EDITORIALANA. |
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THE MOUND BUILDERS AND THE LOST TRIBES.
THE "HOLY STONES" OF NEWARK. [The following article from The Daily Oklahoman, published at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, of the date Sunday, May 3, 1908, was for- warded to us with the inquiry whether the statements therein contained concerning the "Holy Stones of Newark" or Jackstown were authentic. To this we reply that the statements as to the finding of such alleged relics are correct, but as to the genuineness of the relics, we are com- pelled to say that the evidence is overwhelming against it.-EDITOR.]
It is not improbable that information in the hands of an Oklahoma City man may throw light upon a problem that has for ages puzzled historians and ethnologists alike--the fate of the "Lost Tribes of Is- rael." In II Kings, xiv, 29, the Bible relates: "In the days of Pekah, king of Israel, came Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, and took Ijon and Adel- beth-Maacah, and Janoah, and Kedesh and Hazor, and Gilead and Gali- lee, of the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Syria." No further record of these tribes is given in history save in un- confirmed traditional report to the effect that they were released from captivity and journeyed toward the northeast of Asia. Neither history nor tradition has satisfactorily explained their disappearance, and the mystery has appeared as unsolvable as the location of the Garden of Eden. Recently, however, ethnologists of repute have presented a theory no less interesting than that of Lemuria, the immersed continent of the Indian ocean, suggested as the location of the Garden of Eden and point of origin of the Aryan races. Though in seeming contradiction of every principle of ethnography, these latter-day philosophers assert that the tribes which disappeared at that time were the earliest inhabitants of America. Their wanderings toward the northeast were, if the supposition is given credence, contrary to the general direction of the movements of mankind from orient to occident. According to the new hypothesis, the tribes reached the western hemisphere by way of an isthmus believed to have existed where the (208) |
Editorialana.
209
narrow waters of Behring strait now
divide the continents. Giving color
of truth to this theory is the fact that
ethnologists who have sojourned
among the natives inhabiting the great
region south and east of Behring
strait assert that many Greek and Hebrew
words are distinguishable in
the language employed by the natives of
that region today.
They furthermore claim that the mound
builders, the evidence of
whose existence in America at one time
is presented by mounds, forti-
fications and architectural ruins
discovered in parts of North, Central
and South America, were none other than
the descendants of the lost
tribes.
The most convincing proof offered in
support of the theory that
Hebrew tribes inhabited America before
the Columbian era, was a dis-
covery made several years ago in the
razing of a "prehistoric" mound
near Jackstown, Licking county, Ohio.
Judge B. M. Dilley, of Oklahoma City,
formerly a regent of Mis-
souri University, being personally
familiar with the incident, makes this
statement:
Near the town of Jackstown there was a
mound about 80 feet in
height and 500 feet around the base.
Trees of large size grew on its top
and sides. Upon investigation it was found the mound was built
principally of stone. Repairs being
needed on a nearby reservoir, the
stone in this mound was dug out for that
purpose. I remember to have
heard persons state that 25,000
wagonloads of stone had been hauled
from the mound.
After the mound had been demolished
until only the foundation re-
mained two of the laborers discovered
and examined a pair of copper
rings found lying on what appeared to be
a slab. Later they went to
the county recorder's office at Newark,
Ohio, and were exhibiting the rings
and telling of their discovery.
The attention of Dr. Wilson was
attracted and he took some men
with him to the scene of the discovery
to make further investigations.
On removing the slab previously referred
to, they found it to be the
covering of a trough-shaped box. This
appeared to have been lined
with some kind of cloth, but no part of
it could be preserved, for it
crumbled at the touch. In the box were
human teeth, some tufts of hair
and several finger rings.
Underneath the box was a heavy deposit
of fireclay. Digging in this
clay they found an oblong box containing
something that gave forth a
rattling sound. In expectation of
finding buried treasure, the work-
men were anxious to break it with their
picks. But on examining the
box Dr. Wilson discovered that it was
composed of two halves, joined
together, with a small opening in one
end. He carried the box or cas-
ket back to Newark and, with the aid of
a glass-blower, forced the two
halves apart.
