The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-12-09
RELICS ARE FOUND
Dug Up From the Site of
New York
OF REVOLUNTARY TIMES
Discovered in Process of Dig
ging Water Trenches,


! New York. Dec. S-Excavations made
/ almost anywhere in the extreme northern
end of Manhattan island are likely 10
uncover relics Of the revolutionary per
/ iod, and as the grading of streets and
! the laying Of pipes and sewers have pro-
gressed in that direction with the growth
Of the city, public and private collections
/ have been enriched by many interesting
objects accidentally unearthed. A great
part of these appear to have been scat
tered about at the time of the British oc-
cupation, which lasted from 1916 to 1873.
Others can be traced plainly to the battle
Of Fort Washington. November 16, 1!76,
at which the Continental troops, outnum-
Gbered by the British and Hessians. lost
$50 killed and wounded and surrendered
5000 prisoners of war.
In the Offices of the Consolidated Gas
company are preserved the Revolutionary
relics that have been dug up from time
to time in laying the company's mains,
or have been found in the fields east Of
the King s-bridge road and have been
brought in by farmers, many Of whom
.
them were found north Of One Hundred
and Fifty-F1fth street and the southern
limit seems to be about One Hundred and
Thirty-First street.
This collection, it is believed, includes a
/ complete set Of the projectiles used by
both armies in the battle of Fort Wash
I ington The sizes range all the way from
buckshot 10 a five-inch solid cannon ball,
Weighing twenty-five pound or more.
Solid shot are also found Of four, three
and two-inch calibre. and grape shot Of
still smaller sizes. There are also frag-
ments Of hollow bomb-shells Of several
sizes, the largest being of about seven
and a half inches diameter. The cast
iron of which these are made has lasted
so well that they show the mark Of the
flask or mould in which they We're cast
The lead Balls however, are 50 crUsted
over from oxide from their hundred
years under ground that they look al
most like cream-colored marbles.
weighing about twenty pounds, which are
There are two ''bar-shot," one of them
supposed to have been fred by the Brit
ish man-of-war Pearl, which took part in
the bombardment of FFort Washington
from a point near Jeffrey's Hook in the
Hudson river An ordinary round shot
is split in two and the halves are connec-
ted by a two-foot bar of wrought iron.
Shot of this kind are intended for cutting
an enemy's rigging in a naval engage
ment, and it is not known why they were
fired in storming fort. One Of the spec
linens in the collection has deep notch
carefully sawed in one end, the purpose
Of which is not known.
At certain spots have been found great
numbers of soldiers buttons. Most of the
perfect buttons bear the number Of some
regiment There are the Tenth, Four
tenth, Seventy-F First, Seventeenth, Twen-
ty-Third and Forty-Fourth regiments
The F'orty-FOurth shows a crown above
the numeral, and the Twenty-Third the
three ostrich plumes of the Prince of
Wales crest. The only American button
in the collection is very old and worn
one, which, under magnifying glass
shows family the three letters, CON"
part of the word Continental" It is a
curious fact that the horn-backs of the
officers buttons seem to have outlasted
the metal fronts in many cases The
spots where large numbers of buttons have
been found close together are supposed to
mark the sites Of regimental tailor shops
at the time Of the British occupation.
But there is also evidence that the Brit
ISL and Hessian soldiers did not spend all
their time in fighting. One Of the treas
ures Of the collection is a handmade
green glass bottle found near Dyckman
street. This bottle had the original cork
still in the mouth, but it had shrunk and
allowed the liquor to escape. This bottle
was evidently blown without mould. It
is "lob-sided" in almost every way and
stands very unsteadiIy on its base. An
other curiosity is one of a pair Of dice.
made from musket balls, which were
hammered into rough cubes. and the pits
apparently made with a nail on the sides.
An amusing incident appeared early in
the formation of the collection An i'm
plement was found unlike anything the
gas company had seen before. 1t con-
sisted of a three-inch iron ring which ran
through eyelets at the ends Of two cross
ed levers working on pivot No one
could guess its use but the thick coat Of
rust convinced all that it dated back TO
Revolutionary times, and it was given a
place Of honor in the collection. Every
visitor admired and wondered at it until
one day an electrical engineer happened
to droD in what have you got that
here for &" he asked. why, it's a Rev
outionary relic. a strange one. too" he
was told ITS nothing of the sort It's
a common lineman's fcome-aIong that
we use for stringin telegraph wires" Re
declared. and the strange object was
moved TO a less conspicuous place on the
shelves.
The collection was made ny C. c. simp-
son. superintendent Of mains for the Con
solidated company.