The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-11-26
Dissolve.
Ancient Notwithstanding DISCO
rtes I'm Missouri.

rches,ar fIll.) Correspondence Of Boston Adrer'
ttser.1 '&
One morning last week young fellow
.nSn into this town on horseback, having
;,'st crossed the river from Missouri. BE
had. carefully wrapped in his handkerchief,
curious relic, dug up the day previous in
Perry county, Mo. He stopped on the hill
to rest his horse, and the iuquisitive crowd
that gathered around soon drew his story
from him, while the relic passed from hand
to hand. It seems that when, sitter the re-
belIion. the farmers in Southern Missouri
once more worked with security and on at
enlarged scale, the heavy teams that passed
over the road near the line bluffs, few
miles from the Mississippi, in Perry
county, Missouri, unearthed some human
bones and an odd-looking bottle Of clay
There is living in Chester an old gentle.
man, James NJ. Christian, Familiarity
called "Uncle Jimmy" who has for years
devoted all spare hours to the study OF
archaeology. His researches in this neigh.
borhvod have enabled him to present many
rare specimens Of aboriginal and other GU
riosities to the societies Of this State and to
value was that found by the young man
above mentioned. 1t is apparently al idol,
or decanter.shaped, like an idol represent
ing the figure of man in q sitting posture,
his hands crossed upon his breast. 1t is
made Of dark-eolored clay, very hard, and
shows no signs of decay. There is hole
in the back of the neck, and the figure is
hollow. 1t is about one foot high, and
seven or eight inches in diameter. The
same evening the rest of the party, except
ing Christian, returned with Il number OF
curiosities, including one idol Of larger pro-
portion than the former, representing n
woman, with the hands resting on the
knees. They had, besides, bottles, ket-
ties, pots, and saucepan with a han.
die followed at the extremity and filled
with pellets. The larger bottles were
shaped like modern decanters. All
signs of age. Considerable excitement was
raised in the town on these discoveries, ana
your correspondent, anxious to investigate
and secure some ofthese relics of barbarism,
crossed the Mississippi in skiff early the
next morning, and tramped through the
cottonwood forest of the "bottom lands y
toward the bluffs, five miles away.
On my arrival group of horsemen were
idly watching old "Uncle Jimmy" who
was hard at work digging. Friends are
made in a few minutes in the West. Gun
Gle Jimmy's" delight at the prospect of a
co-worker in me for two days was great.
oul Oltlt tOOiS heIc uihlbOEhs u Hue, duu
butchers knife-the latter of great use in
probing round the skulls for pottery. About
noon that day we unearthed n choice lot of
vessels. among them small idol represent
ing woman. We worked on till night,
with varied success, exposing in all eight
or ten skeletons. 1t was Sunday.
There were no churches within miles.
What will orthodox New England think
Of such work on such u day? Right or
wrong, never before had I so plainly seen
sermons in, if not stones, at least in the
bones before me. The rough Missourlans
rs they rode by jested over the premature
resurrection las they called it) Of the skele-
tons we had exposed. But the strange cir.
cumstanccs furnished us all with food for
more serious reflection. As the mattock OF
hoe clashed into the ribs and joints, and
pulverized, scattered. and mixed with the
earth the decayed bones of the Indians, it
was plain how the soil was enriched, and a
future nourishment for grass, corn, and
fruits provided, which would eventually
circulate back into the bodies Of another
generation.
Some of the bones indicated men Of large
stature. The vertebrn of one man, Chris
tian assured me, was third larger thar
any he had ever seen. All the skulls were
inferior in shape. The jaws were large ant
strong, the facial angle low, and the fore
head contracted. Roots OF trees and thu
pressure of the earthenware had in some
cases horribly distorted the skulls.