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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (June 14, 1908)
AMERICA AND F"AlCEvS BY JOHN ELFRETH WATKINS. THE present scandal anent the -withdrawal of the two paintings, "Old Mill at St. Cloud" and "Near New port," from the Smithsonian National Gallery, by William T. Evans, the donor (who has caused the arrest of the art dealer who sold .these alleged forgeries as works of the late Homer D. Martin) recalls numerous enterprises in forged and spurious art works and antiquities which have been exposed by the schol ars of the Smithsonian and of our other noted Institutions. Some time ago a man tried to sell the Smithsonian's bureau of American eth nology an elaborate collection of alleged Idols, tablets, and caskets, said to ljave been dug out of no less than 162 Michi gan mounds. They bore a Jumble of Ori ental hieroglyphics, explained as hav ing been probably employed by a mixed colony of Egyptians, Phenlcians and As syrians, who in the remote past found their way from the cradle of the human race, in Asia, across the seas, up the St. Lawrence and. Lakes to Michigan. Some months ago Professor F. W. Kelsey, of the University of Michigan, found that one large private collector had pur chased 50 specimens coming from this pame forger. These included tablets bearing rudely executed scenes from the Biblical story of the deluge and a copper crown alleged to have been found on a skull. These pictures and the forger's Inevitable Oriental hieroglyphfcs, always turned upside down, at once called to Professor Kelsey's mind a call which he received In 1S98 from a dilapidated man with two trunks and a huge box contain ing a few human bones and a miscel laneous collection of clay idols, tablets, etc., bearing similar scenes from the "Deluge" and the same reversed hiero glyphics; also a large seated idol, of baked clay holding a tablet. The mys terious stranger, after showing certifi cates signed by persons claiming to have seen these articles dug out of mounds in Michigan, asked $1000 for the lot, and being laughed at, came down to $100. Be ing assured that they were spurious, he asked to be allowed to leave them tem porarily, but he has never yet returned to claim them. The Professor also found in the trunks show tickets and handbills advertising "The Finest Collection of Prehistoric Relics Ever Exhibited in the United i States." Upon examination he found the same reversed hieroglyphics which had appeared upon a lot of al leged antiquities said to have been ex cavated in Montcalm County, Michigan in 1S90, and which he had investigated at the time. Great excitement reigned in that county when these "finds" were an nounced and people were making the dirt fly in every direction over a wide area. One man dug so deep that a cave-in swallowed him up and snuffed out his life. Made by Sign Painter. Among the specimens exhibited were 30 : caskets a foot to a yard long and cov ers ornamented with grotesque figures in relief and the sides with the inverted hieroglyphics, which, for the saving of time, the forger had stamped on with a die. There were also some 75 tablets with the same characters, a few crude vases and a small sphinx, all made of unbaked clay which would soon have r melted if exposed to damp earth. A syndicate of unsophisticated Michiganders was formed to excavate and sell other such prehistoric art works alleged to be hidden in the tract, but upon exposures by Professor Alfred Emerson, of Lake Forest College, the stockholders pocketed thir losses and repudiated the enterprise. The chief promoter of the fraud was ' later found to be one Scotfleld, a sign painter, of Montcalm County, who has for the past few years lived in Detroit. Profiting by the scientific exposures of his unbaked clay figures, which could not have withstood long burial, he next baked the clay, as in the case of the specimens brought to Professor Kelsey, but more recently has been dealing in "prehistoric" copper "relics" artificially corroded and offered to collectors all over the country. Aging "Aztec Antiquities." An even more prolific distributing cen- ter of this kind was exposed some time ago by Professor W. H. Holmes, chief of the Bureau of Ethnology, who refused the Michigan "relics" and who, as cura tor of our new National gallery has been interested in the weeding out of its al leged forged paintings. These Mexican counterfeiters have supplied museums the world over with "prehistoric" art relics carved out of wood, stone and metal. One, plying his trade in the valley of Mexico, supplies ancient Aztec musical instru ments wrought with amazing cleverness from worm-eaten wood. Other spurious relics turned out from these centers are Aztec antiquities in clay, mostly pottery, to whose surfaces have been added casts taken from other specimens of conven tional designs more quickly applied with stamps. The counterfeiter after finish ing his ware ages It by burying It for - awhile in moist earth, or by washing it with a thin solution of clay. Counterfeit ' Aztec vases sent out from San Juan Teotihuaacan, the principal center of dis iitnxK? --a ' lilt . . a ?fk Mr ' .,'22 ,.. LiTe vx SlLr v tribution, sell in the 'City of Mexico foi ' $13. One sent to the National Museum was alleged to have bem , found 52 feet down by a man digging a well: another was alleged to have been picked up in a cavern beneath an Aztee pyramid. Made $12 an Hour With Common Pincers. Marvelous specimens of chipped flint which have been sold broadcast over the country for a number of years and some of which