The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1904-12-22

MAN A FAKE
Figure Was Made Of Port
land Cement
MADE BY AN ANAT0MIST
Believed to Be Genuine, But Examina-
tion by Prof. Richardson by
Microscope Shows the
Fraud.


Prof c. II. Richardson Of Dartmouth
has made microscopical examination
Of the "petriiet Indian found in Wash
ington last summer and exhibited
throughout the state during the fall,
and has declared be relic to be fake.
He says:
~ The historical evidence. The pc
culiar body was brought to light July
l, 1904, by Willard clough, Of Washing
ton, Vt, within fifty feet Of his resi-
dence. The first unearthing was that Of
the right arm buried about four feet
deep beneath the roots Of huge birch
stump. The head was found beneath
the roots on the opposite side Of the
same stump and buried at greater
depth The body was located few days
later BY means of probing iron and
Immediately exhumed 1t was buried
about ten feet away from the head.
The legs and broken foot were found
about five feet from the same side Of
the stump where the right arm was
imbedded The swamp IL close 10 the
highway, within the village limits, and
hitherto has remained undisturbed.
There is nothing in the historical evil
dence to intimate q fraud.
- The anatomical evidence. The
head clearly marks type unknown by
ans people The forehead slopes back
rapidly and the cheek bones are high.
The position Of the optic nerve is recog-
nized BY many physicians, who have ex-
amined the body. The right arm IS dis
connected at the shoulder and the fist is
tightly clenched as if death occurred IN
stantIy when the arm was raised for a
blow The left arm Is closely knit to the
body as if it lay for centuries upon the
left side buried in the swamp. The
mammilIary development and the small
pelvic arch clearly betokens q woman.
Expert physicians agree that the body
represents that Of female. The legs
are broken of just below the thigh 50
that the fingers and thumb Of the left
hand are below the fracture and attached
to the left leg. The shape Of the knees
and ankles is likewise true to the natural
body in the same position. The body
could scarcely haze been fashioned by
any other than an anatomist. The
finder is not an anatomist, and upon the
whole the work seems too clever for q
fake.
20. The conclusive argument rests
upon the structure Of the body. Last
August, when | was called 20 see the
body, not a fragment could be secured
even for microscopic examination.
gave to the finder few statements bas-
ca upon the historical and anatomical
evidence alone, but guarded them by the
iutter absence of material or analysis
| ,tnese statements, grossly misrepresent-
ed, went everywhere. And then | I'M
sisted that must have some part Of tbs
body for examination. The head anc
right arm were consigned to me Noyem
her %. My chemical analysis reveal;
the material to be neat Portland cement
This / have verified BY ceyeral microsco
pieal thin sections The freshly broker
surfaces show fragments Of pine shay
ings thoroughly filed with resin an,
fresh as though cut from finished Ium
Der today, also fragments Of ash, pre-
lsumably from the slaves OF the barrel
in which the cement was stored Thu
right arn was broken at the wrist be
fore its consignment to me, but stlbse
qnent to its examination. ID make TIL
fresh fracture appear more natural,
coating Of light yellow paint was apple,
over the area that would have been oc
cupied BY the normal bone. The snrtac
of the body presented many warty pro
! tubelanccs, perfectly natural to long IN
terment. These also are Portland g
ment. The body was manufactured i
sections, evidently by casting, modcllinl
and scupturing The head vas neye
attached to The body, therefore neve
severed from it. The left arm wa
carved attached to the body and like tn
body coated over with a wash Of &C
ment. Tie broken foot, designed t
show long continued solution or dc
composition, results easily from molrc
inc tile plastic cement. The most cleN
er part Of it all Is the perfect form {
: the left leg.
This clever fake OF 1904 must n0'
lbe relegated to the category Of the Cai
diff Giant carved in gypsum and burie
in New York inls69; HulIs second fax,
made 81 clay and human bones, bake
in a furnace and buried in Colorado
the early 70's Ruddock's eiiigy Of G
ment found in Michigan in 1876; u
lpetrified man OF Bathurst, Austria, 1855
the murder at Pacific station, Ill, 1884
and the Rune Stone in southern Mich
4 gan, 1899 f"
Now TIE question IS who perpetrati
the fakes The facts regarding the fin
ing Of the body appear we'll estabiishe
There appears to be no fraud connects
with the men who dug 1t up and e