Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1898-02-03

to be treated. as prisoners OF war.
Pretty rough, coming from Sheridan,
the Weyler of our war.
Human Bodies in Stone.
A dispatch from Sandstone, Mimi,
to the Cleveland Plaiudealer says:
Human beings turned to stone and
now forming component part of the
rock have been found in the big sand
stone quarry here, as well as copper
utensils of bygone age, showing that
this section was once inhabited by
people whose claim to priority ante
dates that of the Indians
The find was made recently, and
has been kept secret until now, the
men who made the discovery of The
bodies and the utensils fearing that
tthe owners of the quarry would lay
claim to them. When the discovery
was made public it created considera-
bic excitement, as first rumors were
to the effect that the figures were the
bodies of men who had probably been
murdered.
These minors reached the ears of
the county coroner, and he began an
investigation, which esulted in max
fng the true story Of the find public
property When the coroner learned
that the figures were Of men who had
been dead hundreds, if not thousands
of years, he decided that no inquest
was necessary. His visit. however,
revealed the find to the officials of the
quarry, and it is now said they are
making an endeavor to obtain the
blocks of stone containing the bodies
and the cooking utensils
The quarry at Sandstone was de-
veloped about four years ago by the
Great Northern and the Eastern Min
nesota Railroad companies, which later
on rented or sold the property to the
Sandstone Company, which has since
then operated the quarry. On sever
al occasions the workmen have found
evidences that in the olden days hu-
man beings had been buried in the
white sand, of which the stone is COM
posed, but no particular attention was
paid to the matter, as it was supposed
the fragments found were simply those
Of the latter-day Indians.
Recently the quarry was extended
to the east considerable distance, the
work being done by gang of men
under Angus MacHenry, the Scotch
foreman, fellow of more than ordi-
nary intelligence In blasting away
the top layer Of white sandstone big
bed Of softer stone was exposed, which
was almost too yielding for building
purposes. The foreman was on the point
Of abandoning it, when his attention
=
was drawn by Ole Anderson, one Of
the workmen, to a peculiar formation
in the sandy rock. There, imbedded
in the white stone, was form which
had once been human. 1t was almost
the same color as the sandstone-per-
haps a trife darker-but was not
petrifed body, in the general accep-
tance of the term.
1t was really a part of the block Of
sandstone, as an attempt to dig it out
demonstrated, for it could no more be
removed than could a piece Of the
stone itself In digging around the
body-if body it could be called-One
Of the workmen accidentally struck it
with his pick, the blow chipping out
section from the side. 1t was then
seen that the figure was but the out
line of the original body, the flesh and
bone having been replaced by the
sandstone in which il was imbedded.
Many Of the workmen were In
clined to believe that the find was not
a body at all, but just peculiar for
nation in the rock. MacHenry was
disposed to accept this view as the
correct one until. in digging still fur
ther into the rock, he found copper
utensil of ancient make. lying almost
under the shape which had first
claimed bis attention. This caused
! him TO change his mind, and be or