The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-07-27

SAN. FRANCISCO, Cal, July 90
An artist is now in this city who claims
TO have been the sculptor Of the fa
nous Cardiff giant that created such
a furore in the scientific world more
IMAM score of years ago. His name
Is q. Fabricio Sala, and he is endeay-
| orlng to dispose of the statue or teEaithr
that has been lying in the mechanics
| pavilion at the exposition grounds ever
since the close of the great fair held
mere seven years since. He claims thai
+. T. Barnum, the Snowman made a
million dollars by exhibiting his Car
| diff giant, which was long accented
as the genuine petrified remains Of
race of giantic human beings who once
| inhabited this country
The figure, to the many people who
visited Barnums show in those DAVIS
| was supposed to represent the petrffed
FORM OF a prehistoric man. 1t was
Twelve feet long, four feet broad and
weighed three and half TONS 1t was
| supposed to have been dug out Of the
earth at Cardiff, N. Y. This. to q
| certain extent, was true, but the fact
| that 1t was carved out of gypsum and
inferred less than year before by the
! cleVer ones was kept a profound secret
Ihat 1T was one of the cleverest hoaxes
ever perpetrated was proven BY the
| number Of sculptors, archaeologists.
antlquarians, clergymen and others of
the learned professions who were tax
en- In" by the figure and gave more OF
less profound explanations of its
origin.
Tells the Story Of the Fraud.
Mr.. Sala is an elderly man who has
maze ms reputation over the world as
sculptor of considerable merit. Ii
was only with reluctance that he was
1nduced day or two ago to talk OF
MS connection with the chiseling out
OF the giant. He said he simply un-
dertook the work in professional wav
having been employed by a Mr.. Taylor.
| VINO was at that time, 1868, a sort of
silent partner with Barnum.
Yes, 1t was who carved the CardifT
giant, said Mr.. Sala, "and Mr.. Tavlor
| paid me the handsome sum Of $4,000
Tor the work; subsequently he often
gave me $500 whenever his receipts
We're exceptionally good. He was All
excellent payer and a gentleman. I
carved the giant in barn near Quin-
cy, III. The slab of gypsum was OBJ
tanned in the vicinity. There is plen-
" OF gypsum as well as onyx near
there. OF course, I had nothing to do
with the statue after it left Quincy
but l know that from there il was
shipped to Chicago, then by water 10
Buffalo, and finally by canal boat and
team to Cardiff, N. Y, where it was
buried. The nature of the package
was, OF course, kept a secret
A number of Popular Science Month
ly published in 1878 bears out Mr.. Sa
las statement in some details, but
mentions Edward Sale, a German. as
one of the sculptors, and the other as
a Mr.. Markham, an American. Mr..
Sala claims that the Sale referred
to can be no other than himself and
the use of the name is a mistake on the
part of the writer.
Made to Appear Ancient.
Before the burial of the giant in the
old well at Cardiff, by previous ar
rangement, the figure was subjected
10 long and careful rubbing with sand
and water, which produced the water
worn appearance so often cited as in
controVertible evidence of extreme an
tiquity. The pores of the skin We're
carefully initiated by picking the en-
tire surface with leaden hammers fac
ed with needles, giving the peculiar
goose flesh" which puzzled so MANY
AS there still remained an appearance
OF freshness the figure was given a
sulphuric acid bath to give it the de-
sired appearance of age.
"a year afterward," the same pub
hcaton says, ''it was accidentally I'M
earthed by well diggers the arch en-
glneer of the hoax being given as Mr.
Hull, Binghamton tobacconist 1t
had been carefully arranged and there
were many neighbors around to spread
abroad the news of the extraordinary
ind of fossil remains The crowd soon
sWelled to thousands from all parts of
the neighboring country and on the
following day four medical men Of the
neighborhood, with scientific Dreten-
sions, investigated the giant and ac-
cepted the hoax without the least hest
fancy. Later it was examined by a
Dr. BoVnton, of Syracuse, a man pos
sessed of some antiquarian knowledge,
and he came to the conclusion that it
was a statue made some 500 years ago.
by the Jesuit fathers. He at once Of
fered $4,000 for it."
Cost of Scientific Endorsement.
BY way of an advertisement invita-
tons were sent to Prof. Agassiz, Prof.
Hull, state geologist; S. B. Woolworth,
secretary of the New York state uni
versity, and large delegation Of scien-
tlfic men from different parts Of the
state. The state geologist pronounced
the figure to be a statue of great an
tiquity. Prof. Ward, who filled the
chair of natural science in Rochester
university, said: Although not going
back to the stone age it is nevertheless
deserving of the attention of archaeol-
oSists." prominent clergyman wrote:
This is not thing contrived by man,
all the earth; the very image and child
of God" Many scientific societies took
the matter up and expressed their
gullibility more or less strongly in res
olutions.
The man to first puncture the hoax
was Prof. Marsh-O. c. Marsh of Yale
who made point by asserting that
gypsum was soluble in 400 parts of
water, yet the face of the giant was
smooth and little dissolved, though sur
rounded by wet earth, proving that the
burial must have been Of very recent
date.
1t is estimated that $4,000 900 was
made out of the hoax before Barnum
introduced the petrified man to his
circus. While the figure was being
exhibited in Boston Mr.. Sala says that
to his own knowledge the drawings
amounted to about $4,000 a night for
a considerable time. Notwithstanding
Prof. Marsh's findings and other hard
blows the hoax received from other
quarters it survived for nearly two de-
cades, when 1t may be said to have died
natural death. or, to use popular
language, to have been played out"