Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1903-03-30
NEW MEXICO MUMMY.
Hunters chaene Discovery Suggests
Startling Theories Concerning
Problem of Vanished PeopIe.
Written for the st. Louis Republic.

W
Written for the st. Louis Republic.
In the ransacked ruins of the cliff
jewellers very little remains to reward
the patient digger for Indian treasures
and throw additional light on the pre-
historic people who lived in the rims of
canyon walls.
From time to time discoveries of
more or less importance are made by
hunters crossing the canyons, but their
finds proved of little value to either
the scientist or the laymdn.
Not more than a month ago how
ever, a remarkable mummy was found
by a New Mexican hunter named John
Tex, and this mummy promises to
change materially some of the hypoth-
eses formed by archaeologists. while a
careful investigation of its character
istics and the p~ecularities of its cen
tury-old resting place suggest startling
theories concerning the problem of
this vanished race.
The mummy was discovered beneath
three separate layers of cement floor
ing, which fact vouches for the ex-
IRENE antiquity of the well-preserved
body.
John Tex says that the mummy is
tall, that its head is normal, that its
skin is white and its hair thick and of
a reddish brown color.
These points of difference and the
peculiar place in which the mummy
was found lead to strange suppositions
John Tex has lived among the de-
s%cendants of the Pueblo tribes, that
nation of cliff-dwelling builders, since
before the eighties.
"One day in the last of January, as I
was riding slowly along through the
sedgebrush which covers the plains
of San Augustine, in Sorroco county.
New Mexico, my eye fell upon what
looked like the opening of a cave in a
wall of one of the lateral canyons of
the Rio Grande del Mort" says Tex.
1T seemed to be about 200 feet above
the bed of the canyon and some fifty
feet up in the perpendicular face of
the sandstone cliff.
Upon climbing up to the cave |
found that it had beer inhabited. and,
while erosion had thrown down the
outer walls of the dwelling and filled
the interior with quantities of broken
sandstone, l was able to push my way
into the aperture.
Finding no relics of the past occu-
pants of this curious abode lying about
it occurred to me that might discover
something of value by digging through
the heap of dust and refuse.
Starting at a distance of about fifty
feet from the ave opening, my shovel
went quickly through several inches
of sand fallen from the roof of the
cave; then with more difficulty | dug
through six or more feet of refuse,
when my shovel came in contact with
a hard substance, which | took to be
the cave floor.
After e~xcavating l found this floor
to be perfectly smooth, and made of
the clay cement common in the com
munal houses in the valleys with
which | am familiar.
Knowing that it was the custom
with this prehistoric race to bury their
dead under their dwelling floors, | de-
termined to try digging still deeper.
After cracking the cement and
| pushing the broken fragments aside,
| was surprised to come upon ashes,
c~orncobs, pot shards, arrow points
and a %profusion of animal bones. This
rubbish filled a stratum about eight
cen inches thick, below which / sud
denly struck a second floor.
Under this stratum of cement |
found almost the same quantity of rub
bish as was brought to light above,
but what was my CONSERVATION at dis
covering that there was still a third
floor in this oddly constructed abode.
With the greatest excitement |
swung my shovel and d~islodged the
debris which separated me from that
which / felt sure of finding now.