Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 February 1893 — Appetite for Relics. [ARTICLE]

Appetite for Relics.

“Americans are the vandals that are now devastating Europe,” was the startling assertion made by Dr. Thomas Baxter a few days ago. “They are the most indefatigable relichunters to be found in the world, and every historic spot between the pyramid of Cheops and the Tower of London has suffered more or less at their hands. I verily believe that my fellow-countrymen would chip the nose from the Venus de Medici and carry it away, if they were not watched. And the women are even more aggressive than the men. Relichunting has become a craze with Americans, and manifests itself both at home and abroad. The old chair in which Lincoln put a splint bottom has to be kept in a wire cage to prevent relic-hunters carrying it away piecemeal.*