El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-04-04
By DOROTHY 3. JOHNSTON.

s been all the wonderful carvings or
o. walls, facade interiors and columns
unless done by a magic hand, as Is
told Of the picture Of Guadalupe left
q on the apron Of Juan Diego
: The history Of the people is writ
5 ten in stone" said Mrs. James. And
, yet. forgotten, unknown None but the
? simplest characters in the carving
b gave been worked out-a few Of the
- numerals and day signs enough 70
, make us know that they, too, read the
stars. marked time, had their culture
who knows. If less than our OWN"
For years a member CT the Society
Of Americanistss composed Ct some l25
2 members formed OF one, two or three
representatives from the principal
universities and museums. TO study
the early civilizations archaeological
anthropOlogical and ungulstic), Mrs
James was to have given a paper on
1ucatan in London. in 1914, mad not
the war necessitated calling II off
She has made many expeditions with
other research workers sent out by
Harvard. the Smithsonian and MI
scum OF Natural History, in New York,
and made an important one Of her
own.
Il started out, not to find something
new under the sun, but some thing old ~
she naively said Having had reports
from Indians Of an island off the
] cOe st Of Campeche. and examining OBJ
] Jects brought, she started on her IN
usual voyage las far as known, no
/ student had visited it with an object
! Of research. had a vision Of seeing
/ high point Of land rise out OF the wa
] ter. some distance from land We fol-
Y lowed the coast, which / studied, ana
! when I could take my eyes from that,
II gazed into the water of the bay,
. where much of the time I could see the
: rock and coral formation and bright
q fish dOttinE about / somehow expect
: ed some city Of mystery 10 come into
view. for I never can get out Of my
mind Atlantis as reality AFTER
about four hours and seeing no island,
] I was surprised to hear the guide eX-
claim and point to what seemed only
more coast line and coming nearer,
saw a fringe Of cocOanut palms. When
I within a few hundred yards, we low
cred anchor. climbed into the ship
boat and was cared to the sand
] From the boat I had seen two large
pyramids Near one was the houses
I of the few who lived on the island
one long and low OF stone wnere
{ lived the mayor dOmo with his family
and q few huts for the workmen- We
had letters Of permission and the
mayor dOmO was very friendly and
disposed TO help in any way had
I been told that there was a great bury
4 ing ground and could not understand
why the dead should have been
brought from the mainland In places
the width Of the channel was only
a few hundred yards. The island
contained not more than 1000 acres
and part of the center was line al
most across like a swamp Evidences ]
OF ruins reached the waters edge on
all sides, but all were much destroyed I
since no one takes an interest IN pre- ]
serving or caring for these places I
At the bottom Of the largest mound |
I found the broken remains Of what
we call a stella the fragments OF
both top and bottom carved IN glyphs !
and human figures. but the center I
missing By adroit questions, found
that nine years before this had been
tumbIed down and just as If the island I
was not all stone q blast Of dynamite /
ad been placed in II TO break IL into I
nieces to get broken stone TO help i
build a wretched little prison In which |
D place drunken natives On its base
was an initial hieroglyphic- which II
rare to find From all l could find ]
he center perhaps contained a calen- /
dar which would have been or vast I
importance. However. 1 made many 1
notes, drawings and photographs /
rom which / had lantern plates made I
for this congress
The speaker went on TO relate how .
much Of her Is years work OF re- F
earch had to be left in the consulate .
when the disorders bro--e out and she
could not return for thems but LEFT !
Instructions for them to be insured 4
and sent After Is months OF waiting 4
and inquiry, she had a letter from an /
English sea captain. Boyde, saying the
vice consul had given him the PACK
age, saying il had no special value
and that she would call Tor it. after
keeping It a year, he was leaving the
sea permanently and mad opened the
package. Finding it cOnJa ned only
writing. films and pictures, he had
thrown it overheard Only the reali-
zation that her loss is small in com
carlson TO so much Of value being
destroyed in the world has recon
ciled her. Were conditions in Mex
leo different and world conditions
different. further work would have
been started in Mexico in the way OF
research and restoration OF some OF
the public buildings
Her account Of the dredging was
most interesting. the earth crust
leaving wells with drop OF 90 teet
to water and the water so feet deep
to the silt-the mud or sand deposit
is also some 90 feet IN
depth, making in all about $50 feet
At times Mrs. James could in her
dreams almost feel serself slipping
down into the depths. as the result
of her watching, hour after hour, the
various things brought out
Mrs W. s. Tilton, another charter
member present. talked informally OF
early FL Paso, when it was DOPE
village. and the girls attended the
Mesa school, while the boys were sent
to what is now the Elks' club loca-
ton; when the women walked through
sand to discuss the same SUBJECTS
that are coming up today, at the
Current Topics club" which met In
the room Of Judge Hunter, In the
county court house After holding
their meetings there for a year, the
club met at the home Of Mrs. Mary
Hamilton Mills, the first president
(from 1895 to $50. She moved from
The city about that time. and upon
her return, ten years later, the organ
ization had grown into a thriving
membership Of 100 or more. The
town was wide opens at the time,
said Mrs. Tilton, with two sets OI
peoDle-the gamblers and saloon peo-
pie, or the religious folks-and those
who started any measure for the pet
terment OF FL PasO were looked upon
as faddists. But the women found in
their club a center for child study
and social advantages"
Zach Lamar Cobb was present to
talk on the sale Of the third Liberty
bonds, and made a stirring, patriotic
address, brief and TO the point. In
part he said:
'.The heavy hand Of this war has
brought sorrow 10 my mother, in her
10th year no one can understand how
these mothers hearts are suffering
llllIll lHF.