The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-10
THE RELIC HUNTER.
He Collects LOads of Souvenirs, but
What Becomes OF Them.

New Orleans Times-Democrat.
The contractors who are remodeling the
White House at Washington have been
compelled TO secure an order from the au-
thorities closing the grounds to visitors,
who have been overrunning the premises
and getting in the way of the workingmen.
Usually the only visitors to a building un-
der construction or in course of repair are
small boys and girls who go after bits of
frewood. But the White House is an his
toric building. and the people who have
given trouble to the workingmen there have
been well-dressed men and women in search
of bits of rubbish for relics. OF all the
forms of insanity this of collecting relics
is the most eommoun and the most mex
plicable. Relics are gathered or bought
and disappear. Some OF the most valuable
works of art in the world have been disfg
ured by these relic hunters for bits Of
masonry or metal or other material which
absolutely disappear after they have been
collected. What becomes of the tons and
tons Of relics that collected yearly?
Do the owners hide them and gloat over
them the miser gloats over his gold =?
The fact is that they disappear, though a
mass of relics have been collected in the
past century, and in every other century
of the history Of the world, sufficient TO
build mountain range. 1t must be that
they are thrown away by the collectors as
child throws away a toy after the novelty
of its possession has worn off.
Not only are relics collected in enormous
Quantities but they are manufactured In
great numbers. A great many people OF
more or less honesty make their living and
some of them make fortunes by the manu-
facture Of relics II is a business OF no in
n ocrraf ~ do II, &c
There is enough junk from the Confederate
cruiser Alabama in this city TO have sunk
that heroic craft There is tableware and
cutlery saved from that vessel sufficient to
supply the needs of an army corps, and one
wonders what use the few hundred men
had for so many table knives, and how did
they manage to save them from a
sinking vessel. These things will be
sold in the course of time to peO-
pie who have more money than
they know what to do with, and they
will disappear. But the purchaser of
this sort OF relic is a man of sound mind
compared to the dangerous lunatic who
will deface statue to the danger OF going
to jail simply to secure a relic which viii
be thrown away the next day. Where are
now the splinters of wood that were
Clipped from the blockhouse that crowned
San Juan hill before the Americans drove
the Spaniards from that height? There was
a cord in this esta blishment a few
years ago, brought hither by returning
volunteers, but every strip has disap-
peared. The ammunition saved from the
Spanish ships that were sunk off Santiago
bay has also disappeared. Does that dis
appearance indicate that the relic hunter
has periods of sanity. does IT merely in
dicate that he mas thrown aside his toys
that he may have room for other relics?
Whatever the cause, the fact remains
that relics have a very short life. The
relics that were collected from the White
House before the order was issued prohib-
iting admission to the public 10 the grounds
will have gone the way of most other
relics in the next few months. But the
relic hunter will be with US always He
is perennial and epressible-sometimes a
nuisance, sometimes a dangerous imbecile