The sun., 1897-12-20
MADE THE CARDIFF GIANT.
EHH INVENTOR or n F1MOUS
HOAx NOW VERY III.

BINoHAMroy, Dec 19.--George Hull. the In.
yentor Of tho famous Cardiff giant is very III AZ
the home of his daughter, at IS Pennsylvania
avenue. this city. He is now 20 years OF age
For some months he has been able to get about
only with the aid OF crutches.
He never tires OF telling about tho big
stone man with which he deceived the public
twenty years ago, and still bears Rrudgo
against the relative to whom ho conilded his
scheme and who. rs he says, gave away the
snap that lost him big fortune" lie is giant
himself, standing feet inches in his stocking
feet, with shoulders apparently ayard wide and
well-proportoned frame.
"Yes," he said with q good.humorcd SMILE
70 Sun correspondent, 81 am George Hull,
and made the Cardiff giant. am Conncct
cut Yankee by birth. My father. John Hull
was New Hampshrc man. and married my
mother at Su field, Conn. She Yves Connect.
out woman. They were both OF English c<.
traction. My father was contractor for
bridges and other public works. Ho lost good
deal OF money by o partner. and when was
young wo oil had to put our noses TO the grind
stone. / never had but ono years schooling.
and when / was ID went to work on farm
and turned the soil with wooden plough.
"when was 10 years old learned to mako
cigars In q small factory and worked as ap-
prentice for three years. Thon I went to work
In neigh boring towns and became somewhat of
sport. / wrestled, ran. and had good time
generally. Thore were few who could beat me
In 100 yards. I trained Samuel Day, Con-
necticut boy, till he could beat mo about Ave
feet in 100 yards and then we travelled to-
gether., At BinRhamton. n. Y, where l worked
several years, l married In 1856 and settled
down. In 1860 invented q harness snap out
Of which ought to have made myself rich, but
me tha ntnnt
years later tho purchasers paid me $500 to
lend my name to petition for IN extension OF
che patent for another fourteen years. after
ward learned that they made at least 100000
"WeiI. 1t was at Ackley. Ia. that first con-
oeiyed the idea OF fooling the world with the big
stone man. had some relations at A.kley. and
sent my sisters husband 10000 cigars to sell.
aboutit, / found the farm he owned cneum:
family, before ioft Cleared up s0 the % mortsasS G
Al that time Methodist revivIlist was in Ack.
people wore too poor TO pay him anything. and
he boarded around. One night he was at my
sisters house. and after supper we had a long
am now an atheist. At midnight we went
70 bed. and lay wide awake wondering why
people would believe those remarkable stories
n the Bible about giants. when suddenly |
thought OF making stone giant. and passing 1t
ton and sold out my business; went to Wiscon
Gin, whore the idea continued to haunt me. and
went back TO New YORK State win my tamily,
hear my folks at Ackley.
after while found suitable kind Of stono
near Fort Dodge, on tho river bank. 1twas a
gray stone. somewhat resembling gypsum with
dark-colored blush streaks. which afterward
mass Of this rock cropping out about ieo feet
from the river. and bought an acre of this
sna aSG In to weeks TaFf Sad %h 5Sss SsSe
ready to take. away. 1t was about II
ss Rss SRes n R bt feet nghss
by land to the nearest railroad station. Boone.
forty.hvo miles distant The removal to the
It was no small job transporting this pond reus
mass over prairie roads. fords, and weak bridges.
end Ii ] had not been supervising the lob aided
BY Jack screws. levers, beams. and wndlasses, it
would have n remained IN in the M road
rented a one.story frame, building on. North
Clark street. close 10 tho lake. Then hired a
When the Fort Dodge people had asked me what
wanted Of the stone had told them was go.
tho best building stone in the world. Sow I ex-
pected greater trouble in avoiding the inqusi-
tive. The stoneeuttcr was a German. and all
he wanted was his wages. I never told him
what / was going to do, and he never told any
body what ho was doing,
lay on its back and was just the shape which the
Cardiff giant assumed as the work OF cutting 1t
out away some places. as did not wish to have
the giant too perfect because there should be
some parts OF MIS- flesh which had not pctrifed
and therefore rotted away. then made a tool
with bundles Of darning needless the handles
cast in lead. and with this tool went over
SSys9ry aSa. inch Of the body, making millions OF
afterward viewed them with magnify.
ilg glasses and thought they were pores of tho
giants skin. In order 10 give tho giant the ap.
pssraince q age, procured two gallons Of M sui.
steam from the acid and the stone rose in
clouds. The acid gave the stone q dingy brown
color color and an appearance Of great antiquity;
n n trnT .hFItyN h.NN- n
ehipped it to Union. n. Y, nine miles from
Binghnmton. 1t weighed with its packing i, 900
.onondagn Hollow is near Tully a station
thirteen miles from Syracuse. 1t is marked
each side. GeoloSists say it was at ono time "a a
lake, and many pe;rifed fish and reptiles have
erossroads hamlet called % Uardif - and % had dee dee
termined it was just the place to bury my giant
There lived there relative named Stub New,
inK him to secrecy. Union Station wns sixteen
miles away. We took the giant in his big box
farm at midnight in pouring rain. We put
tho box back of the barn and covered 1t with
back and buried it. in grave Ave feet deep The
tntsrment took place at dead of night, and VIC
had 70 transport and erect for the
move all trace Of the midnight burial.
returned to Bnghnmton and waited one
directions ~ m how to discover thr giant. It came
oub RO near tne SUOI TOT tWG
or three days after II was dug up and was FIRST
told of the great find by several people on The
street. professed TO believe IT, was n sell
When did go crowds were fiocking to the grave
from all parts OF the country, and Newell was
making small fortune charging 80 cents d
head TO SEQ the wonder. One day no took In
S22o, and In all must have realized about $1,000
before the giant was taken from his grave The
State Geologist and party OF scientific gentle
men came to view 1t and proclaimed it a petrl
lators." S'NSN
M Hull recounted tho various efforts to bu,
the prize. Spencer Of Utica and Higgins Gil
lett & Wescott of Syracuse offered Newell $50
600 for threefourths interest in the giant Ieav
ing Newell one'fourth. Hull was still in t h. back
ground and very much disRusted. He VS. thai
Newell became SO puffed up with the imporanc,
OF tho secret that he could not contain himself
and told T. 70 several of his relatives ant
leak out, and decided 10 realize al once and Quit
He told Newell to close tho bargain, and Newell
paid Hull 100000 as his share just after th,
bareain had been closed p. r, Barnum appeared
and after making some inquiries. said to Hull:
SO you are George Hull who made tho Car
ditf giant. How and where did you mike il r.
Assuming an indifferent and jocose air, HUI
replied, On, yea, made it over on the hillside
How did you get 1T over here r. was Bar