Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1869-11-19
A FOSSIL GIANT.
Singular Discovery Near Syra-
cuSe, New York.

A correspondent writing from
Syracuse, under date of October
18th, gives the following particulars
of singular discovery:
A remarkable discovery has been
made in the town of Lafayette, in
this county-a human form of huge
proportions, entirely petrifed, was
found under the following circum-
stances:
About twelve miles south of SYRIA
cuse, near Cardiff, lives a farmer
named William Newell. Yesterday
afternoon, in company with hired
man, he began to dig a well in a
meadow in the rear Of his barn.
About two and half feet below the
surface they struck upon what they
supposed to be large stone, and
Mr.. N. went for crowbar to re-
move,it. Before he returned, how
ever, his men had uncovered two
large stony feet and legs. Continu-
ing their digging, they brought to
light the perfect figure of a man of
more than giants and as solid as
the rocks of Onondaga.
Some conception of the sensation
it has produced here may be formed
when give you few of the actual
measurements. The total length
from the top of the head to the
lower surface of the instep is 10 feet
p inches; across the shoulders the
width is 3 feet; across the palm of
the hand, 7 inches; the large finger
is s inches long; the thigh is -
inches, and the leg below the knee
is 81 iuches in thickness. The fig
ure was found lying on the right
side, one hand placed upon the ab-
domen, the other upon the back,
and the left leg thrown across the
right. The resemblance is complete.
Everything is there-the wrinkles
about the eyes, the Adams apple in
the neck, the full veins, the promi-
nent muscles and bones, the natural
swell of each rib, and the clearly
defined nails, both of the hands and
feet. The face and features were
decidedly Caucasian.
May it not be statue? The de-
cided opinion of nearly every person
who has seen it-and it has been
visited to day by some of the most
highly educated and intelligent peo
pie of this city-is that its perfec-
ton, the material Of which it is
composed, and the place in which
it was found, are against this hypo-
thesis. 1t seems to be composed of
soft grayish limestone, with which
this region abounds. AS may be
supposed, spectators are already
on hand; sums reaching into the
tens of thousands have been offered
for the figure.
Since writing the above, I learn
that DR.. J. F. Boynton, the well
known geologist and lecturer of this
city, has visited the spot, and in
clines to the opinion that the gi-
gantic figure is statue. This
theory, however, leaves the matter
in almost a great mystery as the
other.
THE GIANT PRONOUNCED A STATUE.
Though the figure has all the ap-
pearance of stone, says the SYRIA
cuse Standard, Oct. 18th, neverthe-
less the outer surface shaves off with
knife without materially dulling
the blade. This was tried, but of
course not allowed to proceed to
disfgure Mr.. Giant. A scale that
fell from the bottom of one of the
feet looks much like gold quartz, but
still is scottish and crumbles readily,
with a sort of sandstone result. 1t
rests on half sand, half clay bottom,
the earth above being, as we have
already said, of a lighter character.
During the afternoon of Saturday
DR.. J. F. Boynton, geologist of
Syracuse, visited his giantship. The
doctor made a most thorough ex-
animation of the discovery, digging