The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-03-22
sHAP1RA,ss SUICIDE.
The Torger Of an Ancient Manuscript
Of the Pentateuch Ends His
Own Life.

Rotterdam, March 11th.-Solom n
Shapiro, who recently attempted to
sell in England forged snanu-cript
of the Books OF the Pentateuch,
killed himself in . hotel here. He
had not left his room for several
days. The police forced the door
and found the blood-hespassered
cortse upon the bel. Letters
showed he was suffering from men.
tai alteration.
T The London. literar, and scien-
titic world was deeply interested
two years ago in the di cOve,y OF
M. W. Shapiro an antiquarion and
bookseller of Jerusalem, OF valu
able and ancient man uscript. con-
tanning an older and q differeu.
version of the Ten Commandments
from that now accepted. His sta e.
ment of how the manuscript came
into his possession was exceeci' gly
vague and ingeniously unspecific.
After it had been deposited IN the
British Museum with the price fixed
at $1,000, 900. Mr.. Shapiro wrote to
DR.. Ginsburg, the eminent English
scholar, in which he gave an account
of how he secured these presumably
precious fragmenss of deuteronomy
They came into his hands, lie says,
in 1873, through the Sheik Machmud
Orakat, the well-knOwn chief o. The
guides from Jerusalem to the JOr.
dan, who found them in caves he wn
high up il rock about an hour east
OF Aroar, near the Modjlb. They
found there several bundles Of
old black linen. They peeled away
the linen, and behold! instead
of gold which they expected to
find, there were some black In
scribed strips of leather called Mex
esh, which means some signs or
scratches. These were manuscript.
Professor r. II. Hall, of Phila-
delphia, one of the most erudite of
Oriental scholars in America, knew
Shapiro personally. having formed
bis acquaintance in Jerusalem in
1876.
"Mr. Shapira," said Professor
Hall, "wss converted Jew and a |
member of the Protestant E. iscopal
Church. He first became known to
America shortly after the discovery
of the MoahIts stone in 1858. He
kept email shop in Jerusalem aud
dealt in al kinds of antiques and
curfosities, aud being a keen, intel
ligent fellow, managed to pick up a
great deal Of knowledge concerning
ancient inscriptions. Some time
between 1869 and 1873 he sold to
two Americans several saues zes Of |
pretended Moabite inscriptions. A
squeeze is q paper fac siwiie |
OF the lettering on stone made by |
pressing the paper while damp over
the object. Autographs of these
were distributed to Oriental
scholars, who detected the forgery
almost at q glance. Shapiro had
used sty les of Ph9nician letters of
different ages, ana the inscriptions,
when translated, were a mass of |
nonsense. The cheat was a very I
clumsy one. The next attempt,
few years later, was with another
lot of sham squeeZss, of which a
specimen lot are now in the Berlin
Museum. Many German scholars
were deceived by these forgeries.
ClermOnt Ganneau, the savant who
first put together the fragments OF
the MOabite stone, succeeded in get
ling into Shapira's factory not long
after this, and satisfied himself that
the business OF the manufacture of
fraudulent antiquities was carried
On extensively" The Books of the
tentateuch were declared forgeries.