Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-01-23

A Monument OF the Mound Builders in Dan
ger of Destruction.

a monument OF the Mound Builders In Dan
ger of Destruction.
The great Indian mound Of antiquity in the
Ohio valley at Moundsville in Marshall county,
W. Va, and within few hundred yards Of the
Ohio river, is in danger of being destroyed. and
the West Virginia Historical and Antiquarian
Society has sent out an appeal for aid to save
it. The call is distributed among the schools Of
the state and asks for penny contribution, to
be given at intervals by the school children.
The society has an option for its purchase from
the owner, but the option will expire on the
first day Of May next, and from the present
outlook there will be considerable sum lack
ing with which to make the purchase. The
mound is the most remarkable in this part of
the country, and ever since the coming of the
white race it has been to the antiquarian, the
historian and the arch9ologist a great object
Of interest in the Ohio valley and II mas been
visited by many learned men beyond the seas
The mound is 246 feet i'll diameter at the
base, being hemispherlcal in form, 70 feet high,
with plateau or fiat top. SO feet in diameter at
its top, on which many years ago there was
built dancing pavilion, where the young lads
and lassies of the dead old town have whiled
away many q moonlight hour in tripping
through the merry waltz or engaged In love
making. At one time the mound was covered
from base to apex with large oaks, but of late
years a great many of the noble monarchs of
the forest trees have succumbed to the march
OF progress and the storms of winter. The age
of the trees is like that of the mound, hard to
compute. The mound contains six million
cubic yards of earth, which is of a different ap-
pearance from that in its immediate vicinity,
and it is evident that it was carried over quar-
ter of mile from some sacred spot in the low
lands. How this immense body of earth was
transferred such q distance without the aid of
mechanical means is a matter of conjecture.
Shortly after the close OF the war the mound
was examined by permission Of the owner, and
a shaft was sunk from its top seventy-nin feet
down to the level with the adjoining TERRITORY
As the shaft was sunk it was curbed with brick,
which required $4,000 to complete the work
Nothing worthy of note was discovered until a
large, fiat stone Was struck, and when the
stone was removed it was found to cover a
crypt, which was inclosed on all sides with a
stone wall built with a mechanical knowledge
unknown to the American Indian who circu-
lated in that section and made it so unconfort-
able for the advance guard of civilization.
Two skeletons were found in the crypt with
many utensils and instruments of war and the
chase. One Of the skeletons was that of male,
whose height was evidently our own, but the
other that of o woman.
By the side Of the skeletons were found many
peculiar instruments, weapons, articles of
adornment and of ordinary use, and were COM
posed of bronze copper, in its natural state,
the latter resembling those found along the
seashore Of the southern coasts, were also
found. The skeletons we're doubtless those
OF one OF the great men Of his day, king or
leader, and his queen, but they were OF race
of people unknown even to the Indians. The
relics were similar to some Of those found at
that time in Arizona.
Upon the bronze tablets found by the side of
the male skeleton were hieroglyphics or inscrip-
tions showing that the people who erected this
immense monument had a written language
and were OF a race superior to the aborigines
known to the earliest settlers.
These relics are owned by the proprietor of
the mound and will, if the Antiquarian Society
can raise money to purchase the property, turn
the trinkets over to the society.
1t is a noted fact that all the persons who
had anything to do with the opening of this
mound have died or have been unsuccessful in
business. itissaid by the older people of Mounds
vile that curse was placed upon those who
opened the mound and their children after
them.