Story By Amanda Ripley
Hard Times and Jalapeño Bologna
Internet rebel Matt Drudge's early years
Feature By Eddie Dean
The Great Mall of China
Can Alfred Liu save Chinatown from the barbarians at the archway?
The City By Eddie Dean
Lock Box
The City By Laura LangPaula Park, Chris Peterson and Jamal Watson
Uncivil Engineering
Good fences make bad neighbors of Kalorama residents Jim Nash and Don Poling.
The City By Scott Sowers
Suicide Watch
Journalist Sandy Hume's suicide demonstrates the difficulty of knowing when someone is serious about dying.
The City By Jake Tapper
No Gain, Just Pain
Superstar athletes in D.C. schools get a pat on the back—and nothing else.
The City By Chaka Freeman
Kingdom of Leisure
The Mail By Art Brodsky
Geriatric Asses Are Safe
The Mail By Wendy Walker
Race History
The Mail By Kimberly Camp
Now It Can Be Told
The Mail By Andy Sernovitz
Free as a Bird
The Mail By Gary Dove
The Body Politic
The Mail By Leonard Sullivan
Divine Non-Intervention
The Mail By Donald J. Bowe Jr.
Fight or Flight
The Mail By Mark Oller
Judge Not
The Mail By Eugene N. Hamilton
Bubba's Buddy
The Mail By Steven Koenig

Columns

The Bauble Belt
Cheap Seats By Dave McKenna
Barnett's Food Fight
Loose Lips By Ken Cummins
Unusual Coll
Paper Trail By David Carr

Eats

Movies

Out to Pasture
Film Review By Joel E. Siegel
Ordinary People
Film Review By Mark Jenkins

Music

I Never Even Asked for Light
Music Review By Christopher Porter
Live From Planet Ska
Music Review By Rickey Wright
Star City
Music Review By Rickey Wright
Cold and Bouncy
Music Review By Dan Searing

Theater

To Die For
Theater Review By Bob Mondello

Arts and Events

Time Out of Mind
Art Review By Chris Gilbert
Court and Spark
Books By Holly Bass
The Great Poochini Meets the Last Don
Opera By Joe Banno
And to Think That I Heard It on Mulberry Lane
Velocity Girl and romance are things of the past, but Archie Moore and Trish Roy keep the 'worms turning.
Arts By David Daley
Chairman of Debord
Artifacts By John DeVault
Popping His Cherry
Artifacts By Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa