The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1909-05-09

Gnu VIII pdtlGEJly dWdlI the
/ ton" The "old fellow" had an undiS-
| turbed rest of about eleven months.
Newell, concluding to have another
we'll dug, set some men at work and
sat down in his armchair to read his
paper, and await developments. The
head we'll digger soon came rushing
| over, and said he had struck the
| biggest mans leg he ever saw. The
news of the great discovery spreading
there was such a rush to see 1T that
| Hull put a tent around the hole and
| charging so cents admission, took in
| eight hundred dollars day. Learned
men from all parts of this country
| and from Europe came to see 1t, and
| with hardly an exception were taken
\ in by the hoax One scientist urged
| Newell to dig his farm all over to find
other giants. Another learned man
predisposed to call it a hUmbug said:
THE first look at the statue dispels
| every thought of that nature, IT hav-
| ing the marks of the ages stamped
upon every limb and feature III
manner and with a distinctness which
no art can initiate. All ones feelings
| persuade one to accept it as a real
/ human being once instinct with life
and activity, but now a noble
| corpse"
Barnum Heard of Find.
Barnum. hearing of the find, hur-
ried up there and offered Hull 100000
| for the giant, as it lay in the grave
| Not getting it. he rushed back to New
| York and had several sham giants
made of papieT mache and placed
| them on exhibition, one IN Chicago,
one in Cincinnati and in other cities
at the same time. Each one was de-
clared to be the only genuine Cardiff
| tations.
Burkhardt went to see the one sent
to Chicago. expecting to see his ex-
humed work of art. Like others he
was taken in. He found hundreds of
people in a large hall listening to a
lecturer on the antiquity Of the giant
Asking the exhibitor how old he
really thought the figure was, the lee
turer replied that while some anti
quarians thought it was secretly
buried by the Jesuits some $50 years
before. TO him it proved the truth of
the bible where it said: There were
giants in those days"
Melted Over 100000.
The agreement made by Hull, as
Burkhardt informed the writer, was
that the net proceeds of the enterprise
should be divided, one third going to
Martin, one third to BUrkhardt and
our two men, Hull or Odds keeping
the balance The hoax is said TO have !
netted over $500, 900. Norman and |
SaIa had great expectations for some |
six months before they became salts |
fed they were not going to get their /
share. Meeting a reporter of the |
Evening Journal, in a saloon, they
told him they helped carve the giant |
in Burkhardt's barn at $40 North Clark |
street At once letters came from all /
parts of the country to BuTkhardt |
asking if he made the giant. Burk- /
hardt was a good German scholar |
but a poor English writer, and so the /
letters were turned over to me, and |
/ had a large correspondence with |
such men as Prof. Silliman, of Yale |
college. He wrote me that while the |
image was in New Haven some Chal-
deac letters were cut on its shoulder,
and the Hebrew professor being called |
on to translate them. said he had no
doubt the image came down from the
time of the Chaldeans.
A few days after the exposure a
fine looking man with small hand
satchel came into our Office and asked
if that was the Chicago Marble and
Granite Co. and if Edward BuTkhaTdt
was one of the firm. and if he made
the Cardiff giant. I told him such
were the facts He said he was sorry,
and that he was the mayor of SYRIA
cUse and as the giant was exhumed
so near that city the people there
got him to come on, hoping he would
find that our marble company and
BuTkhaTdt were all myth.
/ called UD BurkhaTdt from the
works and introduced him 10 the
mayor who did not seem to be per
fectIy satisfied and said if the giant
was made in the barn there must be
lots of chips there. To satisfy him
Burkhardt took him up there in our
buggy and raising a trip door in the
floor, let him fill his grip from the
chips that filled the receptacle for
offan.
The Barn Burned.
When the big fire occurred the
barn vanished and with it went all
the gypsum chips. 1t is quite pToba-
BILE that the only specimen chip left
at this late day can be found in my
cabinet of cUTiosities in DeFuniak.
After the exposure Barnum is said
to have sold his papieT mache giants
to circuses to be toted around the
country. The genuine CardIn giant.
when last heard from, was stored in a
barn in Connecticut, despoiled of its
fingers and toes by relic hunters.
II. B. Martin informed the writer
that he with difficulty secured a thou
sand dollars from the proceeds of the
hoax which but little more than paid
for the block, freight and teaming
BuTkhaTdt never expected the scheme
could be carried through successfully
and so was not disappointed with the
result. He was extremely fond of
joke, and the whole idea so appealed
IN his largo TgIU10 IF uiTth that he