It was not, however, organized effort, but the order of one
man, that at length demolished the pillar. This man was Captain Deas,
a peace-loving gentleman, strongly opposed to duelling and brawls,
and on seeing a party approaching the grounds often interposed and
sometimes succeeded in effecting a reconciliation. He became tired of
seeing the pillar in his daily walks, and, in 1820, ordered his men to
remove it and deposit the slab containing the inscription in one
of the outbuildings of the estate. This was done. But a few months
afterward the slab was stolen, and nothing more was heard of it until
thirteen years later, when Mr. Hugh Maxwell, president of the St.
Andrew's Society, discovered it in a junk shop in New York. He at once
purchased it and presented it to Mr. James G. King, who about this
time came into possession of the Deas property, where it has since
been carefully preserved."
This mansion of Captain Deas afterward known as the "King House on the
Cliff" was a stately residence where Washington Irving used to come
and dream of his fair Manhattan across the river.
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