St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-12-04
SHALL COLUMBUS HAVE 1T?
A Claim That Christopher Was
Not the Discoyerer of America.

Not the Discoverer of America.
Chicago Tribune.
The Chicago men who are figuring Oh
bringing the Columbus celebration in
1892 to this city have cause to bestir them
selves. Not only may Chicago lose the
big fair, but the big fair may not be
held. At least SO says Miss Marie A.
Brown.
sit is perfectly absurd" said Miss
Brown, ito talk about Columbus diScov-
ering America. You might as well
speak of New Yorker discovering Chi
cago years after the Chicago fire."
'iEIow sop
'sIn the first place the Scandinavians
had been in this country hundreds of
wears before Columbus was born. They
went from Norway and Sweden to Ice
land, from there to Greenland, and then
to the North American continent. They
went south almost as far as Boston,"
'sWhere did they go thenw asked a
defender of the Columbus idea.
..'They staid there and coIonized the
place. Why, l can prove to you or any
one else, if am allowed to continue my
researches, that after Lief Erickson dis
covered the American continent in the
year 1000 there were thirty Roman Cath
Ollie bishops appointed by Rome, and
they built great many cathedralS and
monasteries, and the bishops and monks
sent communications to Rome during
the hundreds of years which elapsed be-
Christopher Columbus landing"
sHow do you propose to continue
your researches"
IL am getting up petition for presen-
tatiOn to congress, stating the facts of
the case, asking that the index of all
documents of American concern be-
tween the years 1868 and 17S3 be ex-
tended as far back as the year 1000.
This will give chance to establish the
fact OF the existence of the colonies in
Vinland and Greenland up to the date of
their extinction in the year 1910. Besides
this, | propose to ask congress to au-
thoriZe thorough investigation of the
records of the Vatican which Pope Leo
XIII. has thrown open for public in
spection. | expect to prove by those
records that not only was there Euro
pean travel between America and the
old world long before the days of Col
umbus, but that the coionists had ar
rived at high degree of civilization and
were not the savage barbarians history
has designated them"
.'But how will this affect Columbus as
a discoverer?"
.'Simply by proving that not only was
there no originality in his discovery, but
that he merely palmed off as his own
what he learned from other people,"
From the NorwegianS?"
'sCertainly. In the year 1887, accord
ing to the Life of Columbus written
l.: I,
land, Greenland, and most probably
the tradeWhich existed in those days be-
tween the Greenlanders and the English.
and mentions the port of Bristol as
the seat of trade in the Eastern hem is
phere. He also refutes the theory
which existed at that time that the sea
above certain latitude was frozen.
Five years after that he made the jour-
ney from Spain which ended in South
America, but it was not discovery.
He merely proved that the knowledge
he had previously acquired was anthem
TIC"
"You have evidently given the subject
considerable study, Miss BROWNE"
Eyes, l have devoted six years to
looking up authorities on the question.
Three years [ spent in Sweden, and
two years in London, principally at the
British musem, which, next to the
Vatican, is the greatest mine on earth
for discovering lost records. Ii con-
gress will devote an appropriation for
the purpose of sending me to inspect
the Vatican records, | expect to prove
conclusively before the year 1902 that
the Columbus idea is an exploded myth,
and that Lief Erickson, the Scandina-
Wan, was the true discoverer Of
America"