191-3: Accounts of Giants in US Newspapers (Part 3)

This is in four parts.

1. Pre- 1870

2. 1870 - 1890

3. 1891 - 1910

4. 1911- 1922

Those that come from primary sources are marked with a star (*)

1891-1900

THE AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN, JUNE 1891 (reprinting news accounts of February 1891) ARCHAEOLOGICAL NOTES. VALUABLE ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIND IN AN ARIZONA VILLAGE. — Crittenden (Ari.) Letter in The Philadelphia Times: While removing earth for the foundation of the new hotel to be erected by Harmon & Brooks, of this city, there was discovered what seems to be the tomb of a king, though of what people it would doubtless puzzle an antiquarian to say. The workmen had penetrated, at some eight feet below the surface of the ground, what they took to be stone of a soft, friable nature, but which was evidently masonry of superior workmanship when they reached the tomb itself. This was composed of large square blocks of stone, which was identified as red or rose granite, and cemented together with such skill as to at first cause the whole, measuring 12 x 15 feet, to appear as a solid mass. The opening of this, while very difficult, as the use of powder was prohibited by Mr. Hendrickson, who, as a learned archaeologist, was placed in charge of the exhumation by the authorities, was accomplished by night, when the interest and curiosity of the party was so great the work was continued by lamp-light till dawn. The tomb when opened was found to contain a gigantic image of a man lying at full length and made of clay mixed with a sort of preparation which gives it a bright blue color and a slight elasticity, the whole appearing to have been subject to great heat. The image represents the naked figure, except for a very tight girdle about the waist, a pair of close-fitting sandals, and a crown on the head shaped very much like a bishop's miter, but topped with the head of a hawk or eagle. The features are roughly moulded, are of an imperious cast, and of a man in middle age, with a prominent nose and a very large mouth, but with cheek-bones so low as to preclude all idea that the original could have been an Indian. The hands, which are as small as a woman's and bear on the backs the head of the bird, as on the crown, are crossed on the breast and hold an image about three inches long of a squatting figure, probably that of a god. The feet are also crossed, the right presenting the peculiarity of possessing a sixth toe, which the sandal is cut to bring into prominence, as if the owner had prided himself on it. The hair of the image is dressed in thick curls on both sides of the head, reaching to the shoulders, and brought down to the brows over the forehead. Careful examination of this clay figure revealed that it was merely the elaborate coffin of the real body, and could be opened from the back. This was done with all possible care, so as not to disturb the remains within; but a few handsful of dust, dark brown and almost impalpable powder, is all that was left of the body. The crown, however, together with the girdle, the image of the god, and a large battle-axe with a blade of sharp glass or obsidian and a handle of petrified wood were found in the coffin. The crown is of thick red gold, carved with minute but well executed drawings representing battle scenes, triumphal marches and other pictures the meaning of which is somewhat misty, but in all the principal figure is that of a man with six toes on his right foot. The workmanship of the whole crown is very fine, and the bird's head on top is a masterpiece worthy of Cellini. It holds in its mouth a magnificent chalchuites or green diamond, valued by the Aztecs, which shows some attempts at lapidification. ​ The girdle found is composed of plates of gold, arranged by scales and very thin, so as to give with every movement of the wearer's body. On each of these plates, which is in shape a half ellipse, is engraved a figure or hieroglyphics, conveying, however, no hint of their meanings in their form. The image of what is, presumably, a god is made of clay combined with the preparation spoken of before, and also burnt until thoroughly hardened. It represents a male being seated on a pedestal in a squatting posture, its eyes squinting, and grinning in hideous mirth, while both hands are placed over the ears, as if to shut out sound. A peculiar thing about this image is that its hair is represented as hanging down its back in one long plait like a Chinaman's. The figure is hollow, but contained only a half a dozen small black pebbles, highly polished, and a somewhat larger stone of a dull gray hue. The coffin and these relics are now on exhibition at the court house, and are to be donated to the State Museum of History and Archaeology at Tuscon. No clue of any value as to what race the remains are to be ascribed can be found, but it is probable that it was one antedating the Aztlan and even the Mound-builders, and superior to both in knowledge of masonry, sculpture and the working of metal.

