Newport daily independent., 1905-03-07
HUNTSHUMAN SKULLS
Peculiar Hobby Which Occupies
 Leisure Time of a Texan
Has Visited Many Lands and CwuA- tries in Search of the odd Curios and He Has an Intersst-
 ing Collection.

The following advertisement appeared in the newspapers of St Joseph. Mo-. fs- gently:
 "Wanted-Humar skulls! must be is good condition: will pay literally for nne specimens. Apply Hotel M. Charles w. Jenkins"
 Jenkins was a temporary resident or 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. Mr. 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 heen unearthed in the sx- eavations 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 Sls perfect specimens of human skulls. says Mr. Jenkins. "They represent the hu- man of many ages. and ind them an interesting study indeed. How did ! como to indulge in such . strange fad! We'll, in my youth made study ef anatomy. and became intensely intse- ested in the construction of the humas frame. I gradually acquired taste for this form of bric-a-brac.
 "I got my real start as . collector 0 skulls in 1887. During excavations h St. Joseph on property in tho possession q my father several specimens ef sn ancient race were exhumed. and straightway found resting place upoA . shelf in . cabinet in my home. vis- tied the former home of tho mound builder in Colorado and New Mexico. where other specimens of tho ancient inhabitants were discovered. They d1f- fer materially from the skulls found in Bt. Joseph. Then visited the holy land fn search of specimens. From thers drifted to the lands of tho Ptolemies ea Egypt. Here some valuable acquisi- tons were made. I have tramped over the Pampas of South America. the noun tains of Peru and Chilli. and even psne- tYated into the wildernesses of tho Ama- gon, where. in deposits of earth and stone, I have brought to light perfect specimens of humax skulls. represont- ing periods which History does not chronicle.
 Tn my experiments havs found tAal some skulls take on . very beautiful polish. and must say that, under the hand of . skilled artisan. they ars mads magnificent These specimens occupy . cabinet by themselves. have . numbes of skulls taken from tho wreck of tho Galveston storm. also have specimens from other disasters on this and othev continents. Five victims of tho Mont Pelee disaster arc represented in my collection. This business of collecting skulls Is 6 great aid in the study and re- tention of important facts in history. ! have in my possession the skulls of men 1t times prominent in the history of this nation. How came to have them [ do not care to say. However. money , a means Of gratifying the tastes of anyone who cares to make collection of this kind. Because havs acquired . liking for this work. spend much time during tho winter months wandering about between rows of grinning headA philisophizing. after tho fashion of ths grave digger in Hamlet, upon the brev- .ty of human life."