Vol. XVII-14
210 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
In the box was found a curious stone, in
size about two or three
inches in width and perhaps six inches
in length, with a tenant shape
and morticed hole at one end through
which a strap could be passed.
On one side a depression was cut, and in
that depression was an image
representing a man with a flowing beard,
sandaled feet, with robe and
staff, and under the figure appeared an
inscription.
On the sides of the stone around this
image were characters unknown
to Dr. Wilson and the other scientific
and learned men then residing in
Newark.
At that time the synod of the
Presbyterian church was in session
at Zanesville, Ohio. Dr. Wilson went there
with the relic, where it was
examined by the ministers there
assembled. The Rev. Mathew Miller,
then a resident of Cumberland, Ohio, at
once pronounced the relic a
Jewish teraphim. He declared the image
thereon was Moses and that
the characters interpreted, were the ten
commandments.
To make sure that his interpretation was
correct, the Rev. Miller
took the relic to Cincinnati and there
consulted Dr. Lillienthal, who was
then considered the most learned rabbi
in the United States. He co-
incided in the opinion that it was a
Jewish teraphim; that the ten com-
mandments were engraved thereon, and
that the image was that of Moses.
They consulted seven Hebrew alphabets
and found that the inscrip-
tion on the teraphim was written in the
letters of the oldest of the seven.
About the year 1865 I heard the Rev.
Miller lecture at Fifth Street
Presbyterian church in Zanesville. The
relics were then in his possession,
and they were inspected by the audience
after the lecture was given.
Among them was a wedge-shaped stone,
with Hebrew inscriptions on its
four sides. The interpretations of some
of these inscriptions were "Je-
hovah," "God,"
"Almighty," etc.
Another relic found was the image of an
infant's skull. The in-
scription there, when interpreted, was:
"May the Lord have mercy
on me, an untimely birth." In
explanation of this infant skull, the Rev.
Miller said that it was a custom of the
ancient Jews, whenever they had
violated a law or precept of their
religion which they regarded a grievous
offense, to manifest their deep
penitence by carving out of stone an
infant's skull and inscribing on the
forehead in Hebrew the words
above quoted.
It has been a surprise to me that the
story of the important dis-
covery has not found a place in the
archives of the scientific investigations
of the age. The Rev. Miller was a modest
man and, while he wrote and
preserved his writings with reference to
this matter, he doubtless never
sought their publication, and, unless
Dr. Wilson-whose first name I
do not now remember-has preserved the
history, it may exist only in
the memory of myself and others who
heard the lecture.
The Rev. Miller's theory was that the
Jews inhabited this country
prior to the time of the North American
Indians, and that this teraphim,
Editorialana. 211
according to the ancient law of the
Jews, was buried with some important
Jewish rabbi, or other official, when he
died, this theory being based
upon the fact that this teraphim was
defaced, one corner of it being
chipped off. He said it was the custom
to deposit in the grave any scroll
of the law or other ceremonial objects
that became defaced.
In this connection it may be recalled
that the Book of Mormon was
said to have been written by one Solomon
Spaulding, living in 1812 in
Conneaut, Ashtabula county, Ohio, and
that it was a historical romance
based upon the finding of certain Jewish
relics in one of the prehistoric
mounds of Ohio. It recited that the
Prophet Mormon had wandered
with the lost tribes to America. The
manuscript got into the hands of
Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon
church.
The finding of other Hebrew relics in
another mound in the same
locality is here cited merely as a
corroborative incident.
* *
* * *
Such is the account in The Daily
Oklahoman. As the account of
the discovery and dispute concerning the
genuineness of the Newark
"Holy Stones" has never
appeared in the publications of the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society,
we herewith make public such
matter concerning the same as we think
worthy of publication. In Ben-
jamin J. Lossing's Pictorial
Field-Book of the War of 1812, in the pages
touching upon his visit at Newark
(Licking county, Ohio) in September,
1860, the author (Lossing) says (page
563) that one of the purposes of
his visit was to view in the
neighborhood one of the most remarkable
of the tumuli or ancient mounds with
which the Ohio country abounds.
