Newport daily independent., 1904-09-30
HUNTSHUMAN SKULLS
Peculiar Hobby Which Occupies
 Leisure Time of a Texan.
Has Visited Many Lands and Coua- tries in Search of the odd CuriOs and He Has an Interest-
 ing Collection.

The following advertisement appeared in the newspapers of St Joseph. Mo-. re- gently:
 "Wanted-Human skulls! must be il good condition; will pay liberally for fine specimens. Apply Hotel M. Charles W. Jenkins"
 Jenkins was a temporary resident oi 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 curios 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 ben unearthed in the sx- savations for buildings on sites that hundreds of years ago were repositories for the dead of the ancient red man.
 T have now in my possession s4s perfect specimens of human skulls. says Mir. Jenkins. "They represent the hu- man of many ages, and I find them an interesting study indeed. How did como to indulge in such strange fad? We'll, in my youth I made study of anatomy. and became intensely inter- ested in the construction of the human frame. I gradually acquired a taste for this form of bric-a-brac.
 'T got my real start as . collector of skulls in 1887. During excavations in St. Joeeph on property in the possession of my father several specimens of an ancient race were exhumed. and straightway found a resting place upon . shelf in . cabinet in my home. l wis., ited the former homo of the mound builder in Colorado and New Mexico. where other specimens of tho ancient inhabitants were discovered. They dif- fer materially from the skulls found in St Joseph. Then visited tho holy land fn search of specimens. From thsrs I drifted to tho lands of the Ptolemies of Egypt. Here some valuable acquisi- tions wers made. have tramped over the Pampas of South America. the noun tains of Peru and Chili. and even pens- trated into the wildernesses of the Ama- xon, where. in deposits of earth and stone, I have brought to light perfect specimsns ef human skulls, represent ing periods which History does not chronicle.
 "In my experiments have found thsA some skulls take on . very beautiful polish, and must say that, under tho hand of a skilled artisan, they are made magnificent These specimens occupy cabinet by themselves. have . number of skulls taken from the wreck of tho Galveston storm. I 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 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 cane to havs them l do not care to say. However. money b g means of gratifying tho tastes of anyone who cares to make a collection of this kind. Because hsve acquired . liking for this work. spend much time turing the winter months wandering about between rows of grinning heaAA after the fashion of the grave digger in Hamlet. upon the brev- Ny of human life"