The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1873-06-19
WHO FfRsFDTscovERED AMERICA,
From the Mad, aoo lw,., -,

'le ~ lsconsln SIN Y nlversity, J "A. aTohnsot
and other sProminent NorweA,ians, are
raising money 70 build a monument to
LelfiErikson. The first named gentle
man has already given some concerts, q nd
will give few more before leaving for
Norway the entire proceeds to be dc /,
votedte the monument fund. Professor
Anderson, linguists thoroughly versed
in Scandinavian literature, is 70 lecture
for-the benefit of the fund. l-saas 3 s
The total amount to be raised is $40 900
The monument is to be buils in Madison,
and dedicated with great ceremony op
the hundrath adversary of American in
dependence. Ole Bull, Bjornson, the ia !.
NOUS Norwegian author and poet and
other celebrities, will be, presen: on the
occasion, together with such host Of en-,
thuslastic Norwegians, from this and ad
joining States, as were never before seen
together, outside the borders of Norway.
Left Erikson2 whose name is to be in
scribed upon this monument, was a bold
navigator who discovered America in the
year 1000.s That what the sagas say.
and circumst4ntial evidence tends to
confederate the lceIandic records. In
Washington Irying's valuable "Life of
Columbus" published IN 1927, he. saws.
IF the legends ofthe Scandinavian voy-
ages be correct, and their mysterious
Vinland was the coast of Labrador, OF
the shore of Newfoundland, they had but
trancient glimpses of the New World,
laading to no certain knowledge, and in
little time lost again to mankind"
/ Bat at that time there were in Copen-
hagen untranslated Icelandic manuscripts
(Sagas,) giving an account Of the early
discoveries of America. These were
translated by the celebrated Professor
Charles Rain (the best authority en-
northern antiquity that ever lived,) and
published lin 1887. Irving spe ks of
these Sagas in the appendix to his edition
of them from Forester's works, and says
be had not the means of tracing the story
to its original sources. he adds, however,
"there Is no great impro liability that
such enterprising and voyagers as the
Scandinavians may have wandered to the
northern shores of America. and IF Ice
lrndic manuscripts can be relied upon as
genuine, free from modern Interpolation
and correctly quoted, they would appear
to prove the fact
We have seen these Sagas, printed in
Icelandic, now in the possession of Pro-
fessor Anderson, and exclaimed fac s6nasles
from the original Icelandic manuscript,
and can discover no evidence of interpc-
lation. In fact, the high character of
Professor Rain precludes the idea that
there is any. attempt at imposition. We
think The Sagas clearly entitled to be
shown in evidence as historical records,
and 1t appears from them that Biarne
Herjnlfson, Norwegian, owner and
captain OF a vessel, was on his way to
Greenland to see his father in 986. The
compass was not then invented, aud a
violent wind drifted him southwark
through the fog. When it cleared he
was in sight of Vinland, but finding him.
self too far south, he proceeded north.
ward to Greenland He subsequently
returned to Norway, and was greatly
blamed because he did not go ashore at
Vinland.
| The Norwegians who discovered Ice
land in SCI, and Greenland in 994, were
anxiously looking forward for still more
land in the west Left ErIkson son Of
Erik the Red, who had discovered Green
land, bought Bjarne's ship, and enlisted
thlrty-fve men, and, guided by direc
tons from Bjarne, AID with the stars for
his compass, sailed for America. In the
Jo"A Nv" hC 4oHoeu at Ninlanu, ana
spent the winter ut or near Fall River,
Mass, where, seven years afterward, Thor
VIZ Karlsevne and his party left the ia
mons "Dighton Writing Rock Inscription
In 1902 there was an expedition to Wine
land by Thorwald Elkson, who was
pierced by an arrow and died there, and,
according TO the description of the Saga,
| IL snarns tl1nt En runn h,.riaa = n c..