The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-02-14
ANCIENT MURDERS
SCIENCE FERRETS OUT CRIMES COM
MiTTe0 CENTURIES AGO.

MITTED CENTURIES AGO.
Caves of Southern France Yield Proofs of
Scores of Murders That Took Place in
Remote Antiquity-skuIIs of Women
Testify to Mans Brutality. +.
Murder will out" so it is said. This
statement ia not wholly true, inasmuch as
slayers of men do in a large proportion of
instances escape UNPUBLISHED and unde-
tected. But how strange it seems that the
science of the present day, acting the de-
tective's part, should unearth positive evi-
dencc of murders committed on individuals
who died perhaps not less that 100000
years ago.
The caves of southern France, which
once were occupied as dwellings by prime
val man, yield proofs Of scores Of murders
in most. remote antiquity. Those guilty
of these, crimes were doubtless Indifferent
to detection, inasmuch as in the early
stages Of human development there was
no law save physical strength. In that
epoch men gave way to their brutal pas
sions unrestrained. Women must have
suffered then more than at my subsequent
period, owing to their muscular inferiority.
That this is true is proved by evidence
which has survived hundreds of centuries,
for in the very caves referred to are dis
covered the remains of many murdered
women, testifying to the fsct.
In the famous cave of ro-Magnon was
found n woman's skull with II cut in the
forehead three inches long, evidently made
by a flint Ratchet. The weapon penetrated
the frontal bone and caused death, but the
victim did not die Immediately from the
wound. She fingered for some weeks, at
all events, us is shown by the fact that par
tial healing took place. In a cave at
Sordes, among many human bones bearing
scars, was dug up the skull of woman
with gaping hole in it. She must have
been instantly killed. A similar skull of
a woman was found in a cave at Challes,
in Savoy, with a fracture that was unques-
tionably made by flint instrument. OF
nineteen skulls obtained from a primeval
sepulcher ut Faureal, two show traces of
wounds inflicted by human hands. One,
that of a woman, has three fractures. I'm
questionably they were not all inflicted at
the same time, inasmuch as two of them
exhibit signs of healing. The unfortunate
recovered from these, only to succumb to
third blow.
Enthusiastically these women were muir
dered. But for their sex it might be sup
posed that they persisted in fight, as did so
many of the men who lived in those times. |
The struggle for existence among human
beings then must have been fierce and
bloody. They were hardly more than wild
animals provided with artificial weapons
and cunning of u superior order. Doubt |
less their contentious were most frequently
g.. Al. It
kind, who were the prize of battle and the
property of the strongest. One primeval
sepulcher was found to contain the skele-
tons of thirty men, all of them strongly
made, piled closely. Together with the !
bones were seventy-three flint arrowheads
and spearheads, which presumably were
sticking in the bodies when they were in
tered. These must have been warriors
who persisted In some battle. Another
cave at Gourvhn has yielded Il number of
crania and jaws, which were broken by
blunt weapons Hundreds of other skele-
tons of the cave jewellers of antiquity have,
been unearthed in similar condition, the
bones in many cases being transfiXed byi
weapons of flint In one instance skull
contained three arrowheads, a fourth ar.
row being lodged between the vertebre
In fact these caves are filed with evil |
dence of homicidal struggles among the
distant ancestors of the human beings of
today. From the same sources proofs are
supplied that cannibalism prevailed in
that distant epoch. Scattered about the
ancient hearths where meals were cooked
uncounted thousands of years ago, are ever
SO many bones OF men, women and chill
dren, bearing not only traces of fire, but
the marks of instruments employed to split
them lengthwise for the purpose of getting
at the marrow. Particularly in winter
primeval man was obliged to rely mainly
on flesh for food. Never having conceived
the notion of demonstrating the horse, he
utilized that animal to large extent as
an article Of diet. Reindeer, which were
then very plentiful in southern Europe,
were likewise favorite prey. The re.
mains of 5000 reindeer have been liscov-
cred in a single cave. At Solutre, on n
hillside, the bones OF not fewer than &C, 00OI
horses form Accommodations which are
known to this day as the "horse wallis "
Many of these equine bones show traces of
burning.
Even at that time man considered HIM
self monarch of creation, not hesitating to |
encounter contemporary wild beasts far
more formidable than any which exist now |
Great cats twice the size of modern Bengal
tigers and proportionately ferocous were
numerous. Mammoths, rhinoceroses and t
hippopotami roamed abroad. More terri /
BILE perhaps than any of these was the great
cave bear, double the size of the grizzly. |
With these bears, as well as with the
mighty tigers and fierce hyenas, the people
of that early period were compelled to dis |
pute possession of the caves That they
did SO successfully there is no doubt, as is |
proved by the thousands of gnawed bones
of bears and giant cats discovered in the
caves. Mingled with the same sort OF /
kitchen refuse are numerous shells of mol
lusks and bones of carp, trout, club, teneh
and other fishes of species which now pop !
ulate the rivers and lakes of the same re /
gion. Fishhooks were made from bears
teeth, bears tusks and f1int.-Washingto
Star.
A Natural Icehouse.
In Washington coulee is ravine that |
q river has worn for itself and then aban- 1
doned for another course The coulees of |,
the Columbia river are immense rayines /
Al III