ST. PAUL DAILY GLOBE, FEBRUARY 24, 1891 PETRIFIED GIANT DISCOVERY OF A BODY WITH LEGS EIGHT FEET IN LENGTH HELENA, MT, Feb 23 – Vital Jarcot, a half-breed, who carries mail between Ft. McGinnis and Rocky Point, brings the news of a discovery of the petrified remains of a giant in the badlands of Choteau county, a few miles below the mouth of the Mussel Shell River. The discovery was made by Lata Dona, another half-breed, who started off to find a purchaser for his curiosity before Jarcot could get a complete description. The remains were not complete, showing the petrifaction had only taken place in a portion of the body, while the remainder had followed the course of nature and returned to dust. One leg was 8 feet long, the thigh being about 4 feet. A rib found measured 2½ feet. Petrifaction is no unusual thing in the badlands of Montana and the Dakotas. Wood in that state is frequently found. The petrified body of an Indian was found in North Dakota about a year ago. Jarcot, who brings the story was perfectly sober.

* THE NEW YORK TIMES, JULY 5, 1891 MR. JEFFERSON’S CYCLOPS. A GIANT SKELETON UNEARTHED AT BUZZARD’S BAY BUZZARD’S BAY, Mass., July 4.—Joseph Jefferson, the actor, has made an astonishing find on the Summer place which he has purchased here near that of ex-President Cleveland. In laying out the grounds and making alterations it became necessary to remove a sandhill of large size. The workmen, while doing this, found the skeleton of a man that filled them with astonishment from its great size. When an attempt was made to lift up the skeleton it crumbled away, all except the skull. A workman lay down by the side of it, however, and it was estimated that it must have belonged to a man at least 6 feet 5 or 6 inches in height. The most peculiar thing was brought to light, however, when the skull was taken to Mr. Jefferson and by him examined. It was like ordinary skulls, only larger, except that it had so far as could be seen, no place where the eyes had been. There was one hole in the center of the forehead that might have once served for one eye. This led Mr. Jefferson to believe that he had, perhaps, discovered the skeleton of a Cyclops. He said to Mr. Booth, who was paying him a visit, when he saw the wonderful skull, that he and his brother actor had a chance at hand to play “Hamlet” with a skull such as it had never been played with before. All the scientific gentlemen in the neighborhood have been unable to give an explanation of the skull as were Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Booth. Mr. Jefferson will no doubt be grateful to receive suggestions from men of science that may throw light on the matter.

NEW YORK SUN, AUGUST 27, 1891 GIANT SKELETON FOUND IN UTAH The gigantic skeleton of a man, measuring 8 feet 6 inches in height, was found near the Jordan River just outside Salt Lake City, last week. The find was made by a workman who was digging an irrigation ditch. The skull was uncovered at a depth of eight feet from the surface of the ground and the skeleton was standing bolt upright. The workmen had to dig down nine feet in order to exhume it. The bones were much decayed and crumbled at the slightest touch. They were put together with great care and the skeleton was found to measure 8 feet 6 inches in height: the skull measured 11 inches in diameter and the feet 19 inches long. A copper chain, to which was attached three medallions covered with curious hieroglyphics, was found around the neck of the skeleton and near it were found a stone hammer, some pieces of pottery, an arrowhead, and some copper medals. Archaeologists believe that the original owner of the skeleton belonged to the race of mound builders.

BURLINGTON, IOWA, HAWK EYE, SEPTEMBER 1, 1891 PERFECT GIANT SKELETON FOUND No little excitement has been occasioned by the discovery on a farm near Carthage of several skeletons in a mound that are doubtless those of prehistoric people. In regard to this historic find the Carthage Republican newspaper will publish the following. The Sweney Farm Mounds, located near the south line of the farm quarter, on Section Five, Carthage Township, have been a familiar landmark to the oldest citizens since, and the quarter was entered by Samuels in 1836, or thereabouts. Last Saturday afternoon the new owner of the Sweney Farm Indian Mounds was plowing on one of his mounds when he hit a series of sandstone blocks. On the removal of several sandstone rocks embedded in the ground, the owner Mr. Felt procured a spade and proceeded to dig out the rocks with some difficulty. On the removal of these rocks there was revealed an almost perfect skeleton of a man of very large size. The authorities of Carthage College have secured permission to investigate the find to its fullest extent and Rev. Dr. Stephen D. Peet has been notified.

