Middletown transcript., 1920-03-13
MARTYRST0FA|Ta
Hopi People Punished for E'''-
bracing Christianity.
Government EthnoIools& lnvestlane
Ing "Mound Of Death" Finds Evl-
dence Of Truth Of Story Long
Current In the Southwest

EthnOlOgically speaking, the Soutn-
west is a region Of many mysteries.
There, in fortified villages built ON
shelves of rock high up on canyon
walls, lived the cliff dwellers, nobody
knows how long ago. Perched on lofty
heights are ruined castles and towers.
Over the mesa tops are scattered the
remains of many ancient towns.
One Of these ruined towns Is rela-
lively recent. having been destroyed In
he year 100, and its history, fortu-
nately preserved, is most remarkable.
It was called Awatobi, and all that re-
mains Of it today is huge rubbish
heap, which is known to the Hopi In
dians as the Mound Of Death.
1t was a Hopi town, populous and
thriving, and was attacked and razed
by the Inhabitants of seven other
Pueblo villages, who killed all the men
and carried of the young women and
children.
DR.. ]. Walker Fewkes, government
ethnologist in chief, having learned the
story, undertook to excavate the mound
of rubbish, and thereby obtained ample
evidence Of the truth Of the tradition.
It seems that Awatobi was first to
welcome the early Spanish priests, and
to embrace Christianity. To this cir
circumstance the neighOring villages
attributed a failure of rain. The new
religion was suspected to be kind OF
sorcery. and it was decided that the
only remedy lay in wiping out the
offending town, together with its pop
ulation, which, according to the Span
ish mission records, numbered about
eight hundred souls.
From the viewpoint Of the Hopi
people to be sorcerer was and Is to-
day the worst of crimes. After all
the good folks have prayed all night
for rain a wizard may blow away the
clouds with a single puff Of his breath.
| Sickness is always due to s0rcery, and
persons suspected Of witchcraft are
even nowadays made away with IN
secret.
The attack was decided upon at q
secret meeting in the pueblo of Walpi.
A certain spring was appointed as the
meeting place for bands of warriors,
| each man carrying, besides his weap'
| ons, an unlighted torch and bundle
| Of greasewood. Before dawn they
marched silently up the mesa to the
east end of the doomed town, the gate
| Of which had been left open by agree
| ment with q traitorous Awatobi chief
tain.
Choice was made Of time when
most of Awatobi's warriors would be
engaged in rites of religious ceremo-
NAL in a large subterranean chamber
or "kiva."
The attacking force invaded the
town without causing alarm, surround
ed the kiva and plucked up the ladder
which afforded the only means Of exit
from it. Then they lighted their
torches and threw them down, together
with lighted bundles Of greasewood
The interior Of the underground cham
ber was thus converted into literal
furnace and, further to torment the
burning men, the ruthless witch hunt
ers tore from the nearby house walls
strings of red peppers that hung there
drying, crushed them In their hands
and flung them into the fire.
The story that led Doctor Fewkes
to undertake his inquiry and excava'
ton of the Mound Of Death was told
to him by an aged Indian woman
whose great-great- -great-grandmothel
was one of the survivors Of the mas
sacre. She was even able to point out
to him the approximate location Of th<
subterranean chamber In which thu
men Of Awatobi were burned to death