found their way to the Smith sonian archaelogists, have been more re cently traced to a farm In Dane County, Wisconsin, by A. E. Jenks, of the Bureau of Ethnology. He caught the counter feiter red handed In his laboratory, where he was waxing rich at his trade. The farm is occupied by a Norwegian widow with three daughters and three sons, one of the latter. Lewis Erickson, being the manufacturer of the spurious flints knives, fishhooks, cleavers, spear and ar rowheadsa thousand of which had been sold for from $2 to $6 apiece. All were wrought from hint found in the neighbor hood, with a chippng instrument con sisting of a pair of common pincers with one jaw rounded and flattened. To give the stone an aged appearance the coun terfeiter smeared the freshly-chipped sur face 'with earth applied with his thumb and by thus plying his trade he earned sometimes $12 an hour. In a few years he cleared the farm of its mortgage and then had built a large new house for the fam ily. A comfortable living was made by an- other 'counterfeiter who up to a few years ago turned out spurious Indian pipes at Flag Pond, v"a.. but he over played his part and made them in de signs requiring much higher art than the Indian ever developed. A Philadelphia marble yard was, until recently, a dis tributing center for fake Indian axes and Indiana had another from which ema nated various excellent slate carvings and ornaments, all spurious but sold as an tiques. A monster with the head of a rhinoc eros, fore feet of an elephant, hind feet of an alligator, a parrot's beak and liz ard's tail, the whole about a yard long and beautifully carved from smooth stone was offered to the Smithsonian some time ago by a Texan, who alleged that it was a genuine antiquity. But the carver of this had also overplayed his part, and it was sent back, the Indian never having reached such perfection in stone carving. Teeth Betrayed "Ossified Woman." An alleged "ossified woman" was brought to Washington some years ago by a man who had paid $500 for it. He submitted it to several scientists of the Smithsonian for examination, among them F. A. Lucas, the well-known anatomist. The ossified lady's jaw was dropped, as in death, and her two front teeth were exposed. As soon as Mr. Lucas had focuseed hte critical eye upon these incisors he pronounced the specimen a fraud. "They are both left teeth," said he. The owner paled a little, but was not satisfied. The scientists told him that an absolute test could be made only by boring into the stony-hearted beauty, and the owner agreed, provided this could be done without defacement. So. her lady ship wad turned upon her face, and a drill applied to the crease under her bent knee. The drill wa3 of the tubular sort, and when pulled out betrayed a generous thickness of cement below which was a button of . the lady's skeleton, which proved to be of gas pipe. , This lady came into being at a cement works in California, as investigation later proved. Her owner had numerous testi monials from physicians who had found cutaneous scales upon the surface of her body. The specimen was the most per fect mold of a human body ever seen in Washington. There was not a seam to be found upon any part of the surface, which exactly reproduced the contour of the skin. Dr. Frank Baker, of the Smith sonian, who examined it, tells me that it was probably molded from the corpse of a beautifully formed girl, evidently a mulatto. The scales found upon the sur face by the certifying physicians might have been transferred from the skin of the original when the cast was made. The San Diego Giant. The mummy of the "tallest human giant who ever lived" was being barked by a side-showman at the Atlanta Ex position while a number of these Smith sonian scientists were there. They asked permission to examine it, and when con sent was given, applied their tapes and found that It measured eight feet four Inches from crown to heel. The giant had been found in a cave near San Diego, Cal., by a party of pros pectors, according to the exhibitor. Over the head were the remains of a leather hood, which appeared to have been part of a shroud. Worn teeth were visible In the mouth, and the outlines of the ribs were plainly seen through the skin. The elongated emaciated body stood erect in a great narrow coffin, 10 feet long. The exhibitor agreed to sell it for $500 to the Smithsonian, which dispatched Mr. Lucas to the scene. He, Professor W. J. Mc Gee and others made a careful test. A piece of the giant's dried skin was re moved, and when tested in the chemical laboratory of the Smithsonian was found to be gelatine. Professor McGee is shown on the left of the giant. In the accompanying picture, and the exhibitor, who was perfectly Innocent of the fraud. Is shown on Its right. New Tork State was in commotion in the Autumn- of '69 over the discovery of THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN, PORTLAND, JUNE 14, 190S. DlSTItSBUTlN& CENTER. OF OS a petrified giant. lO1 feet tall, upon the farm of one Newell, near Cardiff, Onon daga County. Newell stated that he un covered the monster while digging a well. A tent was promptly placed over the pit and an admission fee charged. Peo ple swarmed about the scene and fought for admission to the tent, within which they saw lying five feet below the sur face an enormous figure with massive features, Its limbs contracted as if In agony. Its color indicated - that it had lain long in the earth, and over its sur face were miniature punctures, like pores. The appearance of greaH age was fur ther giver by grooves