CENTRALIA, OHIO, ENTERPRISE, NOVEMBER 21, 1891 WORLD’S FAIR DIG LEADS TO GIANT MONARCH GIGANTIC SKELETON, EVIDENTLY OF A PREHISTORIC MONARCH, EXHUMED IN OHIO Chillicothe, Ohio: Warren K. Morehead and Dr. Cresson, who have been prosecuting excavations here for the past two months in the interest of the World’s Fair, have just made one of the richest finds of the century in the way of prehistoric remains. Those gentlemen have confined their excavation to the Hopewell Farm, seven miles from here, upon which are located some twenty-odd Indian mounds. On Saturday, they were at work on a mound 500 feet long, 200 feet wide and 28 feet high. At the depth of 14 feet, near the center of the mound, they exhumed the massive skeleton of a man encased in copper armor. The head was covered in an oval-shaped copper cap, the jaws had copper mouldings, the arms were dressed in copper, while copper plates covered the chest and stomach and on each side of the head, on protruding sticks were wooden antlers ornamented with copper. The mouth was stuffed with genuine pearls of immense size, but much decayed. Around the neck was a necklace of bear’s teeth set with pearls. At the side of the male skeleton was also found a female skeleton, the two being supposed to be man and wife. Mr. Morehead and Mr. Cresson believe they have at last found the “King of the Mound Builders.”

ARIZONA REPUBLICAN, FEBRUARY 27, 1892 THERE WERE GIANTS IN THOSE DAYS Wheeling, W. Va., – While digging a grave on Trace Fork, Lincoln county, a few days ago, the bones of a human being of gigantic stature and proportions were exhumed. The skeleton is in a good state of preservation and the outlines of the frame sufficiently defined to determine that the stature of the person must have been nine or ten feet. The skull and other bones also indicate prodigious size. No one now living has any knowledge of the grave or its occupant, and all indications point to its belonging to some prehistoric race of giants contemporary with Mastodons, fossil remains of which have been found in many parts of the country.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 1892 [date unknown] HUNDREDS OF BURIALS Near Carthage, Illinois, about one year ago, a mound was plowed up and the bones, principally the skulls of human beings, were found in sufficient quantities to warrant the conclusion that hundreds of people had been buried there. From measurements taken of some of the skulls and principal bones, it was decided that the persons buried were of a race of giants. Some of the femur bones measured 19¼ inches, and the measurements of the skulls and other bones indicated that these people must have attained an average of seven to eight feet in height.

* THE PITTSBURGH DISPATCH, AUGUST 23, 1892 TWO GIANT HUMAN SKELETONS FOUND. BEAVER FALLS, Aug. 22.—[Special]—Workmen, while digging a ditch from the new shovel works to the river at Allquippa to-day, unearthed the remains of two skeletons. They are of gigantic size, and are supposed to be the remains of two Indians. They have been in the ground for many years, as the larger bones and skull only remain.

* THE SUN, DECEMBER 8, 1893 9 FOOT MUMMY DISCOVERED IN PENNSYLVANIA BURIAL MOUND Dr W. J. Holland, curator of the Carnegie museum, Pittsburg and his assistant, Dr. Peterson, a few days ago opened up a mound of the ancient race that inhabited this section and secured the skeleton of a man who when in the flesh was between eight and nine feet in height, says a Greensburg (Pa.) dispatch to the Philadelphia Inquirer. This mound which was originally about 100 feet longer and more than 12 feet high has been somewhat worn down by time. It is on the J. R. Secrist farm in South Huntington township. This farm has been in the Secrist name for more than a century. The most interesting feature in the recent excavation was the mummified torso of the human body, which the experts figured was laid to rest at least 400 years ago. Portions of the bones dug up and the bones in the legs, Prof, Peterson declares are those of a person between eight and nine feet in height. The scientists figure that that this skeleton was the framework of a person of the prehistoric race that inhabited this section before the American Indians. The torso and the portions of the big skeleton were shipped to the Carnegie museum. Drs. Holland and Peterson supervised the exploration on the Secrist mound with the greatest of care. The curators believe the man whose skeleton they secured belonged to the mound builders class.

