The Colfax chronicle., 1904-06-11
LoNG-LosT lsRAELITEs.
Tribe of That Race Said to Have Been
Located in the Mountains Of
Central America.

While in Mexico City, during the win
ter, George w. Lininger, of Omaha, the
well-known art collector, who recently
returned from Mexico, made the ac-
quaintance of Col. ]. c. Tucker, former
United States consul to Martinique, who
related to him strange story OF race
of people who live in an underground
city in Central America, reports the
Omaha World-Herald.
InSome unknown way, he relates, Col.
Tucker received information about
race who live in cities cut out of the
rocks in the mountains of Central Amer
lea, in an out-of-the-way place, very
difficult to reach, and which no stranger
had visited before him and returned
alive He decided to investigate. After
reaching certain point Col. Tucker hao
to travel 800 miles through wild jungles,
carrying his provisions on pack mule,
and enduring many hardsbips on the
way. As he neared the hidden city his
every movement was watched and re-
ported to the high priest of the tribe
dwelling there, but no harm was offered
him. When, in the jungles, he shot
pair of lions which had been killing the
natives he did an act that turned out to
be the very thing that gave him their
friendship and protection.
He was welcomed by the high priest,
who spoke good English, and was shown
through their wonderful city, hewn out
of the solid granite rocks in the noun
tain side. To the uninitiated the surface
of the mountain gave no Chew to the city
concealed within it. 1t was entered by
secret passages, cunningly concealed by
natures handiwork, and which led to
large, commodious rooms, handsomely
furnished, mostly in old mahogany.
Passages led to hundreds of other
rooms, and to a large hall, in which the
strange people met and held meetings,
while smaller openings for ventilation
went upward, ending among the rocks
and jungles above, so arranged that the
rain could not enter.
The tradition among these curious
people was that they originally came
from a country far away, and that their
mission was to outwit their enemies,
which, in the beginning, pursued them.
At all entrances there were side rooms,
from which, at moments notice, dead
ly gases could be let loose upon any
hostile invaders who might enter, and
which would kill them instantly, while
by sliding doors of stone the gas would
be kept from entering the city.
These dwellers in the bosom of the
rocks are agriculturists, and cultivate
the valleys, raising corn, grain, fruits
and vegetables. They do not keep them
selves barred from the knowledge of the
world, but send their young men, silent
ly and secretly, to the big cities of the
world, who return with the information
obtained. Some of these men never get
back home, being slain en- route through
the dangerous jungles, which are in
tested with tribes who rob and kill.
The light of the sun, moon or stars
never enters their underground city, ex-
cept through certain openings by which
they study the mysteries of the night
skies, but they use electricity for light
ing purposes, a science they have learned
by keeping in touch with the outer
world through their young men.
Col. Tucker believes these people are
part of the lost tribe of Israel. He has
many old parchments which they gave
him which he has been unable to find any
one to decipher for him, but which he
hopes to have read by some one of the
great scholars of the world, when
the mysteries they contain in their
time-stained hieroglyphics will be made
plain, thus revealing to the world, per-
haps, the strangest story that ever
linked the dim past with the living pres
ent