Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1894-10-16
THE BORGIAN AzTECs
DISCOVERY or A POISON RlNo IN AN
ANCIENT MEXICAN TOME.


DISCOVERY or A POISON RlNo IN AN
ANCIENT MEXICAN TOME.
a Ossss visA asAs ~ Asssssss. AssAs-
ss.esss Rsaasss - ths rvssss VIE
,.r.ssSsy TEA Ssis Ovs Lao ~ nssss
e r.ssss As.isisssssA TAsssss niss.
A correspondent of the Philadelphia
Times In the City Of Msxico writes -
follows.
Much has been written concerning
tho poison of tho Borgias Of Italy and
tho many subtle ways VI administering
10 10 those whom they wished 10 quietly
put out Of their path. among thess ways
bring that Of rings with springs charged
with poison. which. entering like .
needle point into the victims flesh. com.
inundated 10 TO him - efYectualiy ~ u
no had swallowed II But u seems from
q recent discovery made In this city
that this clever manner Of administering
q fatal dose was not peculiar 10 the
Italians. but Wa practiced by tho AN
cient Mexicans. 90 AztecA
In CLEARING the ground of an old ruin
of church which had become too d.
lapidated 20 render 10 safe for any one
90 enter its walls thcro werc found In.
dicaiioss that beneath u was . forgotten
burial ground, CO at least tomb Eager
American archrologists requested and
revived from the authorities permission
% examine into the matter. and the
work of s1huming began
There was found to bc~ vault con-
structel with some care Il hewn blocks
Of stone pot together and sealed into y
hollow square with no opening. IL re-
quircd sumo difiiculty 10 brcak through
this, tho work demanding carr lee, some
curious relic bs destroyed. but ut last u
wns uncovered only % show that the
tomb had nm inner casing.
This however. was Of masonry work
and more easily removed When this
was done. q long. prostrate object was
revealed wrapped In cloths Of coarse
texture which had becn dipped In
pitch. These. In turn, being broken
through. finer cloths were found. and
thcsc werc wrapped about the well pre-
served body Of man.
flo had none Of the dry and withcrcd
appearance Of the Egyptian mummios.
but looked ~ though his embalming had
t.Sn the work Of yesterday. lie was bc'
yond doubt an Indian. ~ was shown by
the high cheek bones and facial angle
though Of the moro cultivated type of
the people who inhabited this country
before tho coming Of Cortcx
lie was man Of about 30 or 30. with
q strong and even benevolent FACE mark
ell slightly with smallpox. AMI was
rohcd In what was evidently q priests
dress This was of white and u fine
texture, border,d with . still well pro-
served band IL humming birds feathers
Of that exquisite hAndi~ork for which
this prople were famous, and of which
they still jcalously guard the secret
In the right hand u the man was held
o small idol of red sandstone. with opal
eye, while la the other silver wnn,l
or stick somewhat resembling q mar.
shai's baton. M doubt the insignia of
hi. Office On tho left hand was also u
ring u silver In the shapc 81 y coile'i
serrent, with the eycs u the green McIi'
can diamond obtained from mines tho
locality of which was never learned
from the Aztec. sven under torture by
their greedy Spanish conqueror.. and
the secret of which still deh,- tho of'
plor,r of today.
Ia order Ia examine this ring more
closely. one ~ the party IL archa-oloeists
attempted 20 pull u from the iingcr Of
tho dead man. hut was surprised to Ind
that Il was held there by tno win.
the nccilelike point Of which was still
sunken into the brown hc-h. After
some manipulation this was finally TO-
moved. and 10 was sen that the wire
was most delicate hollow tube, from
which hung what looked like an In
hnit.simai bubble of grccnish gas.
suspccting that this might have had
something Of the character u tho Ia
nous Borgian ring, the gentleman
handled it carefully. and calling Chi
huahua dog IL the hairless spccies,
which had aitachei itself % the party,
b. pushed the point u the spring into
the tip Of the animals ear and awaitol
results. For time 10 seemed that the
ring hal exhausted its deadly power.
hut after half an hour the dog was secu
a. foam at the mouth. his EYES grew
CLASSY. AMI In q few minutes more he
fell over on one side. and after con-
vulsion or two was found to be quite
dead.
This gave rise 90 the theory that the
dead man had probably killed himself.
or for some ofiense had. by the rule.
IL his order OF tho government, put
himself "a death. ~ IL was lawful for
one Of tho priesthood Ia suffer capital
punishment This also la all probable
ity. accounts for his being enionb.d
away from the temple where he served.
or otherwise consocrai.d ground. an
item IL religious ruling with the Aztec
~ with the Roman Catholics Of today.
On exposure Ia the air the body soon
showed signs u decay and fell away
almost n they watched IL, but showing
In this that only the outer husk OF the
ns-h had boen preserved. the interior
being filed with fine sand. The ring.
idol and other relics werc claimed by
the authorities and are now On eahibi'
ton at the National museum.