The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-06-07
DWARF AMERICANS.
THE REMAINS or A RACE OF LIlll-
PUT.ANS UnEARTHED.

IN Eastern Tennessee II I've Been Found
Graves ar.i skeletons If an Almost For
gotten P"opie-A L. -end That Deals
With the Mexican Az ecs.
The Smithsonian institution has I'M
dertaken q peculiar V ork i'll this locality.
Those people of the world who have paid
lengthy visits to That hilly Country
Know as east Tennessee have ALWAYS
been impressed with the sublimity and
beauty Of the mountains, the simplicity
and superstition Of the inhabitants and
the general air of sleepy mysteriousness
surrounding everything. Ask one of
these people where they would most ex-
pect to find race of dwarfs or giants
and the reply will be. In east Tennes-
gee And recent developments seem to
bear them ont, for in the last few years
h remains Of people less than three
feet in height have been discovered in
this country.
On the eastern slope of one of the
peaks of the Great Smoky mountains.
where the first ray of the morning sun
strike, is an ancient burying ground, and
such another burying place could not be
found, though the world be searched, for
not one grave is more than three feet long.
The tombs are two feet beneath the sur
face and are formed of cement and fat
stones, and have defed the rayages of
time to cause them to be DESTROYED.
Most of those examined contained a vas.
a few beads and a human skeleton, which
was new more than 36 inches long and
was that Of full grown person.
The natives have a beautiful legend Of
the place and say none were inferred
here except Indian children, while natu.
ralists claim the skulls to have reached
their full growth.
But the most interesting account is
chat of the red men who held that coun-
try when first settled by whites. They
CLAIM that when they came to that sec
ton OF country it was peopled by a race
OF small, fierce men, with red hair; thai
these dwarfS wa-ed IA long and bloody
wal with the Indians, bnt We're finally
all killed; that this burying ground was
used long before they came into the co,in-
try, and that those killed in the wa-
were never buried.
Ia some parts CT the adjacent mour,.
ra1ns, high UP 81 the cliffs, ARE to be seen
rude drawings Of combats between fulir
grown III and auuruber Of dwarfs. On
account Of the superstitions of the cas-:
Tennesseeans. ii is difficult to reach this
plg1ny cemetery, and almost as much us
life Is worth 10 attempt to dig into the
graves OF the "leetle people"
In the mountainous district of one Of
tho Sn11fl3T.ya af4+ag -, 4, l.,,J
the great rivers, j. situated a natural
fort, known to the surrounding inhablt-
ants as ''Indian Fort" Surrounded on
three sides by perpendicular cliffs. at
The bottom Of which flows the river,
wide and deep, the only way of approach
Is by ascending a stiff decliyity from the
open side, near the summit of which are
still to be seen traces of an ancient EN-
bankment, almost obliterared bv time.
Within the space i~nc,osed by the river
and embankment have been found a
great many stone and flint implements
OF Indian warfare and a few bronze
Axes. There are also a number of tombs.
Of large fat stones. containing
nothing but dust ana dirt at the present.
In the time of the early settlers tue
Indians had d traditio.I of a great
battle having been fought at this place
years previous to their own time, IN
an entire race was exterminaIsl
The legend is: The exter1ninated lace
who were called ..Worshipers of the
Sum-" had been gradually driven south
ward from the far north by the Indians.
Before reaching the Great river the
Ohio they separated into two divisions,
one going to the southwest, the other GO
ing directly south. What became of the
FIRST part is not told in the legend.
After innumerable battles the fleeing
made a final stand at Indian Fort,
and after a siege of many months, dur
ing which time the besieged snbsisted on
provisions previously gathered, they
were conquered, and every man, woman
and child was lilled. The Legend says
these people came from the vicinity 81
the great lakes. and the few bronze i'm
PIGMENTS discovered seem TO give some
truth to that part of the story.
II is supposed that these people were
the ancestors Of the Mexican Aztecs, adj
Hnrtio. 1hich esca1&d when the