*THE NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 5, 1894 GIANTS OF OTHER DAYS. Recent Discoveries near Serpent Mound, Ohio From the Indianapolis Journal. Farmer Warren Cowen of Hilsborough, Ohio, while fox hunting recently discovered several ancient graves. They were situated upon a high point of land in Highland County, Ohio, about a mile from the famous Serpent Mound, where Prof. Putnam of Harvard made interesting discoveries. As soon as the weather permitted, Cowen excavated several of these graves. The graves were made of large limestone slabs, two and a half to three feet in length and a foot wide. These were set on edge about a foot apart. Similar slabs covered the graves. A single one somewhat larger was at the head and another at the foot. The top of the grave was two feet below the present surface. Upon opening one of the graves a skeleton of upwards of six feet was brought to light. There were a number of stone hatchets, beads, and ornaments of peculiar workmanship near the right arm. Several large flint spear and arrow heads among the ribs gave evidence that the warrior had died in battle. In another grave was the skeleton of a man equally large. The right leg had been broken during life, and the bones had grown together. The protuberance at the point of union was as large as an egg, and the limb was bent like a bow. At the feet lay the skull of some enemy or slave. Several pipes and pendants were near the shoulders. In other graves, Cowen made equally interesting finds. It seems that the region was populated by a fairly intelligent people, and that the serpent mound was an object of worship. Near the graves is a large field in which broken implements, fragments of pottery, and burned stones give evidence of a prehistoric village.

OELWEIN REGISTER, NOVEMBER 8, 1894 GIANTS OF PREHISTORIC FRANCE In a prehistoric cemetery recently uncovered in Montpellier, France, while workmen were excavating a waterworks reservoir, human skulls were found measuring 28, 31 and 32 inches in circumference. The bones which were found with the skulls were also of gigantic proportions. These relics were sent to the Paris academy, and a learned "savant," who lectured on the find, says that they belonged to a race of men between 10 and 15 feet in height.

THE WORLD, OCTOBER 7, 1895 BIGGEST GIANT EVER KNOWN Nine Feet High and Probably a California Indian Measurement Well Authentiated Other Big Men and Women of Fact and Fable Who Are Famous Types if Giantism

The corpse of the biggest man that ever lived has been dug up near San Diego California. At all events there is no satisfactory read in ancient or modern history of any human being nearly so tall. The mummy--for in such a condition the remains were found--is that of a person would have been about nine feet high in life. This makes allowances for the shrinkage, which may be pretty closely calculated. As to the accuracy in the estimate there can no question, as the cadaver has been carefully inspected and measured by Prof. Thomas Wilson, Curator of the Department of Prehistoric Anthropology in the Smithsonian Institution, and by other scientists. The tapeline even now registers the length from heel to top of the head at eight feet four inches. The mummy is that of an Indian and is almost certainly prehistoric, though its age cannot be determined with any sort of accuracy. Historical records of the part of California where it was found go back for at least 250 years, and they make no mention of any man of gigantic stature. How much older the body may be must be left open to conjecture. Its preservation, its preservation is no matter of surprise, in that arid region the atmospheric conditions are such that a corpse buried in the dry season might very well become perfectly desiccated before the arrival of the rains, and thus be rendered permanently proof against decay. The body was found in a cave by a party of prospectors. Over the head are the remnants of a leather hood. The man was well advanced in years. It has been stated that the man must have surpassed in height any giant of whom there is an historical record. This is unquestionably true so far as the last two centuries are concerned, and accounts of older dates are not well authenticated. Indeed they grow more and more apocryphal as distant in time increases. [...]

