The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1905-11-01
OLDTIME MYSTERIES
SOME RIDDLES IN LIFE THAT HAVE
NEVER BEEN SOLVED.

Client PyEmies or Tennessee.
The public appetite Graves nothing
so much us n riddle, o secret to guess,
but nowadays every mans life is so
bare. SO exploited, and we live so much
nut OF doors from the cradle TO the
grave that very few facts or fancics
can be kept hidden. There were. bow.
ever. certain mysteries which during
the last century the American public
pondered and worried over which are
yet unsolved and, except by u few old
people. are almost forgotten.
One of these, perhaps the Oldest. is
the question whether beneath the At
lantic not far from the l.ahaiuns there
Is sunken continent known to the
Greeks us the lost Atlantis. II was
still talked Of Familiarity In the frst
half OF the last century. Seafaring
men declared that when the water was
calm and clear they had caught
,gllmpses OF ancient cities beneath. with
their gllttcring roofs and spires. and
that in certain conditions OF the atmos.
phere the tolllng of the bells could be
distinctly heard. Trcatises were writ.
ten by learned professors to prove the
probability of the legend. anu other
treatises. us learned and Vehement. to
don't and jecr ut 1t us an Idle fable,
Certain tiotsam and jctsan. which
was washed ashore after heavy storms
on the coasts of Georgia ana Florida
logs Of strange woods unknown TO this
generation, coins. bits Of carved marble
and beaten brass--was nscribed to the
long dead workmen OF Atlantis.
The lost colony is now known only
rs the subject of an ancient fable. but
years ago II was by most educated
people believed to be nm actual fact.
Another much discussed mystery
then was what had become OF the col
ony of civilized people who ut the time
Of tho settlement of the country lived
on the western coast Of Greenland.
Tint country is, as you will see by a
glance at the map. shaped something
like the half OF an egg. cut lengthwlse,
the fiat side upon the earth, the point
to the south. The rSunGel cc:.ter u u
-.
AS the centuries go by enormous
bodies of Ice slip from It into the sea
and, breaking OF. drift slowly down
along our COASTS. These are the ice
berss OF the Atlantic ocean. Now,
along the narrow slip Of hnbltablc land
which edges Greenland ON this side,
tradition says. once dwelt civilized
people who. both In knowledge and the
habits of life, We're far in advance of
the Laplanders.
They were well known to tile early
Danish nnvlgators, who made frequent
mention OF them In their logs and re.
ports. The question yet unanswered Is.
Where are they now? Tradition among
the Laplandcrs reports that the whole
colony two centuries ago emigrated In
Il body TO the eastern coast of Green
land. attempting to cross the hitherto
lmpenctrablc masses of Ice In the cen.
ter. No tldings ever have come bnck
from them. Some of the scientific men
who accompanied the Hayes cxpedi.
ton made this question n matter OF
special study. They reported that
doubt could hardly exist TINT these
people did once inhablt that part Of the
coast and that they now had utterly
vanished. II they had been swept
away by n pestilence their household
belongings at least would be left to tell
of them. but not u slur1 Of pottery.
not a single grave. remains TO show
that they ever lived. 1t was supposed
by the Danish missionaries that they
had persisted In the ranges OF fee
mountains. but among the Laplanders
there were traditions that they had
safely reached the western ,const and
settled there. now forming civilized
community. wholly isolated from the
rest of the world. One of Nansen's
voyages was, in fact. directed to TINT
coast In the hope of finding this col
ony. He was not able to rench the
northern part of the coast, and the
mystery Is therefore yet unsolvcd.
Another problem which pcrplexed the
last generation was the long extinct
pygmy race which centuries ago I'M
doubtedly inhabited the Tennessee
mountains. Legends among the In
dams told Of such a tribe Of dwarfs.
who were supposed to be Of more In.
telligence than the red men. But these
legends were very hazy. A burying
ground, however, actually was discov.
cred in the early part of the last cen
fury in which all of the skeletons were
Of pygmy proportions. Some OF them
were carried away to college museums.
But as far as I know no scientific in.
quiry has ever been directed to this
question.
Another curious matter which caused
much speculation in the early part OF
The last century was the fate of the
eolony Of French emigres who fed to