on the under side, apparently worn by water, which trickled along the rock upon which the giant lay. A spirit of reverence enwrapped viHitors once they were inside the tent. They hardly spoke above a whisper. The good country people found corroboration of the Biblical text. "There were giants In those days." The admission fees soon netted Newell $150,000, and a joint stock company was formed to exhibit the giant about the country. Among the leading spirits in this enterprise was the original of "Westcott's character, "David Har um." "Colonel" Wood, an eminent showman, was engaged to exploit the "Cardiff Giant," as it was called, and it was exhibited In New Tork City and In other centers. Barnum tried to purchase it. and finally had a copy made which he exhibited as the "Cardiff Giant." Pro fessor James Hall, the State Geologist, examined the original and.gave, a favor able opinion, but Professor Marsh, of Tale, pronounced it a fake. The more skeptical people of the neighborhood watched Newell's movements, and he was detected in sending considerable sums to one Hull, his brother-in-law. In the West. At length Hull confessed that he got his Inspiration of the fraud while listening to a revivalist, who insisted that "there were giants in those days." A huge piece of gypsum was found by Hull near Fort Dodge, la. This he had transported to Chicago, where a German stone-carver wrought the giant, its pores being made with a leaden mallet faced with steel needles. After being stained with an aging preparation, the giant was trans Hunting Extinct Animals in Alaska What Smithsonian Institute earned in Expedition Down Great Yukon. A ZOOLOGICAL expedition to Alaska sent out by the Smithsonian In stitution, last season, and con ducted by C. W. Gilmore of the United States National Museum, has brought back, besides interesting in formation, many fragments of bones of early animals, of varieties no longer living; there. Although there is not in the lot material from which can be constructed ancient genera hitherto un known, the specimens show that over the Alaska fields at a period long be fore man arrived on earth, roamed mammoths, several kinds of buffalo, musk oxen, sheep, moose, caribou, horses and bears. Beavers also built their dams along the rivers. The official report of. the trip will be published in the series of "Smith sonian Miscellaneous Collections" at about the same time as the appearance of this article. Ever since Otto von Kotzbue, nearly a century ago, brought back from Alaska a few pieces of skulls and bones of strange extinct beasts, men of sci ence have looked upon that region as a possible source of information con cerning the early ancestors of our Northern American animals. Much has been written about it. Little system atic was done, however, until 1904, when the Smithsonian Institution sent rT Ms - - - i Wv i i i ifr ported to a town in New Tork State, whence Hull hauled it to Newell's farm at Cardiff by team. Newell sent his family on a trip covering the time of the giant's arrival and burial. Hull, who was a religious skeptic, was undaunted by the exposure, and felt that he had gotten even with the revivalist who preached the giant doctrine. Even after his confession, the Rev. Alexander Mc Whorter and Professor White, both of Tale, continued to believe in the giant's antiquity, the former announcing that it was a Phoenician idol upon which he had found an important inscription. One of those who from the first branded the giant as a hoax was Andrew D. White, president of Cornell. Colorado "Petrified. Missing Link." Shortly afterward a petrified "missing link" was alleged to have b?en dug up In Colorado. It had a tail and ape-like legs and feet. Professor Marsli went to see it and It was discovered to be the work of the same Hull, promoter of the Cardiff Giant hoax. The present specimen was of clay, baked in a furnace, and containing human bones. This he had buried and "discovered" in Colorado. Another petrified man was alleged to have been found in the Pine River re gion of Michigan in 1S76 by one William Ruddock, of St. Clair County, that state. This was found to be of cembnt. It was an echo of the CarrijfT Giant, as was an other "petrified man" alleced to have been found near Bathurst, Australia, and taken to Sydney, where it was exhibited in 1889. 1. Koch's Sea Serpent. A sea serpent 11 feet long, called the "hydrarches" or "sea king," was exhib ited in skeleton form on Broadway, New Tork, by Dr. Albert C. Koch in 1843. Great excitement prevailed at the time, and it was accepted as genuine until Professor Wyman carefully examined It and disclosed that it was made up of the vertebrae of several zeuglodons strung together. After the exposure Dr. Koch sold it to the Dresden Museum. Washington, D. C, June 5. out its firs exneditfcn under A. G. Maddren. TJhis trtp.was so fruitful that the Instiwfmon last season dispatched a second expedition, in charge of C. W. Gilmore, which, while following a certain Itinerary, was to search for the remains of the large extinct vertebrate animals and to investigate the causes leading to their extinction. Where the Party Traveled. The party was gone in all arbout four months, during; which nearly the en tire length of the Tukon River was covered, and several of its tributaries partly explored. Close upon 1400 miles of the distance was traveled by canoe. During the whole time search was made along the cliffs and in the river bars, as being the places most likely to show relics of early, beasts. Mining camps were also visited on the way for pos sible