​* THE NEW YORK JOURNAL, AUGUST 23, 1896 IS THIS THE ANCESTOR OF THE AMERICAN RACE? Discovery of an Ancient Giant's Footprint in British Columbia Raises an Interesting Question. Dispatches from Victoria, British Columbia, announce the discovery of a series of gigantic footprints in that colony. They are apparently made by a human being, and, if so, It is prima facie evidence of the existence of a race of prehistoric giants on the Pacific coast. The Sunday Journal has made telegraphic inquiries concerning the discovery, and has obtained many additional details. No doubt exists in the minds of those who have seen the Impressions that they are of human making, but there is as yet no reliable scientific verdict on the subject. The Provincial History Society has already begun an Investigation. In any case the discovery is one of great interest. It will probably arouse a sharp discussion among archaeologists. If the prints are proved to the satisfaction of the investigators to be those of a living creature, the question will remain to be decided whether It was human or not. Anything concerning the early history of the human race arouses great and natural curiosity. One would like to know whether his prehistoric ancestors were great and terrible creatures or small and apelike ones. If they were small how could they have lived almost unarmed among the huge and fierce beasts which then abounded on the earth. If there are pigmies to-day, compared to whom men of the bigger races are giants, why should there not have lived thousands of years ago giants compared to whom the biggest men to-day are pigmies? Man, the last comer on the earth, is the animal concerning whose early history least is known. The natural history of some animals can be traced for countless ages, but the bones-of man are very perishable and are remarkable if they have an antiquity of two thousand years. For these and many other reasons the report from British Columbia deserves all possible attention. The footprints were found on the island of Victoria, near the town of Quatsino, on the west coast. Their discoverer was John L. Leason, a storekeeper of the town, and a man of intelligence. He reported his find to Captain Foot, of the steamer Mischief, who repeated his account to the members of the Provincial History Society. They were satisfied of its interest and importance, and a party was sent out to make an investigation. It appears that Leason was walking at some distance from the town when his curiosity was aroused by a strange depression in a large flat rock that lay before him. He was at the time at the foot of a mountain. The depression at once suggested a human foot, but it was of enormous size. There was a well marked hollow where the heel would have been, and a very faint depression indicated the arch of the foot. The ball of the big toe and the rest of the forward part of the foot were plainly to be seen. It is to be remembered that no other animal has an arched foot like that of man. Leason immediately proceeded to measure the print, and found that it was twenty nine Inches in length. Its greatest depth was four Inches. Fascinated by his discovery, he carefully examined the vicinity. At first he saw nothing which he could connect with the print, but after a few minutes he 'came upon another, almost identical. It was nine feet away from the first. This apparently was the length of the stride, which the giant had been in the habit of taking. Following the direction indicated by these two prints, Leason found a number of others. They came to an end abruptly, which was not surprising, for their surroundings must have undergone tremendous changes since they were made. The mountain itself may have come into existence in that time. It is not surprising that footprints should have been preserved for so many ages. They may have been made in soft mud, which subsequently hardened and was then burled in the earth by volcanic action, and there turned Into stone and preserved from injury until another volcanic disturbance brought them to daylight again. A large part of the knowledge of animals of early geological periods has been obtained from imprints left by them in this way. Leason, it Is said, has already set to work to chisel out the first footprint which he found. He intends to insure public recognition as its discoverer. The existence of prehistoric giants on this continent has already been the subject of scientific discussion. The most important and interesting discovery tending to prove their existence was that of the Carson footprints. In 1868 Warden Batterman, of the Nevada Penitentiary, while making excavations for the jail in a big bank of clay and metamorphite, came across certain tracks which were said by local scientists to be those of an extinct order of wading fowl. The next discovery was at a level of sixteen feet below the surface, and consisted of the bones of a mastodon, most of which crumbled to dust on exposure to air, but some of which have been preserved. Next came the uncovering of footprints about which there was considerably more interest and discussion. All in all, there were hundreds of them, in parallel lines and crossing each other; and in shape, though certainly not in size, they looked like the imprints of human feet made in the soft clay many thousands of years earlier in the world's history and preserved by the superincumbent metamorphite rock. By actual measurement the impressions were found to range from eighteen to twenty-one inches in length. The news of the uncovering of these gigantic footprints brought all the wise men of the West to Carson. With their advent came a bitter discussion as to the character of the track-makers. Professor Le Conte declared that the tracks were those of the great sloth, an arboreal monster which used to roam the Nevada wilds when they had forests instead of alkali wastes and sage brush. Professor Harkness, on the other hand, was of the opinion that the footprints were those of a tribe of prehistoric men, and that their frequency in this locality showed that the old, old clay beds must have been a highway for the giants of a neolithic age. Subsequent discoveries give a decided touch of realism to this hypothesis. As the excavations went on other and still more gigantic footprints were discovered. These were of the mammoth whose bones had already been found, and about these mastodonic tracks those of the human-like character seemed to press. As there had been no discussion concerning the contemporaneous character of the tracks, it would follow, therefore, either that the sloths had held close and numerous companionship with the mammoth, against which there is the burden of natural history proof, or that the stone men of the Nevada plain had been tracking down the gigantic beast to give him battle for food and had come upon their quarry here. The bones, despite their condition of decay, had given a fair idea of the huge bulbs of the mammoth, but these spoor furnished an object lesson of bulbs that was even more powerful. The prints were from twenty-nine to thirty-four inches in diameter—the feet of an African elephant measuring from twelve to sixteen inches in diameter—and where the great, hairy pachyderm had trodden the clay had risen in ridges a foot high. Here, then, the tree or cave men, with their stone axes or obsidian-tipped arrows, had brought the mastodon to bay, and it would not need a great flight of the imagination to see the conflict between the men and beast. Nor, with the bones in such near neighborhood, would it need very much more imagination to see how the battle ended. A strange addition to the actual realism of the scene is furnished by the “testimony of the rocks themselves.” Somewhat ahead of the mass of tracks around the centre of the hunting scene are found other prints of the big wading birds before alluded to. These show how the long-legged hunters of the pool first ran swiftly from the scene, and then, from the gradual shortening and deepening of the claw marks, how the big birds left the earth and took wing, frightened from the salt marshes where they had been feeding by the rush and yells of the stone men and the trumpeting of the hunted mastodon. Man, when he appeared on the earth, had a great many unpleasant neighbors, and had he been the size indicated by the British Colombian, footprint, he would have had plenty of opportunity to exercise his powers in combat. Among the animals then living were the hairy mammoth, which was much larger than the elephant, the woolly rhineoceros, the giant hippopotamus, as well as tigers, hyenas and bears of great size and ferocity. The climate of the whole world was much colder, for the woolly pachyderms extended as far as the south of France. A remark able similarity between the weapons and implements of primitive man has been noted all over the world. The stone hammers, axes and so forth are alike in Europe, Asia and America. From the remains of men of the stone age found in France it is concluded that they had massive bones, long and flat feet, comparatively short arms and long forearms, with powerful muscles, greatly developed jaws, widely opened nostrils and were of unbridled passions. Professor Broca found the thigh bones in their width approaching those of the highest ape and a remarkable transverse flattening of the tibia. The ascending branch of the lower jaw was very wide, and the cranial capacity equal to that of high races of the present day. Another archaeologist, M. Lartet, says that the man of the stone age lived without fruits, was essentially preduceous and carnivorous, an eater of raw flesh and a cannibal. There is no scientific evidence to disprove the theory that gigantic races of men lived on the earth in the days of its infancy. The traditions of the most ancient of civilized peoples contain strong testimony that there were such races.