He then says: "During the evening,
in company with his son, I visited
Mr. David Wyrick, a resident of the
village, an engineer by profession,
and an enthusiastic antiquarian, who had
lately been made famous as
the discoverer of a stone, with Hebrew
inscriptions, in a portion of the
ancient earthworks that abound in the
neighborhood of Newark. I found
him a plain, earnest man and bearing
among those who know him best,
a character above reproach for truth and
sincerity. He showed me a
large number of curious things taken
from mounds in the neighborhood.
* * * But the most curious of all the
relics was the stone upon the
four sides of which are words in Hebrew
letters. Mr. Wyrick found
them while searching for human remains
in the centre of a small de-
pression of the earth connected with the
system of ancient earthworks
in that region. The stone is in the form
of a truncated cone, five inches
in length, with two sides broader than
the other two sides, and a neck
and knob evidently formed for suspending
it by a cord or chain. It has
the appearance, in texture and color, of
a novaculite, or 'honestone,' and
is finely polished. The letters (said by
those who are competent to
decide to be ancient Hebrew) are neatly
made in intaglio upon each
of the four sides. How and when, and for
what practical or symbolical
212 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
purpose that stone was deposited in the earth there, may forever remain a mystery." And in a foot-note to the same, Mr. Lossing says: "The cavity in which Mr. Wyrick found this stone was about twenty feet in circumference, and about two feet in depth at the centre. When he had excavated through dark and rich alluvium about fourteen inches, he came to a lighter soil of a clayey nature, in which were pebbles. One of these, of oblong form, composed of reddish quartz, first attracted his attention. Soon afterward he found the inscribed stone imbedded in the clay. Gentlemen of learning examined it, and proved the letters to be obsolete Hebrew. The Rev. J. W. McCarty, of Newark, a Hebrew scholar, translated the words on three of the four sides as follows: 'Holy of Holies;' 'The Word of the Law;' and 'The Word of the Lord'. At a meeting of some of the leading citizens of Newark, held at the |
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Court House about two months after my visit there, to consider the character and the circumstances of the finding of the 'Holy Stone,' Gen- eral Dille presided, and Mr. McCarty gave an interesting account of the whole matter. It was stated that only four or five of the characters correspond to those now in use in the Hebrew books, but these furnish a key to the translation. It has already been stated by a gentleman familiar with the history and practice of the Freemasons, and who was a member of the fraternity, that the stone was of a kind used by masons of a certain grade in the East soon after the building of the first temple of Solomon. It has in their system, he said, a well-known meaning, its principal use in ancient times being for deposit beneath whatever struc- ture the master mason might superintend. This symbol, he said, was not necessarily furnished with inscriptions, but masons entitled to use it might put such sentences upon it as that one has. It would be placed in the northeastern part of the foundation, and if it stood on its point would indicate that something more was deposited beneath. If it lay on its broadest face, the point or small end would indicate the direc- |
Editorialana. 213
tions where other deposits would be
found. These, if found, would dis-
close the facts connected with the
building. Was not the cavity in which
the stone was found the foundation of a
structure never erected?
"A few weeks subsequent to my
visit, Mr. Wyrick found, in one of
the mounds in that vicinity, a stone
box, nearly egg-shaped, the two
halves fitting together by a joint which
runs around the stone length-
wise. Within this box was a stone seven
inches long and three wide,
on a smooth surface of which is a
figure, in bas relief, well cut, and
surrounded by characters thus described
by the Rev. Mr. McCarty: 'The
words over the head of the human figure
contain three letters. Two
of them are Hebrew, Sheir and He
(or Heth). The third I inferred
to be Mem-a conjecture most
readily suggested by its form, it being
exactly that of the old Gaelic Muin (M),
and afterward fully borne
out by its always answering
thereto. This gave the word Mosheh
(Moses) or Meschiach (Messiah).'
Of the characters Mr. McCarty
said 'some looked like the Hebrew coin
character, some like the Phoe-
nician alphabet, a few bore resemblance
to those on the Grave Creekstone,
and some I could not identify with any
known alphabet.' He at last
found that the language was really
Hebrew, much like that found in the
Bibles of the German Jews, and, after
great and patient labor, he dis-
covered that the whole constituted an
abridged form of the Ten Com-
mandments.
