Story from the Tuesday, March 29, 2005 Edition of the Chronicle Telegram Dispute halts grave digging Work stops at ‘Blue Girl’ burial site Shawn Foucher The Chronicle-Telegram HUNTINGTON TWP. — A disagreement between a resident and land owner over a township property where a 142-year-old grave was discovered last week has brought a screeching halt to any further discoveries at the location, according to both men. Dan Dailey found the grave of 3-year-old Hattie Adele Pratt on March 24 while digging a posthole in a barn on the property. Hattie was the subject of the portrait “Blue Girl,” painted by famed “Spirit of ’76” artist Archibald Willard, who died in 1918. According to a newspaper article from the late-19th century, Hattie died of Diphtheria in 1862. Willard painted the portrait of the girl from a photograph taken before her death. Dailey said he was waiting to hear from Pratt family descendants before doing anything further with the grave, but Russell Pruitt, of Virginia, the man who had arranged to sell Dailey the property under a contract signed in May 2004, says the agreement has been breached. “Right at this moment, I’m going to say that I don’t want to sell to him,” Pruitt said. Pruitt said payments required under the contract have not been made and Dailey’s option to purchase has been voided. The contract calls for Dailey to make a $15,000 down payment followed by 59 consecutive monthly payments of $1,600. There are still several people interested in buying the property, Pruitt said. “I called (Dailey). I said listen, I don’t know what you’re doing over there, but don’t touch anything else,” Pruitt said. “And don’t do anything to disturb anything else. The Historical Society has talked with us, and I want to preserve the integrity and sanctuary of what is there.” Dailey said he was simply doing repairs to a barn that he thought would be his — under the contract — and had no idea something like the grave would turn up. “The alpaca farm is worth more to me than this tombstone,” Dailey said. “If I misspoke in all the excitement and said that I now own the farm, I apologize. I have the option to buy, and I was still working to pursue that option. I was just waiting for the paperwork to go through yet.” Pruitt, who bought the farm in 1964, said he believes the Pratt family is buried on the property beneath the barn floor. “I always had a feeling that the Pratt family probably did use that as their family burial plot,” Pruitt said. “I always wondered why that floor was raised up a little bit, and then it occurred to me that they may have just put some earth over it and put the floor up. It was built high for some reason — rather than have their graves desecrated, they probably just had them covered up.” Dailey said he has little interest in the graves and is simply looking to start his alpaca farm. “The grave is fascinating, but its monetary value is probably worthless,” Dailey said.