The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-05-07
SCENE OF A BIG Battle.
Interesting Discovery on n Farm In East
ern Kansas.


erm Kansas.
Kansas City. No., Corr. OF the Chicago
Chronicle.
j. Il. Williamson, a farmer iving 13
miles west of Kansas City on the Union
Pacific railway. has discovered on his
place an ancient burying ground, upon
finds In which he bases his belief that
his farm was once the scene of a furi-
Gus Indian battle. 1t is not an infre-
quent thing for farmers i'm counties ad-
Jacent to Kansas City to unearth a
skeleton or two. and nothing is thought
of 1t. but Mr.. Williamson has made an
unusual find. From time to time he
mas dug up skeletons until he estimates
that about 30 have been taken out of
only a small part of his lot. Besides
the bones many Indian relics have been
recovered. History does not record any
great battle in this vicinity. but the
finding of so many skeletons is evidence
t~hereabouts long ago. No n living
anywhere in the vicinity can recall any
civilized burying ground there.
In addition to the indian bones found
there Is evidence that the Williamson
farm was once the scene of the prehis-
toric race of mound builders. There are
four or five mounds In Mr.. Williamson's
orchard. near his house. which show the
art OF careful building. One of these,
much larger than the rest. was opened
several years ago by the relic hunters
of the Kansas State university, n 1t
was found to contain some rare things.
There was found the skeleton of a per-
son i'm the mound. 1t was pronounced
by the university Experts the bones of
a prehistoric race. 1t was taken to the
university, where 1t was carefully put
together and remains there to-day. The
conclusion that the bones are those of
a prehistoric being Is drawn from the
vhn M "a tho had xrAf,l ,a aauNneHsar
like an egg. 1T Is a normal sized skull.
but the forehead shows no traces of de-
velopment. From the eye sockets the
crown of the head slopes back almost
to a sharp point, leaving no develop
ment whatever Of the forehead. The
bones are in a fair state of preserva-
ton. In the mound with the skeleton
was found a perfect specimen of pot
terry, which. when the air struck 1t,
crumbled TO pieces. Besides these
things two large spear heads were
found. f'fI
The other mounds that are scattered
through Mr.. Williamson's orchard have
never been molested, but Mr.. William
son expects some day to explore them.
He does NOT expect To find anything OF
value. but will open them, through GU
riosity to learn what they contain. The
discovery of the Indian bones began
several years ago when excavations
were flldut loG TIE lbuuudtlOu VI MI.
Williamson's house. At that time Is
skeletons were removed in the diggings
for the foundations of the various
buildings. From time to time one or
two more turned up in blowing. since
then, but another wholesale excavation
OF dry bones took place last week when
Mr.. Williamson's som began regarding
part of their lot. They took up, within
20 feet Of their house. II skeletons. The
bones were found under not more than
W. and one-half feet of earth. Som
of the skeletons were partially petri-
fled and were taken up whole, but most
of them fell to pieces when they were
picked up. Some of them crumbled in
to dust when they were touched.
The arrangement of the skeletons
showed that some had been buried in
confusion, while others were lying In
rows and showed evidences of careful
burying. There was no wood to show
that any sort of casket had been used
in burying the dead. Two of the bodies
had been buried face downward and one
had rested on its side. Nine of them
were found in a ROY and they had been
buried with their heads a little to the
southeast. Buried with the skeletons
were arrow heads. tomahawks. stone
pipes. stone axes and a pair of silver
Several years ago Mr.. Williamson
unearthed the bones OF what IA prob
ably a heap big Indian chief" Part of
a fancy burial robe was found. Pieces
OF the robe We're sufficiently preserved
to show that il was of rich silk. artisti-
cally embroidered. There Were silver
buttons of ancient pattern on the robe
and a string of silver beads was found
around the neck.