"This is not the place, nor has the
writer the knowledge requisite for
a discussion of the matter. I have
simply stated the curious facts -facts
well worthy of the earnest investigation
of archaeologists, for they
raise the ethnological and historical
question whether the mound-builders
of this continent were of Asiatic
origin, or were related to the Indian
tribes whose remnants still exist."
Thus much from Lossing. In a work
entitled "Archaeology of
Ohio," by M. C. Read, one of the
most reliable and studious investi-
gators of Ohio archaeology, formerly of
the Geological Survey of Ohio;
Trustee of the Ohio Archaeological
Society in charge of the Society's
exhibit at Philadelphia (1876); and
Assistant Commissioner at the Expo-
sition at New Orleans in 1884-5, the
author said:
"The controversy over the Hebrew
inscriptions, claimed to have been
found by David Wyrick, near Newark, is
now generally regarded as
closed. They were found when evidence
was eagerly sought to connect
the aboriginal races with the house of
Israel. Now that the idea of such
a connection is abandoned by all, the
discovery of Hebrew inscribed
stones would be an anachronism, for such
forgeries will always in some
way represent the ideas of the time of
the forgery. As an example, the
greatest forgery of this century is the
book of Mormon. A careful
reading of it will disclose to any
competent critic very nearly the date of
the forgery. It was written during, or
very soon after, the controversy
214 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
between Masonry and Anti-Masonry, and is
decidedly Anti-Masonic.
It was written during the theological
controversy over popery, pedo-bap-
tism; the salvation of infants; a paid
priesthood, election and free-will,
all of which question's it attempts to
settle; when the 'falling power,'
as it was called, was regarded as the
work of the Spirit, which it de-
scribes and approves; while the act of divination by looking
into a
crystal was believed in by some; while
it was believed that the
native races were Israelites; and,
before contact with Europeans,
worshippers of the Great Spirit, and
while it was popularly be-
lieved that the linguistic peculiarities
of our Bible were wholly
characteristic of the languages in which
it was originally written,
and not of the state of the English
language at the time of its translation.
These internal evidences fix the date of
its composition as about fifty
years ago.
"Mr. Wyrick's first find was the
inscribed key-stone in the form of
a Masonic emblem on which was carved in
Hebrew of the twelfth cen-
tury, 'The King of the Earth.' 'The
World of the Lord.' 'The Laws of
Jehovah,' 'The Holy of Holies.' In the
year following he 'found', en-
closed in a neat stone box with a
closely fitting cover, a stone tablet
having on it an effigy of Moses in
priestly robes and an epitome of the
ten commandments in Hebrew. Surely no better evidence could be
secured of a Hebrew migration to this
country. It is significant that
Mr. Wyrick's published accounts of the
'finds' were largely devoted to
an attempt to prove that they could not
be forged, and that upon his death
there was found in his working-room a
Hebrew Bible which doubtless
aided him much in finding Hebrew
inscriptions.
"These Holy relics were sold to
David M. Johnson, of Coshocton,
Ohio, who in 1867 employed laborers for
several days in exploring
a mound from which one of the inscribed
stones, he obtained from
Wyrick was taken. His search was rewarded by finding inside of a human
skull a conical stone about three (3) inches long on which
was also a
Hebrew inscription. No one seems to have
been surprised by the pe-
culiarity of the place in which it was
found, or to have doubted its gen-
uineness. It is probable that no
archaeologist of fair standing can now
be found to advocate its genuineness or
that of the Wyrick finds."
* * * * *
Professor Warren K. Moorehead in the
preface to his work on "Prim-
itive Man in Ohio" has this to say
concerning the Newark discovery:
"Some writers have misrepresented
and distorted field testimony to
uphold theories previously formed. As an
illustration of this, and of
the great damage that it has done, we
need but call the attention of our
readers to the famous 'Holy Stone' of
Newark. An enthusiastic ar-
chaeologist resided many years ago at
Newark, Ohio. He was thor-
oughly in love with his work, and his
life's ambition was to discover
the origin of man upon the American
continent. He believed the lost
Editorialana. 215
ten tribes of Israel to be the ancestors
of the mound-building tribes.