How the Prehistoric Man Would Look To-Day If Constructed By an Ethnologist.

​DR. BINION TELLS HOW TO BUILD A PREHISTORIC GIANT. It Is easy to reconstruct from the footprint of this prehistoric man his entire form, according to the proportions of a modern man. An ordinary man six feet high has a foot about twelve inches in length. A man with a foot twenty-nine Inches long would be about two and a half times as tall, or between seventeen and eighteen feet high. To the man six feet high a weight of 200 pounds may be allowed. Two and a half times that would be 500 pounds. Add to this one-third for a proportionate increase in all directions and you have a total of 660 pounds. That would be the approximate weight of our prehistoric man. According to the same system of reckoning he would have a brain weighing 125 ounces. That would give him large thinking powers. He would be about one hundred inches round the chest, and would have biceps eighteen inches in circumference. Corbett and Sullivan would be ridiculous pigmies compared to him. The average man's stride in walking is two feet. This prehistoric man would take five feet. A very fast professional runner can cover in the neighborhood of a mile in five minutes. The giant would perhaps be able to go two and a half miles in five minutes, but many considerations enter into this question. He would have to overcome a great deal of friction. His capacity for eating would be tremendous. He could drink a gallon of wine and eat a whole sheep at a meal. The prehistoric people, however, did not eat as regularly as we do. They ate all they could get when they got it. They were great gourmands and very carniverous, mighty eaters of flesh and fish. This giant would doubtless have needed ten pounds of meat in a day. If he understood the art of brewing he would have been able to drink a keg of beer.

