Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-07
JEFFERSON WROTE
OF GIANT LION HERE
Basis of His Theory in 1746
h. Was Discovery sof
Bones of SIoth.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

A scientific paper written by the au-
thor of the Declaration of independence
in l746 has Just come to light in the
National Museum here, in which he
presents to the American Philosophical
society what he believed was convinc-
ing evidence of the existence OF these
unearthly creatures.
His argument presumably was con-
vincing to the society, which then In
cluded in its membership such men as
BENJAMIN Franklin and Joseph Prtestly.
Actually, according to DR.. j. w. Gldley,
associate curator of paleontology OF the
Smithsonian Institution, Jefferson had
made a momentous discovery which, II
he never had done anything else, would
have entitled him to fame. He had
found for the first time fossil bones OF
the great ground sloth, then extinct Tor
thousands of years, which was probably
the weirdst creature that ever roamed
over North America. 1t still bears the
name he gave it--Great Claw or me-
galonyx.
Bones Found in Cave.
While Jefferson's argument was fal-
lacious, DR.. Gidley says, he was one OF
the foremost natural scientists of his
day. From the description, he points
out. there can be no doubt that the
four bones and three claws mentioned
were such as would be instantly recog-
rized by a paleontologist of today as
those of Great Claw" They were sent
to Jefferson by friend who found them
In q cave in Greenbrier County, now q
part Of West Virginia. He measured
them and found that they were some
what like those Of lion, but were so
large that they could not belong TO any
lion known to science.
what has become Of Great Claw"
he wrote. do any wild animals OF the
first magnitude FIX their dwellings in
thickly inhabited country - such,
mean, as the elephant, rhinoceros, lion
and tiger? As far as my reading and
recollection serve me they do not. Az
RIGA is chiefly inhabited along the mar
gins Of its seas and rivers. The interior
desert is the domain of the elephant,
rhfnoceros, lion and tiger. Such indi-
viduals as have their hauntS near the
inhabited frontier enter 1t occasionally
and commit depredations when pressed
by hunger, but the mass Of the nation,
# I may use the term, never appear
within the habitations Of man nor are
within reach Of it.
when our settlers arrived here the
Indian population, below the falls OF
rivers. was about one-twentieth Of what
il is now In this state Of things an
animal resembling a hon appears TO
have been known even in the lower
country. The progress of increasing
population soon would have driven of
the larger animals, and the largest first.
Presume 1t Was Great Claw.
sTn the interior of our country there
s surely space and range enough Tor
elephants and lions, II in this climate
80 aW4G for q 44tT70ff 7g
and megalonyxes who may live there.
Our entire ignorance of the West and
Northwest and of its contents does not
authorize us to say what it does not
contain. Moreover, 1t Is fact well
known. and always susceptible Of verb
fication, that on a rock on the bank OF
the Kanahwa near its confluence with
the Ohio there are carvings OF many
animals of that country, and among
them one always considered a perfect
figure of a lion. These are so rudely
done as to leave no room for suspicion
Of foreign hand This could not have
been the smaller and mRneleSS lion OF
Mexico and Peru, because his want OF
name would not satisfy the figure. May
we not presume it to have been Great
Claw?
"Many traditions are in the posses
sion of our upper inhabitants which
but which have regained credit since
the discovery of these bones. There has
always been q story current that the
first company Of adventures who went
70 seek an estate in the county OF
Greenbrier on the night of their ar
rival were alarmed at their camp by
the terrible roaring OF some animal un-
known to them: that he went round
and round their camp; that at times
IL Xxrr, hal lie nf Gre
that their horses were 80 aghast with
fear that they crouched low on the
ground, and that their dogs crept in
among them, not daring to bark Their
fires. IL was thought. protected them
and the next morning they left the
country. This happened little mote
than 80 years ago.
"In the year. l765, George Wilson and
John Davies, having gone to hunt on
the Cheat River, branch Of the Me-
nongahela, heard one night at some dis
lance from the camp terrible roaring,
which became louder and louder as they
approached until they thought It re-
sefnbled thunder and even made the
earth tremble under them. The animal
prowled around for considerable time
during which their dogs, fierce on other
occasions, could not be excited from
their camp nor even encouraged 70
bark. About daylight they heard the
same sound repeated from the knob Of
n mountain about a mile of, and within
q minute it was answered by a similar
voice from q neighboring knob. These
circumstances multiply the positive re-
sembIances between this animal and a
Lion.
animal Has Existed"
sThe terror excited by these animals
IA not confined to brutes alone. A per-
son by the name of Draper had gone in
the year 1910 to hunt along the Ka-
nswfla. He had turned his horse loose
with a bell on ii and it had not got out
of his hearing when his attention was
attracted by a rapid ringing. Suspect
ing somebody might be trying to take
his horse, he started to return 70 him
and soon came in sight of an animal
of such enormous size that, although
one of our best huntSmen and marks
men, he Withdrew instantly and as ST.
lentIy as possible, checking and bring
ing of his dog. He could recall no
more of the animal than its terrific
bulk and that the general outlines were
those of the cat kind.
I'm fine, the bones exist. Therefore
the animal has existed. The movement
OF nature Is a never ending circle. The
animal species which has once been put
into a train Of motion is sim probably
moving in that train, for II one link Of
natures chain might be lost another
and another might be lost until the
whole system Of things might evanish
piecemeal.
eff this animal has once existed, II
As probable on this general view Of the
movements of nature that IT still exists
and this is rendered still more probable
BY the relations OF honest men, appro-
PIRATE to it and 1t alone. 1t would In
deed but be conformable to the ordinary
economy Of nature that she should OPP
pose sufiicieilt barriers to the too greai
multiplication OF so powerful 2 de.