After opening mound after mound and
finding no evidence whatever in
support of his hypothesis, he became
desperate. He purchased a He-
brew Bible and primer, and shortly
afterwards there was discovered in
a stone box, in a mound that he had
investigated, a slab, on one side of
which was a likeness of Moses, and on
the reverse an abridged form of
the ten commandments. The stone attracted world-wide attention,
and
many publications were issued describing
it. No one doubted the
genuineness of the affair until after
the man's death. In cleaning up his
office the administrator found in a
small rear room bits of slate with
attempts at carving Hebrew characters
upon them. They also found a
fair copy of the wood-cut of Moses used
as a frontispiece in the testa-
ment.
"The influence of this over-zealous
deceiver has gone throughout the
length and breadth of our land, and one
may still hear at lectures upon
American archaeology statements
concerning the Indian's descent from the
Jew, basing such assertions upon the
testimony of the supposed 'Holy
Stone of Newark,' which, as is above
shown, was simply a counterfeit."
*
* * *
*
Col. Chas. Whittlesey, President of the
Western Reserve and North-
ern Ohio Historical Society, in his
pamphlet on "Archeological Frauds,"
has this to say about the Newark
"Holy Stones":
"Near the close of the month of
June, 1860, I was in Newark on
business having no connection with the
old earth-works, for which this
place has now become celebrated.
"About 4 o'clock in the afternoon
the late David Wyrick, an old
resident of the town, was seen in a very
excited manner, hurrying along
the main street, from the direction of
the canal. He was regarded there
as an eccentric character, an uneducated
man, but on some subjects,
particularly mathematics, as possessed
of decided ability. He had held
the office of county surveyor until long
continued attacks of acute
rheumatism rendered him physically
incompetent. With his limbs and
joints so swollen by elephantisis,
attended by intense suffering, his feet
and hands so disfigured as scarcely to
retain their human aspect, he
was everywhere regarded with
commiseration. For some years he had
adopted the theory that the Hebrews were
the builders of the earth-
works of the West, and when his physical
condition would allow it,
sought diligently among them for proofs
to sustain this hobby. He was
certainly an enthusiast, his mind
somewhat distorted, in sympathy with
his body, but no one of his neighbors
thought him capable of deliberate
deception.
"As he passed rapidly from shop to
shop, and store to store, on
this hot afternoon of June, he exhibited
with exultation the stone, after-
wards known as the 'Holy Stone,' as a
triumphant proof and settlement
of his Jewish theory. General Israel
Dille, who had known Wyrick
216 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
since he was a young man and had full
confidence in him, proposed
that we should take him in a buggy, and
at once proceed to the spot where
it was found. A lad of his, about 14
years of age, helped to make the
excavation, and he was taken with us. We
drove immediately to the spot,
about a mile southwest of the town,
where the earth they had thrown
out was still fresh and moist. The hole
they had made was near the
center of an artificial circular
depression, common among the earth-
works, about twenty feet in diameter and
three feet deep at the middle,
with a low rim or bank around it. He
said he and his son were search-
ing for human bones, and, at a depth of
12 or 14 inches, about an hour
previous, had thrown out the inscribed
stone. It had been only par-
tially cleaned, and the dirt being a
fine yellow loam, which filled the
sunken spaces, corresponded fully with
that of the pit. The lad con-
firmed what his father said, and added
that as soon as the characters
on the stone were discovered he ran away
to town with it like a crazy
man.
"The stone had not the appearance
of great antiquity, but suggested
that it might have been buried fifty
years. The Free Masons of Newark
at once recognized it as one of their
emblems, representing the. 'Key
Stone' of an arch which Master Masons
wore in early times as an insig-
nia of their rank. On these 'Key Stones'
and on their modern substi-
tutes the owner was privileged to
engrave mottoes according to
taste. There were modes enough to
account for such a stone being found
in this depression, without giving it
any connection with the Mound
Builders. It might have been dropped
there since the advent of the
presence of white men and covered by the
accumulations of loam and
vegetation continually washed towards
the center of the cavity. It was
secured by the Ethnological Society of
New York and commented upon
fully by the members, but with a general
doubt of its genuineness.
