The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1871-09-12

The REMAINS OF GIANT RACE. The
Petersburg Inden, OF yesterday, under q
sensational heading in it's local column,
gives publicity to the following very re.
markable and interesting discovery of
mammoth remnins:
The following information is given us
by gentlemen of the highest character
and credit, who lave seen with their
own eyes, touched and tested with their
own hands, tho wonderful objects of
which they make report.
Tho workmen engaged in opening q
way for tho projected railroad between
Weldon and Garysburg struck, Monday,
about one mile from tho former place,
in u bank beside the river, catacomb
OF skeletons, supposed to bc those Of In
dinns Of remote nge and lost and
forgotten raco. Tho bodies exhumed
wero of strange and remarkable forma-
ton. The skulls were nearly an inch in
thickness; the teeth were filed shnrp, rs
nre those of cannibals-tho enamel per
fcctly preserved; the bones wcre Of won
dcrful length and strcngth-thc .femm.
being AS long rs the leg Of an ordinary
man, the stature OF the body being. pro.
baby, AS great as eight or nine feet
Near their heads were sharp stone ar
rows, stono mortars, in which their corn
was braycd, and the bowls of pipes, ap-
parently of soft, friaDlc sonp- ono The
teeth of tho skeletons nrc said to be rs
large rs those of horses. Ono If them
has boon brought TO the city and pre-
sentcd to m officer Of the Petersburg
Railroad
The bodies were found closely packed
together, laid tier on tier, us it seemed
There was no discerniblo ingress into or
egress out OF the mound. The mystery
is who these giants were; to what race
they belonged, to what era, and how
they came to be buried there. 10 these
inquiries no answer has yet been made,
and meanwhile the ruthless spade con
tinues to clenve skull aud body usunder,
throwing upin mingled masses the bones
Of this heroic tribe. We hope some ef-
forts will be nude to preserve authentic
and accurate accounts of these discoye-
ries, and to throw some light, if possi-
bic. on the lost tribe whose bones have
been thus rudely disturbed from their
sleep in earth's bosom
Az supplement to the above, we
copy tho following from the Wheeling
lntetligencer, as the giants and the mound
builders may have been of the same race:
During last week, some workmen, in
making an excavation in mound at
Martins Ferry, Ohio, discovered and
exhumed two human skeletons. One Of
them was found intact; tho other had
fallen to pieces. What was remarkable
about their burial was the fact that the
bodies had evidently been covered by an
arch made Of limestone boulders, which
were in an Irregular heap about the re-
mains. These must have been carried
considerable distance AMI placed in the
mound, as they are not found in that al
luvial formation. Portions Of ono of
the skeletons were presented by Captain
James Dean to Professor Marion, OF the
Fcmale College, where they have been
placed in the museum. These remains
are supposed to bo Of persons who be-
longed to tho ancient race Of mound
builders, those aboriginal inhabitants Of
this country who are said to antedate in
their history even the Indians. All
through the Mississippi Valley, from the
lakes to tho Gulf, arc found defensive
earthworks aud other monuments Of
these ancient mound d-bnidcrs. There
are said to be 10000 of the mounds in
Ohio alone. Some were erected for pur-
poses Of military defence, others ms
great affairs for religious worship, and
still others rs burial places and monu-
mcnts for the dead.