Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 May 1893 — INDIAN MOUND RELICS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

INDIAN MOUND RELICS.

a Human Skull Twice sa Large as the Nor* mal One of To-day. The work of removing the old Indian mound in Walnut Grove, Martin’s Ferry, goes on slowly owing to the care exercised that none of the interesting relics to be found in it be lost, says a Bcllaire, Ohio, correspondent Probably the most interesting article* taken from the mound is a huge skull, which would seem tp indicate that in the days of the mound builders there were giants abroad. The skull is at least twice as large as the normal average of to-day. This skull is in a good state of preservation. In the collection of relics exhibited in the same place are cuplike stones, which have been supposed to

be cups made by ancient inhabitants. These and other relics are shown in the picture herewith givea. Whether these were made by man or are stones in the process of formation, the outer shell only having become petrified, it would take an expert to decide. Certain it is, however, that similar cups are often found in this vicinity in the ground or on its surface, having the appearance of being a natural product and not an artificial one.

Some of the spearheads and hatchets found at Martin’s Ferry are as perfect ’as any ever found > anywhere. Bones are found in every part tof the mound, bearing out the theory that such mounds

were simply cemeteries instead of the graves and monuments at once of great chiefs. Several corpses have certainly been buried in this mound. The finding of curious precious stones is worthy of notice. What seem to be opals, emeralds and crystals nearly like diamonds have been taken from the mound. Learned savants have held that the proof is complete, from the articles found at Moundsville, W. Va., that the moundbuilders were Croatians or Phoenicians or both. The presence of precious stones in the vicinity of these corpses, with flint darts, spear-heads, stone axes and stones with holes neatly drilled in them, may furnish another clew to the identity of the lost race. The

mound at MoundsvlUe is the highest mound found in this part of the country, it being over 100 feet high. Good Talker. Kenny Meadows was an artist who was always welcome at any social gathering, for he had an infinite fund of quotation and mother-wit. A certain well-known studio pun was his. There had been one day a long talk about fresco and the palette necessary for it, and the repeated remark that it needed a palette of earths quite tired him out. “You talk of ochres,” he said, “but the worst of all you haven’t named, though it's the commonest. That’s the mediocre!” “Then," said another artist, “you don’t believe in the golden mean's being the best of things?” “No,” said he; “I’ll divide that with you. You may take the mean, and I’ll keep the gold. ” According to his own telling, his standard of praise was a financial one. “Now, I dare say you think yourself a very clever fellow to paint so good a picture,” be said to his friend, William Bell Scott, who had just completed his “Old English Ballad Singer." “But it’s nothing to paint a picture compared with what it is to sell it. When you do that I’ll congratulate you!” But every one knew just how much such deprecatory criticism meant. Meadows was “fond of talking.”

Value or Nickel Metal. Nickel is a metal of more importance than it used to be, since it has been discovered that combined with steel it makes the best and hardest armor for war ships, and ttiqpe southern Oregon mines should not have been allowed to pass into the hands of an English syndicate. The nickel for the armor of the battle ships now building at Philadelphia is procured from Canada under a regular contract with the navy department It is almost the only material entering into the new war vessels which is not produced in the United States.—Boston Journal.

Growsome Statistics. Statistics show that murders are rapidly on the increase, while legal hangings and lynchings are small in proportion. Murders in 1887 amounted to 2,335; in 1889-4 here were 3,567; 4,230 in 1890; 5,906 in 1891; 6,fM in 1892. The number of legal hangings in 1891 was 123, oroneto4B murders; in 1892 there were 107 legal hangings, or one to 63 murders. On the otherhand, hanging outside of the law or in defiance of the law, has been on the increase. There were 195 lynchings in 1891, and 236 in 1892.—Illinois State Register.

REMOVING THE MOUNP.

SKULL FOUND IN THE MOUND.

SOME oF THE RELICS.