The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1880-04-01
MYSTERIOUS RELICS,
nore Specimens Pound Near Browder
sprinHs Does Tie Light Of Oihtr
nays shine On Nv Through
Them

II lea fact vol known In this city that In
tho many excavations, dlgglng' and borings
that have been made by tho Water Supply
company, and Others around hrowder
Springs, numerous geological and ZOO
illogical specimens have been found, The
teeth md different bones Of mastOdons on
different occasions have been dug up, and
lossillzed shells, md not great while ago NJ
considerable distance under tho
surface Mr., Duncan City Engineer while
getting out gravel nuar t1ess springs found
q number Of eggs Of clthor some member
Of thu 6aurlan 'pecloa or OF some large fowl,
tho shells In perfect state OF preservation,
The waters Of those springs helng strongly
mpregnnled with lime, se0m 10 hayea tend
ancy 10 petrly animal nnd vegetable mat
tor. Those specimens that have been found
90 10 show that this country In the hg0s
pnst was tue home of tho malladon md
other orders Of the animal kingdom long since
extinct We lind, TOO, In various parts Of
tho Union, traces of tho existence OF peoples
who lived centuries ago, md who have lett
behind Thorn no mark u tell who or what
they were, save these traces Ms shown In
pottery, IN hleroglyphlcs and In the bits OF
skeletons Ofthemsnlyos found In the mounds,
many of which have become noted and
about which much has been written
both In prose and poetry. Col, l., j, Duproc,
formerly editor Of the Austin Statesman, but
now In Washington has investigated the sub.
Ieot of tho mound builders, aud written num-
Dor of papers for llarpers Monthly and othcr
magazines, about them, and he has also poet
iaed on the subject. In some partsol the coun-
try, too, walls aud the ruins Of seeming for
ti6cations hayo been found, erected by hands
TINT centuries ago crumblcd into dust the
hands of people fur more intelligent
and advanced in civilization than any Of the
Indian RI es found In America All the,e
things load the cultivated and Informed poo
ple of tho country 10 believe that this cOun-
lry In the long ago was inhabited by race
or races of people who had advanced Ms far
in tho arts and sciences NJ Obtained In the
DAYS of uiram, when Solomon WIS building
tho temple VI jerusalem. and wnen the
mighty tones were being gathered
into tho eat library Mt
Alexandria. Yesterday, while some excaya-
tons were being made ut Browder Springs,
AT the depth of some twenty feet below the
surface three tablets of peculiar nature
were discovered. They were rough and en-
crustcd with dirt when first dug up, but their
triangular shape and ringing sound they
emitted when struck with piclsaXo arrested
the attention of tho workmen, and they
stopped to examine them, The dirt was
scraped off of them and they were then washed
cloan. They seemed to be petriiled wood but
were perfect, no part having decayed on one
of them, the other two being somewhat de-
mced. As we said they were triangular in
form, being isosclcs triangles, the sides of one
being six inches in lengtn, and the other two,
four inches. A description of the larger one
Is n description Of all, and we give il. Near
the apex is letter, and immodi-
ately underneath it the figure of hui
man eve, on each side of which is a
letter, and underneath tho eye another letter
Underneath this lust letter is a skull and
cross-bones, on either side of which is II
letter The two smaller tablets have evil
IDENTITY the same symbols on them, though
they are defaced apparently by the decay of
the wood. The human eye and the skull and
cross bones are the work of u master hand.
No wood engraver of this day ana time could
make better. The letters are old PbGnician
characters. The tablets were brought to the
urnALD Office, and to decipher the heiro-
glyphics was the work of the hour. Research
soon revealed the fact that they were
Pbnnican characters, and corresponding
with our letters A, D, M, o, 5, L.. Below
we rive an exact diagram of the tablet sub
shutting English letters to correspond with
tho Phnnician characters.