The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-11-15
a PETRIFIED HUMAN BEING.
Presence in Boston of n Curious Fos-
siI Found in Nevada.
From the Boston Herald

Out OF the West came an overland train:
out Of the train came man; into a dray
and over the bridge to South Boston. into
a high brick building, up a freight elevator
to the third floor, on a hand truck to a
corner under q skyIight the passenger
made his way. Here, surrounded by heaps
of old iron, scrap brass. and a pot-pourri
of odds and ends of copper, lead. and zinc,
the stranger has been holding reception
for the past twenty-four hours to such as
cared It view his person
He is six feet tall weighs $50 pounds
and his age is estimated at from 1, 600 10
5000 years. His right name is unknown
but in the language OF science, he is
true FOSSIL" and Is probably worth his
weight in gold.
The fossil was dug up some weeks ago
on mining claim near Reno. New. George
d. Burton, the stock car inventor, discoY-
cred &. and promptly bought it from the
original resurrectors- It has been shipped
here with a view to its ultimate resting
place IN some museum Meanwhile. anyone
interested IN fossils. ethnology, archaeoI-
ogy. geology, or any OF the kindred "olo-
gies, is(invited TO call at the establish
ment Of Samuel Butter & Co. As West
Second Street, South Boston, view the Gu
rio, and Il able tell the story of its life.
It is remarkable specimen. The pres
ervation Of every part is fawless- Il is
the form Of a well-built. athletic man,
some thirty-hTe or forty years of age ap-
parentIy, at the time of death. Experts
say that IL is probably not the body Of
an Indian, as the features and the feet
are not those Of the American red man
It resembles more the remains of a white
man, but whether he antedated the Indian
or not can hardly be determined without
an examination OF the strata in which the
body was found
A Herald representative viewed the
man Of stone" yesterday, and then hur-
Tied out to Cambridge where he found
Prof. Gordon, Of the Peabody Museum.
ready to listen to the story of the curio.
and TO accompany the newspaper man for
an examination of the fossil Prof. Cor
don has recently returned from Honduras.
where fer the past nine months he has
been making chronological and archaeology
cal Investigations. His opinion as az ex-
pert it reliable.
No. it's rot fake said the professor.
n reply to a question. 1t is easily
demonstrable that 1t is true fossil.
Furthermore, It's the only fossil Of its
kind ever found The thing reminds me
more than anything else Of the eSzts which
they are getting out OF PomS.ii This
specimen is similar to those from the
buried city The only difference is that
the n1olde of The bodies formed nv the
hardened lava in Pompeii are being filled
by plaster of paris 70 make the casts
while here nature performed the whole
process.
1T is impossible to tell off hand what is
| the age of this fossil. That could only be
learned by a careful study Of the strata
from which it was dug If the strata have
lain as they do now for hundreds of wears
and this Is quite probabie-the fossil is
very, very old. In that case this specimen
might have great value in determining the
predecessors of the Indian on this CONT
nent'
The professor paused to examine one OF
the feet, both of which were broken of
Just above the ankle when the body was
/ being exhumed
Now, you see" he continued, you can
| scarcely distinguish the location OF rbe
/ bones Of the leg This would indicate that
complete decomposition had taken place
before petrescence was accomplished This
| fact seems to prove that ii was LONG
| process, and TO argue for the extreme age
! of the fossil However, as l said. nothine
absolute can be determined until a careful
! study of the surrounding strata has been
made
! Prof. Gordon would not hazard a guess
| on the age OF the thing but admitted thai
! it might be a thousand years old and Eos
sioly much more. He declared that ii was
not the body Of an Indian, but resemble
more that of white man. The features
! he pronounced well-fermed and regular
with high brow, indicating good intellect
| He seemed inclined TO the opinion that the
| feet were those of a man who had worr
shoes, or at least sandals or moccasins o.
some sort.