If he were as powerful as Sandow, in proportion to his size, he could have carried a bull under each arm. He could have broken in any modern doorway, and it would have required six or seven of the strongest and most courageous policemen to arrest him. It is perhaps idle to base speculations on his strength on that of a modern man. It would probably be far greater in proportion to his size. The chimpanzee, which is somewhat smaller than a man, can twist a gunbarrel with its hands, and is stronger than two or three men. It is reasonable to suppose that a prehistoric man, who lived almost as a wild animal, would have a strength proportionate to that of an ape. In that case the giant would have had a truly fearful strength. It is curious to note that legends of races of giants have been more or less accepted in all ages. In the Bible are mentioned the Anakimites, the last of whom, Og, the King of Bashan, was slain by Moses. Then there were the Cyclops, of Greek mythology. Dr. Schliemann has discovered remains of gigantic buildings which lead him to believe in the actual existence of a Cyclopean race. S. A. BINION, PH. D.

MAYSVILLE, KENTUCKY PUBLIC LEDGER, MAY 31, 1897 GIANT SKELETONS FOUND ​CHILLECOTHE, O., May 31. – Ten skeletons were found in two mounds by Dr. Loveberry, curator of the Ohio State University Museum, one that of a giant fully eight feet tall. It is the most notable find yet.

SYRACUSE DAILY STANDARD, JULY 23, 1897 HUNDREDS OF MOUNDS, EMBALMED NINE-FOOT GIANT, AND DAMS While men were excavating with a steam shovel near Mora, Minnesota, they found an old copper spear with a point measuring 10 inches in length and tapering to a very fine and tempered point. The weapon shows the maker to have been an adept in working copper metal. Archaeologists believe that at some prehistoric time the country surrounding Mora was densely inhabited by a race of people who were much further advanced in civilization than the Indians. The many mounds around Fish Lake show that a mighty race of people lies slumbering there, whose history is as yet unwritten—from the mounds of earth, which were used as sepultures for their dead, and which demonstrate beyond a doubt that they were a numerous as well as powerful people.

BALTIMORE AMERICAN, NOVEMBER 15, 1897 BONES OF GIANT INDIANS FOUND IN MARYLAND PREHISTORIC MEN SEVEN FEET TALL WHO ONCE LIVED IN WHAT IS MARYLAND There has just been received at the Maryland Academy of Sciences, the skeleton of an Indian seven feet tall. It was discovered near Antietam. There are now skeletons of three powerful Indians at the Academy who at one time in their wildness roamed over the state of Maryland armed with such instruments as nature gave them or that their limited skill taught them to make. Two of these skeletons belonged to individuals evidently of gigantic size. The vertebrae and bones of the legs are nearly as thick as those of a horse and the length of the long bones exceptional. The skulls are of fine proportions, ample and with walls of moderate thickness and of great strength and stiffened beyond with a powerful occipital ridge. The curves of the forehead are moderate and not retreating, suggesting intelligence and connected with jaws of moderate development. The locality from which these skeletons came is in Frederick County, near Antietam Creek. It was formerly supposed to have been the battleground of two tribes of Indians: the Catawbas and the Delawares. Before the coming of the white man, this site was occupied as a village by Indians of great stature, some of them six-and-a-half to seven feet in height.

* THE NEW YORK TIMES, DECEMBER 20, 1897 WISCONSIN MOUND OPENED Skeleton Found of a Man Over Nine Feet High with an Enormous Skull. MAPLE CREEK, Wis., Dec. 19.—One of the three recently discovered mounds in this town has been opened. In it was found the skeleton of a man of gigantic size. The bones measured from head to foot over nine feet and were in a fair state of preservation. The skull was as large as a half bushel measure. Some finely tempered rods of copper and other relics were lying near the bones. The mound from which these relics were taken is ten feet height and thirty feet long, and varies from six to eight feet in width. The two mounds of lesser size will be excavated soon.

