The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-01-07
OUT OF HUMAN SKIN.

A Pack of Monte Cards Tha Will Go to
the Worlds Fair.
Among the many curios at the Worlds
fair. one of the most interesting will be
found in the exhibit from Montana, in the
form of a pack of playing cards made from
= human skin, says the River Press.
The pack referred to is a monte deck,
containing all the cards usually contained
in q poker deck. with the exception of
joker, Fights, mines and tens. The four
different suits arc painted in many CANDY
colors on the various cards, everything
from the ace to the king being deliberately
designed. In size, she cards are about the
average size of playing cards, and the skin,
In preparation, was worked or pressed go
thin that the pack of forty cards is about
as thick IS the ordinary pack Of fifty. two
linen or paper cards. .
From Prot. o. G. Morrison. who on Sun
day exhibited the cards to q number of
friends at the Grand Union hotel. in Fort
Benton, we learn a bit of the history of the
CHASTITY relic. BY Mr.. Morrison. they were
received from Capt. Chas. G.. Ayres, of
Troop +. Tenth U. S. cavalry. now stationed
at Fort Assinniboine.
A few years ago, when Geronimo and his
band of ~bloodshirsty Apaches were terror
izinC New Mexico ana Arizona, among the
soldiers sent in pursuit of this willy and
murderous savage was the troop under com-
mand OF Captain Ayres, and when at last q
capture was effected. among the various
articles found was this pack of cards,
which from their fantastic appearance and
unique Indian designs, were at once re-
garded by Capt. Avres as a great curiosity.
1t was at once recognized that the cards
were made of some kind OF skin, and the
captain, holding one of them up 10 the
light, readily observed countless small
veins therein. Immediately consulting ex-
pert doctors, he was assured by them that
NOS only were the cards made from human
skin, but from the skin of a white man, of
whom, after being murdered outright or
cruelty tortured to death, this repulsive
relic was formed will doubtless never be
known.
When Troop F was transferred to Mon
tana in May, 1892, Capt. Ayres brought
with him. among other curios, the Apache
monte pack, which. because Of its peculiar
nature, he retains as a curiosity. When
Prof. Morrison visited Fort Assinniboine,
bis attention was called to the article in
Capt. Ayres' possession. and thus the curio
becomes an interesting part of the Mon
tana exhibit.
From Prof. Morrison We learn thai the
collection OF Indian curios from Choteau
county will be the largest and most inter-
esting in the state. and probably in the
world. But the work of shat collector has
" otOAO OCoA buSOcnbAuA ia squirting n
a splendid exhibit for Montan. 1t has also
been of great good from a scientific stand (
point. 1t has developed evidence regard !
ing the age of the Montana coal fields. and
by the finding of the remains of a masto-
don in the coal beds at Havre, has estab-
lished the fact that the Ignite coal of Mon
tsna il the latest coal formation on the
continent.
The bones referred to we're found in a
mine now being developed by Col. Sweet
near Havre. and of those exhumed one is a
thigh bone, more than eight inches in
diameter at the smallest part. while an
other is a tusk, nearly nine feet in length.
These ouIiosities have been sent to Great
Falls, to be placed with tho remainder of
the Nontans exhibit. while Prof. Morrison,
who is "A member OF the United States
Geological survey. has already made a
voluminous report to Washington of the
interesting discovery he has made in Mon
tana, n which is of such i~ncslculable
value to science.