Daily Yellowstone journal., 1890-01-08
INDIAN GRAVES A-PLENTv.
Pissees In Connecticut Where Digcers Find
no End Of Bones and Relics.

Pissees In Connecticut Where Diggers Find
no End Of Bones and Relics.
The whole of this section of Con-
necticut seems 10 have once been q
vast burying ground, either of Indians
or some extinct savage race. Many
skeletons have been dug up in this
city and vicinity during the past few
years, and new specimens Of wonder
fully well preserved bones and bodies
are constantly being disclosed. On
Prospect street the skulls Of several
Indian women have bc,u uneartAcd by
laborcrs while digging for sewers and
house foundations, and ut Seaside
park a dozen or more Indian graves
have been opened. In these graves
are found pipes, beads, arrow heads,
drills, knives and various trinkets
such rs savage men aud women use
10 adorn their hclts. On Golden hill
maIy skeletons have been oXhumed
within a year Or two, and L is almost
impossible la dig a post hole or trench
without coming in contact with hu-
man bones.
The town uf S,ratforG comes in for
a large share Of rguuWn on account of
the many strange graves which have
been opened Curious pieces of pot.
terry, bearing rude characterization, are
frequently taken from Suatiord
graves, ind gorgeous trinkcts, which
are different from those found Ia uthei
places. show that the tribes IN the sew
cul districts were quite unlike IN their
habits and modes II oTIlucntation,
Bordering Ola rhu sound, in Love-
Strailurl, and near tie 'Sp,Iitualists
Hole" 50 called because Il company o.!
SVlritUa,iSts forty years ago dug for
many days and nights IN search Of
Capt K,da's buried gold, there ne.
mains the distinct evidence Of AN In
dian village, and numerous graves OF
dead savugcs have been thrown open
by men who have more care for the
study Of extinct people than for the So
cred preservation of their last resting
places. The village of the braves was
situated on the edge of a great marsh
1ear the present lordship farm. In
some places the clam and oyster shells
are nearly two feet deep. These beds
indicate a long occupancy of the re
gion.
Charles Gray is one of the most Ell.
thusiastic relic hunters in the village
Of Southport. Near the Westport
town line he found several skulls
which III some Instances are quite per
feet, with full sets of teeth in sound
condition. In one Indian grave he Sc
cured a number Of valuable and curl
ously wrought tobacco pipes, made OF
a peculiar kind of white stone, and
they appear TO have been colored in
the same manner that meerschaum
pipes are made brown by long use. In
another grave, beneath a huge oak
tree, Nj. Gray has unearthed the skele,
ton of an Indian which had been bur.
led IN a sitting posture. The bones
are evidently those of an adult squaw,
and with them were found a genuine
Indian dinner pot and a samp mill,
which consists Of a rough mortar and
pestle of stone. These were at one
time subjected to great heat. The
suppositiop is that these implements
were from time TO time thrown into
the fire as offerings Of worship, and
buried with quantities Of hickory nuts
and clam shells. both of which have
been found Ill great numbers in seve.
raj Of the Indian burial grounds.
At Fairfield, near the residence OF
Arthur Bennett, and not far from the
line Of the Consolidated railroad, some
very curious Indian tools and orna-
ments lave been found in the graves
of the people who hunted and iished
in the prolific streams and forests OF
this part Of New England. In all OF
these graves, which are filled with
sand and gravel, there are vast guam
titles Of clam and oyster shells. There
seems 10 be something about the soil
which preserves the bones intact and
without decay. Even the hair Of most
OF them remains long, black and
glossy.
In Sandy Hook. a few miles north
of Bridgeport, there are three Indian
mounds. which are said TO be com.
plctely filled with the relics of the
race of savages which once made west
em Connecticut its hunting and fish.
ing ground. These mounds are from
six 10 ten feet in height, and vary from
five to twenty rods in length. They
are on private property. Members OF
the Bridgeport Scientific society have
endeavored TO obtain permission to
open these mounds, but on account OF
superstition or some other cause land
owners will not allow the resting
place of the extinct acc to be disturb.
ed Bridgeport Comm Cor. New