traces of significant bones. The course was laid through Skagway on the upper part of the river, by train to White Horse, then by steamer through Dawson to Rampart, whence came some ancient bison skulls now In the United States National Museum. Rampart marked the beginning of the long journey by canoe. For 30 or 40 miles below Rampart the Tukon flows between walls of older rocks at from five to six miles an hour, tumbling faster and faster down toward the rapids. But the rapids once passed, Fort Gibbon is reached, below which lie the now well-known Palisades, dubbed m that region the "boneyard." for from it have been dug broken remnants of many early beasts. The party here spent two days gather ing remains from the' frozen cliffs 150 to 200 feet high. The almost perpendicular faces of the cliffs are being continually undermined by the swift current. Large masses break off, many times with a startling report and splash as they fall into the water below. "Often during the stay here," says Mr. Gilmore. "the report sounded so like the firing of a gun that we were startled by the sharpness of it." The party paddled on. however, in search of larger game, and at the mouth of the Vowitna River information gained from an intelligent Indian, who had vis-' ited the headwaters of this stream on hunting excursions, that he had seen "big horns and other big bones" on the river bars and bad picked up the "shank bone" of some large animal, lured them Into a side trip up the river. Three days up. the traveling turned bad and a cache had to be made of all articles not absolutely needed. It is a picturesque region. ?'Often the water has cut in under the bank." says Mr. Gilmore, "which extends out over the stream like a great shelf. The trees growing on these undermined banks fre quently lean far over and dip their tops in the water before being carried away. Large blocks of the bank, covered with bushes and trees, cave off Into the stream, where they remain standing half-submerged for a long time. Frequently there hangs down from the top of these under mined banks a mantle of moss which serves as a curtain to hide the destruction the waters have wrought." The party struggled up the Nowitna River for nine days, hunting for the - SEVTnS M ?r?v2' - --I-, 'v. source of all the pieces of ancient bones found washed down from somewhere above. No settlers were met with, and only an occasional deserted Winter cabin of a lonely trapper showed that man had ever scrambled along the banks or pushed a paddle in the stream. Food began to give out, so that they were forced to turn back before reaching the headwater?. The side trip, however, was not without results, for from neatly every bar searched was taken a fragment or a complete element or a sKeieton rep resenting such extinct forms as the mam moth, bison and horse. Stopping at Mouse Point and at Ko krines, an Indian settlement and trading post, they paddled down into a region of towering cliffs. In places the banks rise 200 to 250 feet and from thpm were taken now and then a skull or a tusk or a tooth of some forgotten animal. Anvik was visited, and then Andreafski, where the canoe trip ended. The rest of the journey was on steamer to St. Michael, Nome and finally Seattle. Results of the Expedition. It was found that the scattered remains of the very early animals occur through out the heart of Alaska not constantly covered by ice and pnow, in three quite distinct deposits: First, in the black muck accumulated in gulches and the valleys of the smaller streams; second. In the fine elevated clays of early origin, known as the Tukon slits and Kowak clays; and third, in the more recent de posits along the bank? of streams. These specimens have been either washed out by the process of erosion or dug out by miners in search of gold. The fossil bones secured came from lo calities on the Bonanza Creek, , Little Minook Creek, the Palisades of the Tu kon. the Nowitna River, the Tukakakat River and the Klalishkakat River. In connection with the "bone yard" of the Palisades, and with Elephant Point farther north. It has been thought that fartl i then might be enough ivory in old im bedded mammoth tusks to pay for its ex cavation and shipping for commercial purposes, as is the case in some loealiti-.'s of Siberia. In fact, mammoth tuslts for a good many years have been an impor tant export of Siberia. But the Alaskan remains are not In as fresh a state of preservation, and until a few years aso. it is said, a man would not take a tusk as a gift. Now they are used to manu facture curios of different sorts. How the Animals Died. How the ancient animals whose re mains are now picked up piece by piece along the rivers, died, has been a subject of speculation. Mr. Maddren believed tni-j' met their end on the shores of glacial lakes, and that their bones, carried out on the ice in the Spring break-up. were dropped here and there as the ice m.'lt ed, becoming imbedded in the silt. Mr. Gilmore, however, believes that since the best specimens have been 'found in gulches and valleys of smaller streams, and are more common in muck than In silt, these animals probably at some an cient period became mired in prehistoric bogs, then not frozen as now. The bones were afterwards probably separated by the "flowing" or "creeping" of the muck. Washington. D. C. May 14. The ualwuy county authorities have ap pointed Miss Alice Perry, who holds t:ie decree of bachelor ot engrlncerins. interim county surveyor in the room of hr father, the late .lames Perry. The appointment is to be made permanent. London Standard.
