The daily sentinel., 1912-02-07
SKELETON Of A
CHILD IS FOUND
Grewsome Tragedy Reported From
the Uintah Reservation - Cedar
Thongs Wrapped About the
Neck of the Infant.

Is it a case of child murder? Did
the child wander away and perish?
Is the child of white parents or In
dians? Was it boy or a girl? Could
it have been a white child stolen by
Indians and destroyed on this lonely
cliff? who makes rope thongs of
twisted cedar bark? What is this
mystery?
Brush creek, in the vicinity of Ed
ward Brains ranch. near Vernal. on
the Uintah reservation, has furnished
a mystery that rivals the best of
them in point of tragic possibilities
and likelihood of never being unrav-
elled, says the Vernal Express. 1t
is the finding. last Saturday by Mr..
Brain and George McCarrell of
child's skeleton high up on the shelv-
ing cliffs above Brush creek, about
a mile from the Brian ranch aud not
far off the old lumber road. The
bleaching bones were partly covered
by rubbish dragged towards crevice
in the rocks by the rats. The cover
ing was removed and a survey of the
situation taken.
Save for tiny shreds of dried flesh
and skin on one side of the skull
and down toward the hip of the skel-
eton was completely bleached, bar
rem and disiointed. The left hand
and the left foot were missing. Not
sign of clothing of any description
not even trace of buttons or 9TH
er little unperishable parts of cloth
ing could be found in the search. 1t
appears from this that the child was
unclothed when its body came to that
spot
But the mystery deepens when it
| is observed that around the neck
bones is still wound the three coils
of a well preserved thong of cedar
bark. The bark rope is almost of a
half-inch thickness, made by twist
ing green bark into two strands and
| then twisting the two together, max
ing very strong cord Could it be
that the child was strangled to death i?
| Who can tell?
Only a little tuft of hair yet re-
mained clinging to the bleaching
skull. The hair is little less than
an inch long. giving rise to the notion
that it had been cut. If this is the
case the possibility of the child being
an Indian is quite unlikely and from
the redish brown cast of the hair the
possibility is further removed. Yet
the presence of the bark rope seems
to contradict the evidence of the hair.
The teeth which are firm set in the
skull seem to offer the nearest clew
to the solution of the mystery The
two front upper teeth had been shed
and to all appearances had been
grown about half in again. From
this the physicians argue that the
child was between and % years of
! age. Now if any child had been
lost, or had disappeared mysterious
ly, who was known to have been thus
marked. here is the place to begin
unravelling the story of this unfor-
tunate little one.
Mr.. Brain removed one coil of the
bark thong then the two men laid
the bones carefully ON the ledge and
built stone valut around them and
covered it over. The bark rope was
brought TO this office. On one sec
tion there appeared to be stains as
of blood.
1t is the intention of Sheriff Rich
ard Pope to go to Brush creek with
Mr.. Brain and make a careful inves-
tigation There is no telling how long
the remains have been there, and the
chances for solution of the mystery
seem very slender.