"Mr. Wyrick's account, which he
published soon after in pamphlet,
reads thus:
"'The following is a representation
of the four sides of the supposed
keystone that was found on the 29th of
June, 1860, in a sink or depres-
sion commonly called a "well
hole", whilst looking for bones that said
holes were said to contain. The object
of looking for human bones was
to ascertain the truth of such
assertion. This stone is in the size and
shape represented by the cuts, and has
upon each of the four sides a
Hebrew inscription, in the Hebrew
character, which, when translated,
reads, "The King of the
Earth," "The Word of the Lord," "The Laws
of Jehovah," "The Holy of
Holies."'
"The letters are nearly an inch
long, and well sunk into the stone.
Taken in the same order as Mr. Wyrick
has recited them, the Hebrew
sentences are 'Torah Adonai,' 'Dabbah
Adonai,' 'Kadosh Kadosheem,'
'Malach Aratz,' and with a free reading
give a consecutive sentence thus,
according to three Hebrew scholars
acting independently: 'The law of
God. the word of God, the King of the
earth is most holy.' While
Editorialania. 217
this stone was being discussed Wyrick
went on digging, and his discov-
eries were much more startling and
doubtful than those already given,
but much more apropos of Moses and the
Jews. On page 8 of his illus-
trated pamphlet, the results are thus
described:
"'The following four cuts are those
of four sides of a very singular
stone, found enclosed in a stone box
buried twenty feet in the earth of
a tremendous stone mound. This stone was
found on the first of No-
vember, 1861, in company with five
others (persons). In the first place,
on removing this stone pile (several
years before), which was said
(truly) to have been forty feet high,
rising from a base 182 feet in
diameter, some of the workhands came to
a mound of pure clay, of which
they say there was or is quite a number
within the periphery of this
stone base, entirely around it, but
covered by this enormous stone stack.'
* * * 'In one of these, in the clay,
they found the shell of an old
log, on which lay seven copper rings,
with the appearance of some ex-
tremely coarse cloth. * * * Removing the
old shell they found it
to be the cover to another piece of
timber, resembling a trough, in
which was coarse cloth (very rotten),
human bones, hair, and ten cop-
per rings, which they took, and covered
up the trough and its contents.
"'In July, 1860, I happened to see
a piece of the wood and four of
the rings (now in possession of Dr.
Wilson, of Newark), and repaired
to the place--(two miles east of
Jackstown and south of the National
Road)- with some work hands, and
sacrilegiously took it up.' In No-
vember, 1861, Wyrick and three others,
one of whom is said to have
been Dr. Nichols, again attacked the
wooden sarcophagus which had
by that time been so much covered by
falling earth, that they labored
from morning till three P. M. uncovering
the pile of clay. It was the
usual fire clay of the coal series,
about two feet thick, evidently
brought there. In this the wooden trough
was firmly imbedded, and in
this manner it had been preserved.
"'Near the under surface, imbedded
in the clay, was taken the stone
box (engraved size of nature in the pamphlet) whilst
digging in the
hole in the clay, in which (the box) was
enclosed a black stone, as is
shown by the four following cuts of it,
with the characters on each side,
the English of which appears to be an
abridgment of the Ten Com-
mandments.'
"On one of the sides of the
blackstone, is a likeness of Moses with
his name in Hebrew over his head. He is
represented as a very savage
and pugnacious individual. The Hebrew
letters were like those of the
Holy Stone readily translated by Hebrew
scholars. Wyrick closes his
pamphlet in these words: 'Would it not
require a very profound
scholar in Hebrew to make such an
abridgement of the Hebrew decalogue
with foreign characters as is made
above.' * * * 'Bacon's arrant
school boy borrowing a Hebrew Bible even
in Ohio of some minister and
whittling hone stones into gin bottles
(Bacon's Life Elixir) forever
218 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
with all the jack knives in Christendom
could (not) produce even in
Ohio such an outrage or piece of
scholarship.'
