Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1898-07-20
A BATTLEFlELo's CROPS.
RelIas of . Giant Race Foaad on FIsR
 Ida Farm

l H 6At LET iEEO Q OpOFO | RelIas of Giant Race FOaad on FIsF' l Ida Farm
 A graveyard in farm Is not an
 extraordinary thing, but a farm in
 a graveyard is something different.
 Imagine 6 vast tract of many acres
 planted with corn, cane, tomatoes
 and many other vegetables, while
 the ground round about is almost
 completely covered with skulls,
 bones and other debris that belongs
 Co a graveyard proper. Such Is the
 farm of Captain E. J. Watson, who
 lives at Chatham Bay Key, Fla, in
 the Tel island section. In the felds
 are seen big cornstalks and sugar
 cane growing out through empty
 skulls, while the ground underneath
 the thickly matted tomato vines
 seems nothing but a surface of bones.
 This key is one of the most pecul-
 far of the many odd islands in this
 group. It is a large island, contain
 ing about 50 acres, most being ex.
 tremely rich land In the center is Q sort of raised highland, containing about ten acres. Oh the edges of this there.are still to be seen remains of what was formerly probably a fertilization of some kind. the CO quina walls showing about foot high in some places, while in others they have completely disappeared In the center are the ruins of what
 was once a temple of some sort, the fragments of wall foundations still remaining being about 800 by 300 feet, in the form of an eight pointed star. In the center of this island is c square upright column made from eoQuina- It is now only about 10 inches square and not over 12 feet high, but from its foundation and other points it would seem to have been at least feet square and posSi- ply 20 or more feet high. Queer In- dian figures can be yet made out on it
 The Indians have a superstition regarding this island, and it is i'm possible to get any of them to visit it at night. Chief Iconadaohee, one of the oldest Indians there, says that years ago when the Spaniards in Florida were presenting the Indians a powerful race inhabited this south ern section They were large and fierce and astonished the invaders by their gigantic size and immense l strength. He says that this tribe l was driven south of the Chatham river, beyond which lies an impene trable morass They made this their | last fighting ground, and many tales are told of the encounters that oc- cured there between the Spaniards | and these Indians Finally they were driven away from this refuge, and what was left of the tribe, pos Eibly 1000, moved to this island. A mighty battle was fought here aft erward, and 1t is supposed that the tribe was completely exterminated. An examination of the farm would indicate that a massacre of some kind had occurred, as the whole up per part of the key is completely covered with skulls and various body bones of all sizes and condi tiona One can scarcely walk with out treading on something of the kind Hundreds and hundreds of the skulls are crushed in, as if the owner had been killed by bludgeor wound or by a battleax-in fact, three fourths of all the skulls picked up show the marks of wounds of this character.
 A large number of skeletons have been put together, and the result has been surprising A majority Of them are nearly 8 feet in height. correspondingly broad in shoulders and with mighty arm reach that would astonish even Fitzsimmons or a Corbett. All the other frame bones are correspondingly large. be ing much larger than the bones of an ordinary human body. A great many scientists have visited this section this winter, but none of them could explain this strange find, ex- cept on the hypothesis of 8 complete massacre and an extinction of this tribe. Mir. Watson's farm is noted for it's richness, decaying bones giv ing 1t an immense amount of ferti- liking. From 30 acres planted in cane and vegetables he has sold nearly t10, 900 worth of stuff. This shows the incomparable richness of the place.-St Louis Globe Democrat.