The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1913-09-25
KNIFE BLADE WITH DATE
1857 ON III MISSING LINK

Observation-Disclosures H
j with more thought. MY msn looked at
him In arnazenlent.
Indian Spoke Welsh.
Here's something new n OF
them said 70 rne. Here's a Greek In
dian doing his best to speak Welsh
and he's doing pretty well at It too
II, myself. knew no Welsh, vet those
WelshIpcn and that Indian managed To
carry on a sort OF conversation. Their
pronunciation differed widely and the
red man knew comparatively few
words Of the Welsh tongue, but he
knew those few we'll and thoroughly.
Afterwards, he told me about It First
was the tradition, and 1t was the
same that l had heard among the
Arizona Indians 10 years before. There
was the coming OF a number OF white
men in a big canoe up the river. They
had been adopted into the different
tribes and finally the white blood en-
tireiy died out, They had promised the
indians that sometimes more white
men speaking the anne language
would come and had adjured the red
men to transmit a few words OF their
language, and their story. to these
words had been handed down from
generation to generation, as the
American red men have demonstrated
their ability to do, word for word. Ac-'
cording to the Creek chief, the coming
OF the white men was about 600 years
ago-soInetime about the year 1900.
Some years after this ] made in-
vestigations In Wales and found that
some time about the end of the Thir-
teenth century three shiploads OF
Welshmen had sailed away from that
lcountry for the west, seeking adyen-
ture toward the sunset. They never
returned. There Is nothing more prob
4 uhln IfhQr 3fhnfE ~ hnuA 81 fAannlAMA he why
heard Of the discoveries OF Lief Erick-
son. attempted to follow in his track,
but were blown southwards and into
the Gulf OF Mexico. From here they
entered the Mississippi and then sailed
up the Arkansas.
"But / had no proof. i had traditions
OF the Welshmen leaving Wales and
never returning. ! had traditions OF
white men coming from the east TO
these Indians. And / had found an
Indian who could speak Welsh, which
had been handed down from fatheSNto
son for 500 or 500 years.
Sulphur Springs. Ark. There Charles
III. HELLER, a druggist told Inc he had
an odd looking piece OF thick sulphur,
which he had taken from an Indian
mound a short time previous. He
showed 1t to me. 1t looked like a
knife blade. We scraped away the de-
4 P15Al "a ohApllhA vs. WAACAl "a Us GA #0A
inch thick on each side and there re-
NAMED the iron blade of In old knife.
Clearly cut on one side was the date
"f257." 1t was my missing link. =
from Investigations I had made, /
found that 500 or 700 years ago the
Welsh were the only people who made
iron implements and placed the date
thereon. This fact, the Welsh tradi-
tions OF the three ships which never
returned, the traditions Of the Arizona
Indians. those OF the Creeks, the Creek
chief who spoke the Welsh tongue, and
the old iron knife with the date, all
90 TO corroborate the story that
Welshmen beat Columbus to the great
discovery by something like 200 years"
Among all the queer implements and
relics Mr.. Barton. has picked up In his
30 years of archaeological research
among the Indians, he values the old
knife above all. In fact, he keeps the
old knife blade locked up in a fire.
proof safe and guards 1t as though it
were gold
It's worth far more than 50 much
! gold to me- he says.