The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-07-16
A LUCKY FIND.
A Maine Yankee ENhumes from
MOrasS the Remains of n Roman Ena-
perOr and His whole Army
bic and Curious Antiquities kecoN-


/ the New 0rk World, the lion OF Ouessa
/ just now is lantern,jawed Yankee, all
the way from the State of Maine, and
who, without being a scholar himself, has
| by shrewdness, grit and pluck become the
! greatest archaeological success of the day.
He has brought to light, after strict Sc
| clusiOn of ,ixteen centuries, the Roman
\ Emperor Decius and his army, camp chest,
| bag and baggage, bodies, gestamina and
all, in a remarkably perfect state of pre-
| servatOn. The writer's account is sub
stantially as follows:
/ Mr.. DOOlittle is man past fifty years
| of age and a native OF some impossible
place which he calls Molunkas, away
! down i'm Maine, and is a railroad engineer
| bv profession. After drifting around,
after his Kind, for a good many years, he
| Joined the Winans Brothers, of Baltimore
about the time they completed their
railroad to Moscow, and for some years
drove an engine on that line. Then ne
! drifted down into the Crimea and bored
/ for petroleum from the desert of Khiva to
the Black Sea, often finding oil and drlV-
| ING good bargains. Although a rolling
stone he is rich. In the spring of 1872 MIR.
DoOlittle was in AdrianOple on his way to
Belgrade. He there met Dane named
Peter Hoist, and went with him to visit
the flower farms of the lower Balkan,
where Ottar of roses is manufactured so
extensively. They found there French
man from the neighborhOod of Grasse
who had rented large farm from Ach-
met Bey, and had gone extensively
into the cultivation of flowers and the
manufacture of perfumes. Ottar of roses
is commonly made in Turkey by the sim
pie distillatiOn of flower leaves in water.
But Cedrat said he had found it much
more profitable to make rose pomade by
the favOrite French process of maceratlon
or enfe1raqe. Il have here" he said. IA
peculiar kind of fat that the peasants bring
to me from some distance. ltcomes to me
white and clean, almost like spermacetl
mixed with wax. 1t needs no rurlflcatlon
or preparation whatever, and absOrbs the
OdOrs of flowers more readily than any
stock | ever used" ''That is not fat, " said
DOolittle curiOusly. II really do not
know" answered Cedrat. DoOlittle called
to his travelling companion: Come here,
Hoist. you're a scientific fellow; tell me
what that is?" Hoist looked at the sub
stance, examined. smelt, tasted and tested
it, and replied, sit is adipOcere.' but
what the dickens is adipOcere?" asked
DOolittle. "a very curious substance,
responded Hoist. 'frOm the words adeps
fat, and cera, wax. 1t is produced by the
decomposition of animal flesh. For i'll
stance, you are buried in a cemetery not
well drained-the water leaks into your
grave and you turn into adipOcere."
ssHumph.'' said DoOlittle, twill it burn 2
Hoist rolled bit of string in the fat and
lighted it with a match-it famed like the
best stearine candle. 'Cedrat, do you
know if there is much more of this where
this comes frOm?'' ''DebrO knows, the
peasants that fetch it come from his viii
age" Debro was summoned and said il
was a secret of his people. 1t had been In
their possession for generations and moth
ing should tempt him to reveal it. "1 Ou
are right" said Doolttle, giving him q
handful of piastres, '.yOu're a brave little
fellow and admire you. | am traveller
DebrO. and will tell my people when
get home how noble you were not to le
the Turks steal the secret of your village:
good fortune. | will tell them, the brave
mans name is Debro. and he comes from
the village of -, what village did yor
say? | have really forgotten it, and it i:
such a pity, for | had intended to write I
down in my little travelling book, here
"Ouzoon- -Keupri!" quickly answered
: Debro, tlattered out of his discretion
'Ouzoon-Keupri? Very good, very
good! That will do, Debro. Hoist anC
Doolittle determined to have look a
this OuZOon-Keupri, before they wen
further. ''Let me look ut your map,
said HOlst. OuZOOn-keupri, FOrSh Che
, bronze on the Isker-NicOpolis was here
what is Forsh Chebrone but Forum Tere
bronii? An! that is the place where thu
Emperor Decius and all his army were
slain When the battle was fought, thu
Goths. who were hard pushed and desper
, ate. formed line with their front resting
on a morass. The battle was terrible
, The Romans attempted to charge across
the mOrass. The GOthS resisted their pas
sage. The place was deep with OoZe
: lssinkino under those who stood; slippery
to such as advanced their armOr heavy
the waters deep; nor could they WELD il
, that uneasy situation their welghty JaVe
7 lins. The barbarianS, on the contrary
: were Injured to encounters in the bOgs
their persons tall their spears long ant
| such as could wound at distance. Ii
this mOrass the Roman army was irrecov
erably lost, nor could the body of the EN-
peror ever be found. You can read it al
in GibbOn, who took his description from
; Tacitus. That whole army at the bottom
! ! of this marsh turned to adipOcere! Their
, is an emperor and his army OF thirty o.
! forty thousand engulfed in a quag, will
their arms, armOr, equipments and treas
ures. The camp chest alone, of such al
; army, will be fortune to us. Those ole
Romans were hard-mOney fellows, anC
cold and silver don't turn to adipOcer
! no matter what emperors may do"
So Doolittle and Hoist had an interview
with Kabil Pasha, the ruler of NicOpolis
+ and obtained an escort of one hundred
soldiers. with whom they had full per
mission to drain the swamp. This was II
; August, 1872. They sunk shafts and cam
upOn complete evidence that this was tn
actual scene of the battle of Forum Tere
bronii and of the great disaster TO Deciu
: and his army. A stately figure was found
l clad i'm co plete armOr, with two gil
: eagles a bronze helmet, inlaid with gold
: covered the head. The cuirass was Q
; steel. elaborately enameled The shol
sword was ieweled on the hilt and hall
way down the blade; the greaves were
silver and so were the knobs on the shlel
: s and the buttons on the sandals. 1T mad
y me feel queer" said DOOlittle, ''when m
L men lifted that old fellow, and his bod
/ slipped out of his harness to the grOun
y like bic tallow candle out of a mold.
T The camp chest with its contents was ais
\ found. and the entire plumber was yer
\ valuable. at least 100000 roubles. Ther
: were about twenty silver C's, which fam
e lies of senatorial rank wore inside of thei
u buskins. A mule, probably belonging
y the emperor. was found, not only sPler
y didly caparisoned, but with steel shoe
l. on, differing from those we use, in bein
y simple plates folded up over the hOof, an
/ with small hole open in the center, owe
e the frog. Several bronze sacriticial axe
d with ivory handles; dial plates gre
: quantities of arms and armOr; interestln
fragments of military engines Jewel cas-
. with sardonyx seal ring; razors; kltcf
= EN- and table apparatus, and rare cole
q ton of coins were also found, making, pc
: haps, the best collection extant OF Roma
, offensive and defensive arms and curios
"a ties TO be found anywhere in the world.
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