Newport weekly independent., 1903-05-22
HUNTSHUMANSy
Peculiar Hobby Which
 Leisure Time of a Te
Has Visited Many Lands and tries in Search of the odd Cul and He Has an Interest,"
 ing Collection.

The following advertisement appe
 in the newspapers of St. Joseph, Mo. gently:
 'Wanted-Human skulls! must bev good condition; will pay liberally fy fine specimens. Apply Hotel M. Charlf w. Jenkins"
 Jenkins was temporary resident 10. St. Joseph, where he has considerable realty interests, but his real home is in Corpus Christi, Tex. He has probably the oldest fad of any collector of curiosI who has ever been resident of that city. MT. Jenkins is very anxious to increase his collection of skulls, and in the pos session of medical students, physicians and colleges of St. Joseph are specimens taken from various burying grounds that have keen unearthed In the ex- cavations for buildings on sites that hundreds of years ago were repositories for the dead of the ancient redm man.
 T have now in my possession 34S perfect specimens of human skulls, says Mr. Jenkins. "They represent the hu- man of many ages, and find them an lutSl SlSoIlA5 StuUy lAuCCOs 1lo VI ulu come to indulge in such strange fad? We'll, in my youth made a study of anatomy, and became intensely inter- ested in the construction of thle human frame. I gradually acquired a Haste for this form of bric-a-brac.
 sI got my real start as collector of skulls in 1887. During excavsf lions in St. Joseph on property in the poEsession of my father several specimenE of an ancient race were exhumef, and straightway found resting plaEe upon a shelf in cabinet in my homeA vls- ited the former home of the mound builder in Colorado and New Mexico,, where other specimens of the ancient inhabitants were discovered. They diff fer materially from the skulls found in St. Joseph. Then visited the holy land in search of specimens. From there I drifted to the lands of the Ptolemies of Egypt. Here some valuable acquisi- tions were made. I have tramped over the Pampas of South America, the noun tains of Peru and Chili, and even pene- trated into the wildernesses of the Anna zon, where, in deposits of earth and stone, have brought to light perfect specimens of human skulls, representa- ing periods which history does chronicle.
 "In my experiments have found tE some skulls take on very beautif polish, and I must say that, under tn hand of skilled artisan, they are madV magnificent. These specimens occupy a cabinet by themselves have number of skulls taken from the wreck of the Galveston storm. also have specimens from other disasters on this and other continents. Five victims of the Mont Pelee disaster are represented in my collection. This business of collecting skulls is a great aid in the study and re- tention of important facts in history. have in my possession the skulls of men at times prominent in the history of this nation. How I came to have them I do not care to say. However, money ls means of gratifying the tastes of anyone who cares to make a collection of this kind Because have acquired a liking for this work, spend much time during the winter months wandering about between rows of grinning heads, phflisophizing, after the fashion of the grave digger in Hamlet, upon the brev- lty of human life"