Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1920-08-05
The Cardiff Giant Hoax.

place a number Of years ago. The idea
Of creating a giant originated, accord
ing to q dispatch in the Boston Globe,
with a man named Hull, who confided
his plans to a friend. The efforts the
men put forth to accomplish their task
were indeed worthy of better cause
Michael Foley, who quarried the stone,
describes some of the difficulties.
eve succeeded" he says, ain detach-
ing from the bed, near Gypsum Creek,
fragment twelve feet long, four feet
wide and twenty-five inches thick. The
next problem was how to move this i'm.
nense rock; il was a matter of forty
miles from Gypsum Greek to the near.
est railway station. Three teamsters
who undertook the job gave up in
despair. Finally, with the aid of an
old ditching machine and a subsidy of
Sis to the new teamsters, we succeed
ed, at the end Of twenty days, in load
ing this seven thousand pounds Of
stone on railway fiat car and enjoyed
the satisfaction Of seeing it start, con-
signed to E. Burghardt, Chicago,
Illinois.
"Burghardt was in the game. The
block was removed to his barn, and q
German sculptor named Sale and an
other named Markham began the work
Of chiseling out the giant To give the
giant a water-worn appearance, Hull
filled a sponge with water and sand and
for weeks rubbed the gypsum until it
took on fair resemblance of antiqu-
ity. Pores in the giants skin were
made by pounding the image with
lead hammer filled with darning
! needles. With all this the statue still
looked fresh. So Hull washed the
surface with a gallon of ink, and the
whole was rewashed with sulphuric
acid"
This is as far as Foley's story car
rled the Cardiff giant Hull. was COM
PEELED TO take in new conspirators. He
turned to his wife's nephew, William
c. Newell, who lived in Cardiff, New
York, and the two selected a spot near
the barn where a we'll had been start
ed. There the statue was buried.
A year was allowed to pass, then the
discovery" was made. Acting I'M
instructions from Hull, Newell began
to dig his well. While excavating, one
mans shovel struck hard substance.
AS he cleared the earth away from
massive stone foot, another exclaim-
ed:
Jerusalem! It's a big Injun."
Then the entire country heard of the
wonder. The first men of scientific
reputation to examine the fossil were
four doctors, who pronounced the
statue petrifaction.
1t was not long before they sold the
statue for a sum reported as ranging
from $4,000 to $4,000. A Snowman
was placed in charge of the statue.
The Cardiff giant Immediately became
the sensation of the day. Scientific
men came to inspect it. Without ex-
ception, at first they pronounced it
n TdSG OF men
had been discovered.
The giant had cost Hull and his as
sociates $500. They had sold it
probably for $4,000. Thousands
were rushing in to see the wonder
full curio. The prehistoric man was
yielding revenue equal to seven per
cent interest on a S3,OOO,OOO invest
ment. Finally a voice was lifted in
protest, the voice Of Prof. o. C. Marsh
OF Yale. He argued that, although
gypsum is soluble in four hundred
parts of water, yet the surface of the
giant was smooth and little dissolved,
though surrounded by wet earth, thus
proving that the burial must have been
recent.
At last the confederates began to
rail- out. One had not received what
ne believed to be his share; another
had "Squealed." People who had
watched the suspicious strangers about
the gypsum beds and had seen the huge
olock start eastward put two and two
together
Hull had enriched himself. and
Foley had returned to Fort Dodge and
invested in Iowa real estate. All who
mad foisted the scheme on the public
were prospecting, and that was the main
thing which they cared for-the giant
might 60 smash