The herald., 1894-12-13
THE BORGIAN AZTECS
DISCOVERY OF A POISON RING IN AN
ANCIENT MEXICAN TOMB.

ologists - Remains of the Priest Who
of Poison Administered Through q Ring.
A correspondent of the Philadelphia
Times in the City Of Mexico writes as
follows;
Much has been written concerning
the poison of the Borgias of Italy and
the many subtle ways of administering
it to those whom they wished to quietly
put out of their path, among these ways
being that Of rings with springs charged
with poison, which, entering like
needle point into the victim S flesh, COM
municated it to him as effectually as if
he had swallowed it. But it seems from
recent discovery made in this city
that this clever manner of administering
fatal dose was not peculiar to the
Italians, but was practiced by tho an
cient MeXicans, or Aztecs.
In clearing the ground Of an old ruin
of church which had become too di
lapidated to render it safe for any one
to enter its walls there were found in
dications that beneath it was a forgotten
burial ground, or at least tomb. Eager
American arch9ologists requested and
received from the authorities permission
to examine into the matter, and the
work of exhuming began.
There was found to be vault con-
structed with some care Of hewn blocks
of stone put together and sealed into
hollow square with no opening. 1t re-
quired some difficulty to break through
this, the work demanding care lest some
curious relic be destroyed, but at last it
was uncovered only to show that the
tomb had an inner casing.
This, however, was of masonry work
and more easily removed. When this
was done, long, PROSTATE object was
revealed wrapped in cloths of coarse
texture which had been dipped i'll
pitch. These, in turn, being broken
through, finer cloths were found, and
these were wrapped about the well pre-
served body of a man.
He had none Of the dry and withered
appearance of the Egyptian mummies,
but looked as though his embalming had
been the work of yesterday. He was be-
yond doubt an Indian, as was shown by
the high cheek bones and facial angle,
though of the more cultivated type of
the people who inhabited this country
before the coming Of Cortez.
He was man of about so or SO, with
strong and even benevolent face mark
ed slightly with smallpox, and was
robed in what was evidently priests
dress. This was of white and of fine
texture, bordered with still well pre-
served band of humming birds feathers
of that exquisite handiwork for which
this people were famous, and of which
they still jealously guard the secret.
In the right hand of the man was held
q small idol of red sandstone, with opal
eyes, while in the other silver wand
or stick somewhat resembling mar
shal's baton, no doubt the insignia of
his office. On the left hand was also a
ring of silver in the shape of coiled
serpent, with the eyes of the green Mexi-
can diamond obtained from mines the
locality of which was never learned
from the Aztecs even under torture by
their greedy Spanish conquerors, and
the secret of which still defies the ex-
plorer of today.
In order to examine this ring moro
closely, one of the party of arch9ologists
attempted to pull it from the finger Of
the dead man, but was surprised to find
that it was held there by fine wire,
the needlelike point of which was still
sunken into the brown flesh. After
some manipulation this was finally re-
moved, and it was seen that the wire
was most delicate hollow tube, from
which hung what looked like an in
fnitesimal bubble of greenish gas.
Suspecting that this might have had
something of the character of the IA
nous Borgian rings, the gentleman
handled it carefully, and calling Chi
huahua dog of the hairless species,
which had attached itself to the party,
he pushed the point of the spring into
the tip of the animals ear and awaited
results. For time it seemed that the
ring had exhausted its deadly power,
but after half an hour the dog was seen
to foam at the mouth, his eyes grew
CLASSY, and in few minutes more he
lSll over Ou Ou0 slu6, tuu dlt6T u COus
vulsion or two was found to be quite
dead.
This gave rise to the theory that the
dead man had probably killed himself,
or for some ,offense had, by the rules
of his order or the government, put
himself to death, as it was lawful for
one of the priesthood to suffer capital
punishment. This also, in all probabil-
ity, accounts for his being entombed
away from the temple where he served,
or otherwise consecrated ground, an
item of religious ruling with the Aztec
as with the Roman Catholics of today.
On exposure to the air the body soon
showed signs of decay and fell away
almost as they watched it, but showing
in this that only the outer husk of the
flesh had been preserved, the interior
being filled with fine sand. The ring,
idol and other relics were claimed by
the authorities and are now on exhibit
tion at the National museum.
Mourning.