"This somewhat blind and sarcastic
allusion was intended for those
who questioned the genuineness of these
inscribed stones. Experienced
archaeologists had never much faith in
the Holy stone. When Moses and
the ten commandments appeared, Wyrick's
character as an impostor was
soon established.
"Not long after this he died, and
in his private room among the
valuable relics he had so zealously
collected, a Hebrew Bible was found,
which fully cleared up the mystery of
Hebrew inscriptions 'even in Ohio.'
This had been the secret and study of
years, by a poverty stricken and
suffering man, who in some respects was
almost a genius. His case
presents the human mind in one of its
most mysterious phases, partly
aberration and partly fraud. When the
Arabs who are employed to ex-
plore the ruins on the Nile and the
Euphrates, discover what relics their
employers are in pursuit of, they
generally produce them. Here the mo-
tive is plain, it is money. Perhaps this
was the case with the 'sinister'
individual, who presented himself to Professors
Locke and Kirtland with
the Cincinnati stone."
*
* * * *
We have thus given at some length most
of the material worth re-
producing, hitherto published,
concerning the so-called "Holy Stones of
Newark." The testimony thus produced
we believe is sufficient to con-
vince any reader that these alleged
religious relics of a prehistoric
people were frauds. They cannot
therefore be reckoned as of any
value in establishing the theory that
the Mound Builders were descended
from the lost tribes of Israel. Upon
this latter theory, however, scores
of volumes have been published. It is
not the purpose of this article
to discuss the various presumptions upon
which that theory is based.
There are many, and some of them not
without plausibility. It is one
of many interesting theories concerning
the origin of that mysterious
people which for want of a better name
we designate as the Mound
Builders. It might be added in closing
that many other stones have
been found in various mounds bearing
alleged inscriptions which the
respective finders claim are evidences
that the Mound Builders, whoever
they were, had a written language. But
in almost every instance these
so-called findings are proven to have
been unauthentic or of such a
dubious environment as to have no value
as proof. It is undoubtedly the
unanimous consensus of the most
authoritative archaeologists that thus
far no reliable evidence has ever been
discovered that the Mound Builders
had a written language even of the
crudest form.
EDITORIALANA. |
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THE MOUND BUILDERS AND THE LOST TRIBES.
THE "HOLY STONES" OF NEWARK. [The following article from The Daily Oklahoman, published at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, of the date Sunday, May 3, 1908, was for- warded to us with the inquiry whether the statements therein contained concerning the "Holy Stones of Newark" or Jackstown were authentic. To this we reply that the statements as to the finding of such alleged relics are correct, but as to the genuineness of the relics, we are com- pelled to say that the evidence is overwhelming against it.-EDITOR.]
It is not improbable that information in the hands of an Oklahoma City man may throw light upon a problem that has for ages puzzled historians and ethnologists alike--the fate of the "Lost Tribes of Is- rael." In II Kings, xiv, 29, the Bible relates: "In the days of Pekah, king of Israel, came Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, and took Ijon and Adel- beth-Maacah, and Janoah, and Kedesh and Hazor, and Gilead and Gali- lee, of the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Syria." No further record of these tribes is given in history save in un- confirmed traditional report to the effect that they were released from captivity and journeyed toward the northeast of Asia. Neither history nor tradition has satisfactorily explained their disappearance, and the mystery has appeared as unsolvable as the location of the Garden of Eden. Recently, however, ethnologists of repute have presented a theory no less interesting than that of Lemuria, the immersed continent of the Indian ocean, suggested as the location of the Garden of Eden and point of origin of the Aryan races. Though in seeming contradiction of every principle of ethnography, these latter-day philosophers assert that the tribes which disappeared at that time were the earliest inhabitants of America. Their wanderings toward the northeast were, if the supposition is given credence, contrary to the general direction of the movements of mankind from orient to occident. According to the new hypothesis, the tribes reached the western hemisphere by way of an isthmus believed to have existed where the (208) |