The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-04-16

Professor Curme, after more careful in
l testigation, had given out a statement
hat the inscription had all the marks
of fake Following Immediately on
this statement a cabegTam from Pro
fessor G. Storm and 0. Rygh of Chris
tiania, Sweden, declaring that the So
called Runic stone was "a grand fraud.
perpetrated by a Swede with a chisel
and slight knowledge of Runic char
acters and of English"
Professor Breda had reason to gloat
over this vindication of himself, and he
would have glcated accordingly but for
the fact that the fate had enmeshed
him in it's sweeping whirl. In telling
the story Professor Breda said to the
writer:
After my views that the stone was
fake had been confirmed by others
to whom it was submitted. I found to
my great surprise that some liar in
Chicago had telegraphed to England
and Norway that I had pronounced the
thing genuine. I have been compelled
to write to papers in Norway to correct
this entirely erroneous report. | do not
know whether I have been reported cor
rectly in the Eastern papers. AS far
as I know, the papers of the West have
had it correctly. I should very much
hate to go on record in the Eastern pa
pers as one who has been taken in by
at all to the matter again, will you
kindly set me right before the public
Setting the worthy professor right be-
fore the public is not an easy matter.
Fakes travel faster than facts. as any
newspaper man knows. The story of
the Rune stone, with the endorsement
of the inscrpticn's senuineness
ascribed to Professor Breda by the liar
in Chicago" has by this time been read
by the students of ancient lore in Hin
dostan, pored over by bespectacled men
of learning in Europe. Asia and Austria
liza, and will bob up in UNEXPECTED
places and with the most extraordinary
vitality for long, long time to come.
The joker certainly did his work we'll.
For the benefit of those to whom
the term "Runic stone is as much q
mystery as would be the characters. it
may be well to state in conclusion that
the Runes We're the earliest alphabet in
use among the Teutonic and Gothic ma
tons of Northern Europe. The exact
period of their origin is not known. The
name is derived from the Teutonic
run" a mystery, whence "runa,' q
whisper. and "helrun." divination: and
the original use of these characters
seems to have been fer the purpose of
secrecy and divination. The resemb-
lance which some of the Runic Charac-
ters bear to the Phenic'an alphabet
and others derived from il. has led to
the superstition that they We're first in
troduced by Phenician merchants who
traded with the coasts of the Baltic;
and while the mass of the people were
allowed but a very martial acquaintance
with them, the priests system 1tized
them and retained a full knowledge of
them in their own hands, no doubt find
ing them useful in esta blishing a repu-
tation for superior will power and in
telligence.E Scandinavian and Anglo
Saxon tradition agree in ascrbing the
invention of Runic writing to Odn or
Wodin. The country in which traces of
the use of Runes exist include Den
mark. Norway, Sweden, Iceland. Ger
many. Britain France and Spain: and
they are found engraved on rocks,
crosses. monumental stones. coins.
medals, rings. breaches and the hits
and blades Of swords. Runic letters
We're also often cut on smooth sticks
called "run-stafas,' of mysterious
slaves. and used for purposes of d.
vination. But there is no reason to be-
lieve that they We're a any time in the
familiar use in which we find the char
acters of written language in modern
being used in books or on parchment.
We have an explanation of the Runic
alphabet in various manuscripts of the
early middle ages. ~rior to the time
when Runes had altogether ceased to
be understood. No genuine Runic in
scriptions have ever been found in this
country. THEO. RUDOLPH.