The daily gazette., 1879-09-09
TAaHAN1c,s STONE NAN.
AN INGENIOUS cB.AzIoN THAT rUz-
lied THu scUuTIsTs.

AN INGENIOUS CBBAzIoN THAT PUx-
lied TnH sCrBuTIsTs.
The Ithacs IN. ~ Journal contains
. full expose Of the Taghanic "stone
man." obtained from the lips Of Ira N.
Dean Ito creator. The journal reports
him - saying:
at took but little labor to carve out
the man compared with the study Deces-
sary to get the material right. studied
Winchell upon sPrlmsval Man and
similar works. I was moderately well
versed In geology before, but knowing the
scrutiny to which my handiwolk would
be subjected, I gave TO 1t forethought and
study that should defy any ordinary
chemical test. And 20 It will. 1t may
be broken 10 bits, powdered, cut with
acids or subjected 10 the most powerful
glass, q d IL would puzzle the IS, minds
Bul unfortunately for the joke, for such,
90 far - / am concerned, assure you 1t
was, cir, the tongues Of live men wag
freer than those OF men petrified."
"You brous hit the grindstone dust and
iron borings homo from the shop In .
Whee barrow and at tunes In . dinner
pailf"
"Yss, I did"
"You commenced carving your concep-
ton of man olcer than the food some
time in ApriIs" 2
"Yes, made measurements Of myself.
carved him down TO the hips With an
ordinary table knife. By that time he
had hardened 30 had to cut with q
chisel his legs and feet. But no mark
Of tool or Implement can be found W.
| on him."
"You first blocked him out rough ON q
board ?"
Eyes, and he will bs found true to
every law Of anatomy and proportion Of
the human France"
"Was it necessary for you to cover him
with sash and submit him to bake a.
you did ?" ~.
"No; the concrete hardened thorough.
ly. But did, as you seem so we'll to
know, put him through a heating pro.
cess"
"He laid about six weeks IN your eel
lar after complexion"
"He did. Then 1--WE Of US loaded him
on q wagon 1t night and transferred him
to where he was found At Taghauic ?'
"How about that root of tree found
growing across his breastP"
"Oh, that amounts to nothing l threw
that across there to carry out the project
IL was one of chain Of puzzles made fol
the learned men " wonder over and de-
bate upon"
SLOW many knew ofyour work on thu
man while 1t was In progress ?"
"Three or four men N my shop, my
wife, who protested against my having
anything to do with such . wild practi
cal joke, and these two little ones [point
ing TO his two bright little children] and
before the removal I called two respon.
sible business men OF I johannesburg into
the cellar and explained the scheme I,
them and showed them the stone man
This did as . measure of prote ction t.
myself In case of any emergency tina
might arise. The ames of these two
men prefer no. to mentiol 70 you O
anyone else.
~ have had more than 500 worth o
fun out this thug. Ihave many a da,
spent an hour ct Taghanic arguing am
asserting that the stone man must be
humbug, made by human hands, to final
ly find myself completely out-argued an
almost convinced that 1t must be q genu
inc relic Of 1900 years ago. have see
professors devote hours TO study Of
with q magnifying glass to find then
selves only the more convinced Of its bt
ing q genuine case of pstrification .
their investigation progressed. neve
have said 1t was genuine. On the Coz
travy, ! have, when appealed to for q
opinion, invariably stated my belief tha
IL was 4 humbuR."