Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-11-17

mineral and agricultural resources
He also presents the advantages of the
southern route for n railroad to the
Pacific.
4 Singular DiseOVery.---What Is 1t {!
The recent remarkable discovery of
a huge stone statue near Syracuse,
New York, continues to excite much
curiosity and attention. A farmer
named VIM. c. Newell, residing at
Cardiff. about II miles south of Syra-
cuse, in digging a well, at depth of
% feet, struck what he supposed to be
a large stone, but continuing to dig,
he soon uncovered two large stony feet
and legs, and by further effort the
perfect figure of n man of more than
giant size was revealed. \ measure
ment showed its length from the top
of the head to the sole of the foot 10
feet p inches; width of shoulders 3
feet; palm of hand crOsswise inches;
the large finger inches long; thigh
l. inches; leg below the thigh 81 inch
es. The figure was found lying on its
right side. Since found it has been
visited by thousands of persons,
among them naturalists and scient-
lists. 1t is thought by some persons
to be a fossilised human body, but
others, and the general opinion, seems
to be that it is a statue. Where 1t
came from, who was the sculptor, and
when it was deposited in its bed, are
the questions now exciting attention
and being investigated.
Prof. l.. G. Olmstead, who has made
archaeology a study, looks upon the
| figure as a statue, showing remarka-
BILE correctness and grace in its proper
tiOns. He does not even deem it nee
essary to assume for it antiquity as a
work of art. By placing it beside the
| highest known models of beauty res
cued from the ruins of ancient Italy,
/ he paws it an unusual compliment
vet his judgment in this regard seems
/ to be confirmed by the impression
made upon the minds of all who see
the figure.
"As a work of art, the Cardiff statue
/ is perhaps q better embodiment of the
/ Intellectual and physical power of q
rock-hurling and mOuntain-piling old
Titan than Italy possesses
! ANOTHER OPINION.
DIR. Bulkley, of Norwich, Conn,
has been to see the giant, and is of the
/ opinion that it is petrifactiOn. He
gives the following account of it:
The body when found was imbed.
ded about four inches in glavel and
sand of the same color precisely as the
material of the body itself, which is q
blush gray limestone. \ thin layer
of yellOwish clay under this. Over
the whole was 4 deposit of alluvial
soil, about three feet in thickness.
The field is a clover lot, extending
from the present led of the creek,
about twenty yards distant, up to a
/ low, sloping bank, at the foot OF
which lies the body of the giant, the
/ face toward the bank. The upper
portions of the body at the left eye
brow, at the hip, the breast bone the
knee cap, and about the toes of the
| left foot, are water worn, and thus
partially polished, disclosing the blu
ish gray limestone ppingupthrough
| the yellowish white incrustation OF
carbonate of lime with which the
| body was at one time evidently entire
| ly covered. The conclusion is inevit-
able that at formerperiod the creek
ran along by low bank, and gradu-
ally covered the body with alluvial
deposits. By successive overfiows it
formed the interval, and receded to its
present channel. This must have oc-
CURED long subsequently to the petri-
fication of the body of the giant,
which evidently took place at a time
when the Onondaga valley was lake,
in its whole extension, lying up
against the present ranges of high
bluffs as its shores.
The sole of the left foot, under side
of the left calf, thigh and elbow, and
portion of the fingers of the left
hand lying under him, are somewhat
eaten away or hOneyeombed, while
the remaining portions of the same
parts are untouched.by the corroding
agency. Proof conclusive to my
mind, that this was done prior to the
commencement Of the petrifying pro-
cess, lies in the fact that the right ex-
ternal ear flap, and large portions Of
the neck, in the immediate region of
the ear, the under jaw and lower edge
of the cheek near it, are hanging in
unmistakable clOts of rotting and
dropping flesh, besmeared as it were
with the OOZing pus of incipient
putrescence and at that very point,
fortunately, we may say, for the inter-
est of the face, arrested from further
decay by the preservatOry processes of
petrifactiOn.
During the grading of section six of
the Cazenovia and Canastota Railroad,
about twenty miles from Cardiff, the
scene of the present excitement, the
skeletons of five gigantic human be-
ings were eXhumed, one of them
measuring eleven feet in length. Pet
rified fish have from time to time
been found near Cardiff, and among
others a perch, quite perfect and of
good size, was found by w B. Kirk,
of Syracuse. Five miles farther down
the valley, in removing a human
body some years since, from the OnOn-
daga valley cemetery, it was found
turned to stone. Farther north, in
the same valley, the corpse of child,
on being taken up, was found to be
petrified. The body of a man, buried
a few years, in the same neighbOr-
hood, being taken up for removal, and
found to be perfect petrifaction, was
taken home by the widow, and is still
retained in the house, she refusing to
have it reburied. For these state
ments am indebted to a writer in the
Syracuse Daily Standard, who can
give names if necessary. Thus we see
that petrifaction is no uncommon
thing in the vicinity of Cardiff. MIR.
Wright, who formerly owned the
farm upon which the great discovery
was made, states that near by is n
sprinp that will within a few months
turn into solid stone any small dep0s-
its of sand and gravel. The Onanda-
ga Indians are accustomed to regale
their visitors with accounts of things
which troubled their fathers, and
among those things were the stone
giants.
To BE EXHIBITED.
Mr.. Newell, on whose land the i'm
age was found, has sold threc-fourths
of his interest at the rate of $50, 900 for
the whole, and five other gentlemen
now own shares in it. As soon as the
exhibition of the giant ceases to pay
at home, it is the intention to take it
up and carry it on tour through the
country.
THE KIND OF MONEY THE GIANT
HAD.
The latest from the stone man shows
that his giantship was a man of means.
He laid down to rest (how many years
ago y with his pockets full of specie.
The Syracuse Journal tells the Won
derful tale. Here il is:
On Saturday last, Matthew Hender-
son, of this city, while visiting the
l. u.