October marks the anniversary of a mystery drama which has defied solution for 131 years. Death in a Tavern has the familiar ring of one of today's detective thrillers, but it well might be the title of the tragic story of Captain Meriwether Lewis. That hardy explorer, who with William Clark penetrated the western country as far as the Pacific, was found shot dead on the morning of October 12, 1809, in a room at Grinder's Inn, a pioneer "stand" on the Natchez Trace near the present town of Hohenwald, Tennessee. Whether it was murder or suicide is an unanswered question. Lewis' remains rest under the 20-foot shaft (at right) erected in 1848 by the State of Tennessee. Above are seen some of the foundation stones of the inn. Both views were made in Meriwether Lewis National Monument, established in 1925.