Evening journal., 1906-10-31
INVESTIGATING
INDIAN MOUNDS
KiggleSWOrlh Inier-
eSted in Captain Riggs
discoveries

Joseph W.gglesworth, secretary Of
the Board of Health. is much interest
ed in the searches by Captain c. w.
Riggs in Missouri among the Indian
burial grounds there Mr.. Wiggles-
worth has assisted Captain Riggs in ex-
ploring may mounds and has photo
graphs OF some specimens obtained.
HIS collection at his home, No. S05
French street, is one Of the finest in
the East A special from Macon, No,
says of Captain Riggs:
Captain c. w. Riggs, known among
the Navajo Indians as Silver Hat, is
I'm Macon county investigating some
Indian burial mounds along the Charl-
ton bottoms. The captain has con-
ducted a number of extensive explor-
Eng expeditions among the homes of the
cliff dwellers in Colorado and New
Mexico and among the great Indian
mounds of the Mississippi Valley.
Most OF the specimens he has unearth-
ed during the last twenty-five years
are to be found in the art museums
OF America and England.
"A quiet game. this search for treas
ures OF the dead and gone" said Cap
tain Riggs, "but one that has a con-
stantly growing fascination for the stu
dent. After a man has found a basket
full of old Indian skulls and some stone
tomahawks he becomes a hopeless
crank Hell dig for hours under a
blistering sun to get a trace of a skel-
eton or a few arrow heads and exca-
vate more dirt than you could hire
him to remove on railroad grade for
$500
I'm my time I've resurrected 5000
skeletons. out of which were 200 IN
pretty fair shape. The skulls were al
most perfect. The biggest mound I
know Of is in Tennessee. Il covers
about forty acres and is pyramidal m
form. This seems to Indicate that the
primordlal people of America and the
ancient Egyptians had the same idea
for burying place. You cannot go at
an Indian mound with any certainty
of making valuable discoveries.
"The different tribesmen pursued
various plans for the distribution OF
their dead and Of their treasures. Some
had better knowledge Of pressrvatives
than others but little traces are left
Of the inferior tribes in their mounds
one Of the most curious and puzzling
finds I ever made was IN an Arkansas
mound. It consisted of four large vases
with exqu.sitely reproduced heads from
the Malay or japanese race. There
were trees on this mound 500 years
old beyond doubt. one Of the vase
had been broken by the roots of one
b OF these ancient trees.
CAS- soon as Indian and ancient relic.
J commanded a regular price on the mar
ket the bogus antique factories go
2 busy and they turned out some wonder
! ful ideas. I've seen alleged Indian Idol
3 that would scare the average red maj
2 into fits and cs'se HIM TO swear Of
b forever more. There is a smoothnes
} Of fin sh about the counterfeit stuff tina
! never fools the man who has .spaded VI
the real thing, but many people WI
s believe the dealer in bogus and turn
e down the genuine because OF its crud
Y appearance.
> New Mexico and Arizona yet one
] big possibilities for the explorer OF thi
s prehistoric. In the former the legend
e add the fascination OF gold and silve
e bullion buried IN stone vaults and cave
y by the ancients, but I've never fooled
! away any time on yarns Of that sort
( I'd go twenty-five miles farther an.
E day to develop the prospects for a batcl
Of good. healthy skeletons and n jol
lot of doubles gcared battle axes thar
J a castle full Of Spanish coin-there's
{ be more money i'm IT,"