Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-04-02

/ Human Relies Of Prehistoric Amer.
iea-NegrO Labor as n Cure for North
ern Strikes-The Cincinnati South
eFn Railway - Public Sentiment
About the LeEisIature-Reyi OF
the COmmereIaI-Wheat Crop Pros
Peets-
/ To the Union and American:
CHATTANOOGA, March 81, 1SI5.-The
flood Of water which swept through the
| Tennessee valley q few weeks ago laid bare
to the student Of prehistoric America j
most interesting page. At various points
from Louisville, in BlOunt county, 10
Bridgeport, Ala, distance Of about 400
miles, the bottom lands and islands along
| the Tennessee river were heavily washed,
in some instances from three % eight
| feet Of alluvial d.ift being car
Tied fOm the Surfaces Of considerable
areas. When the waters subsided, larEe
numbers Of human skeletons were found
upon the new surfaces Og nearly all these
deep washes. More than a thousand were
counted in one of these ancient crave
yards near Louisville, nearly as many were
uncovered eighty miles further down the
river in Meigs county, a few were found at
Bridgeport and at intermediate points
above. These general facts have been
stated by the local press and widely copied,
but have seen no attempt % classify these
human remains; and there is where the
services Of an eTuditG arCheOlOgist seems 20
be needed, if We would arrive at any cor
rect conclusion.
From a thorough examination Of the
facts two points are pretty clear: (1.) These
are not the remains Of the tribes known as
"MOund-builders. % nor those Of Indians,
such as were found on this continent by
cur fOrefathers.
To prove the first postUlate it is only
necessary TO state that Of the hundreds,
perhaps thousands, Of skeletons unearthed,
not one was buried in mound. All ap-
pear to have been buried much in the same
form and style, and in regular tiers or
rows, as We dispose Of our dead in Chris
tian burial grounds.
The second point is abuudantly demon
strated by the form of the skull, which IS
as unlike that Of the Indian as it is Of the
Caucasian; and also by the fact that the
large bOneS-the femur, hUmerus, etc.
are both lighter and shorter than the cor
responding bones in the average European.
In fact, no CTanilOgical chart, or any other
authority have been able 10 lay hands on,
accounts for these skulls, even by general
classification. The conformation approaches
the Malay head, with several stOnC points
Of difference. The frontal lobe of the brains
of this last tribe was thin, the base broad,
the higher, moral and ideal organs and the
atieCtiOnal or lower back brain light and
weak, showing them to have been q very
rude and degraded people. No tribe ca
pable Of producing a hero like TeCumseh,
great warrior such as Black Hawk, or a
poet and orator like Logan, Chief Of the
MingOes, could ever have been fitted UD
with such brains as were contained in these
low, fiat, coarse, brutal skulls.
They are the remains Of a weak, dying
people, a people rude and low in the scale
Of humanity, the last remnants ef which
were probably dispatched by the stalwart
redskins who succeeded them as pOssessOrs
Of the beautiful valley. But shall we not
have this phenomenon fully investigated by
our State Historical Society?
CARRYING GOALS To NEW CASTLE.
This section Is jIst now furnishing iron
puddlers to Pittsburg. Not that they have
not puddlers and boilers there, by the hum
dred, but they have been on q strike al
winter, and still refuse TO work az the rates
offered by the masters. So the latter have
come of South, and are picking up every
COlOred man who learned these trades in
slavery times Ono negroes have acquired
such skill since the advent Of freedOm) and /
carrying them to the great iron centre 10
take the places of their refractory white |
labor. Thirteen cOlOred puddlers and bail |
ers have been sent to cen house from here,
and have been on duty about a month; and |
now Mr.. Joseph DilwOrth, Of DilwOrth, |
Porter & Co., extensive manufacturers Of |
bolts, spikes, etc, is here from PittsbuTg,
and will take home with him forty work |
men Of the same class, all c0lored.
4 similar application Of Civil Rights |
principles at the NelsOnville, Ohio, coal /
mines has worked rather disaStrously TO /
the imported negro miners, several Of them |
having been killed by the strikers and the /
rest kept in such fear that they have hardly /
been able to make a living. l doubt ifthiS 4
experiment proves more success
rul. The COlOred puddleTs will hardly
gather in sufficient force to take the work
all in hand, OF any large share Of it. In
fact, it is, past doubt, only a method Of |
bringing the recusants TO notwithstanding |
hem with negro competition. And they
will come to time after SambO has been
thoroughly beaten and battered, if not
slain. And thus does poor SambO become
he blind tool Of the capitalist, Just as he
has been and still IS, the foolish dupe Of
he worst lot Of politicians unhung.
THE CINCINNATI SOUTHERN RAILWAY.
Mr.. sam Whinery, resident engineer,
las been here for several days completing
he final surveys necessary to the location
# the bridge Of the Cincinnati Southern |
Railway over Tennessee river. Plans and
Of the structure will be draft
d at once, and the work let at an early |
lay. The contracts for grading the road
rom this city to Emory river viii be let in |
he early part Of the summer.
THE LEGISLATURE,
which has recently adjourned, is not, as a
.Ody, very popular. The best said Of it is
hat it did very little Of the mischief it
threatened; and the worst that no cOnsid-
Table portion Of the members lad (
he slightest, or at all events but very |
agUe and uncertain apprehension, Of the
cal needs Of the State. Its measures upon ! s