OHIO SCIENCE ANNUAL, 1898 GIANT EIGHT FEET, SEVEN INCHES TALL UNEARTHED A rare archaeological discovery has been made near Reinersville in Morgan County, Ohio. A small knoll, which had always been supposed to be the result of an uprooted tree, was opened recently and discovered to be the work of mound builders. Just below the surrounding surface, a layer of boulders and pebbles was found. Directly underneath this was found the skeleton of a giant 8 feet, 7 inches in height. Surrounding the skeleton were bone and stone implements, stone hatchets, and other characteristics of the mound builders. The discovery is considered by the scientists as one of the most important ever made in Ohio. The skeleton is now in the possession of a Reinersville collector.

KEWANNA HERALD, AUGUST 18, 1898 PLOWED UP AN INDIAN For two centuries, at least, the body has lain crumbling away to mother earth. Who can speak the weal and woe, the heart ache and joy thus represented? It is like a breeze from another world, and life seems fleeting faster still as one gazes on the remains of a once glorious union, now silent evermore. SKELETON INDIAN BRAVE FOUND NEAR SHADY DELL The finding of arrowheads and stone axes that were used by the roaming Indians of other days is a common enough occurrence, but this week there was disinterred the bones of one of these ancient inhabitants, which has made it the talk of the community. Charley Dukes, on the old family farm near Shady Dell School House, while plowing near a large, old oak stump, the tree of which was cut down over forty years ago, turned up the skeleton of a giant of the Indian occupation of this country. For years, two large rocks in the field, which had the appearance of being perfectly placed, have been the wonder of the Dukes family, but now they find that the mound in which the bones were found is directly on the line between these stones, designating, therefore, the place of burial like our tombstones of today. The bones are those of a large person, although the two centuries of summer and winter have dealt severely with them. The remains show parts of the femur, tibia, innominate, phalanges, and several face bones including some very well-preserved teeth. MANY SKELETON OF AN EXTINCT INDIAN RACE UNEARTHED IN THE HOOSIER STATE A huge gravel pit has been opened at Whitlock, Indiana. Soon after the excavating began a skeleton was found and as the pit widened other skeletons were unearthed until at least thirty graves had been opened and many skeletons brought to light, evidently the remains of an Indian tribe. One skeleton was found beneath a large stump, and another was found twelve feet underground. The graves appear in regular order, and the occupants were buried in a sitting posture. In one grave three skeletons, supposed to be those of a woman and two children, were found. The other day the largest specimen was unearthed, the body of a person who in life must have been a giant. A peculiarity of the skeletons is that the teeth are nearly all in a perfect state of preservation. In one grave beside the human skeletons was that of a dog, a copper spearhead, an earthen pot, and numerous beads proving that some important personage had been put to rest there.

FOND DU LAC BANNER, JUNE 6, 1899 GIANT INDIAN BONES: DISCOVERY OF AN EXTRA ORDINARY SKELETON NEAR FOND DU LAC An Indian skeleton was dug up on the farm of Matt and Joseph Leon, one mile south of St. Cloud on Saturday. There is nothing strange in finding an Indian skeleton, but this one was a giant in size, his frame measuring seven feet. He must have been a man of note among his people, for he was buried in a large mound, sixteen handsome arrows surrounding his body. The skull was brought to this city and is on exhibition in one of the Main Street windows.

YOUNGSTON VINDICATOR, AUGUST 5, 1899 NEW RACE OF GIANTS MONSTERS OF HUMANITY IN THE SOUTH POLAR REGIONS Some papers are exploiting photographs of a race of giants said to have been discovered by Fredrick A. Cook, who has just returned from an exploring expedition to the south Polar Regions. The existence of such a race has always been denied by scientists, but Dr. Cook, it is said, has not only seen and talked with them, but brings back photographs to prove beyond argument that the biggest race of human beings in the world is to found in the frozen south. The monstrous forms of both the men and women are clad in furs. The men arm themselves with bows and arrows and wooden clubs. Their strength and endurance are remarkable. The men can outrun any horse on a long stretch. They can cover 50 miles in a few hours. To see a company of these wild men crossing a plain is like watching a herd of antelope skim over the ground. Only their upright position, with their scanty goats’ skins flying in the wind and the flourish of their clubs and bows and arrows, shows that they are men instead of belonging to the lower animals. Dr. Cook is going to write a full scientific account of these people.

PORTSMOUTH HERALD, AUGUST 17, 1899 NEW HAMPSHIRE GIANT NINE FEET TALL Relics of a prehistoric age have been brought to light in Noble County. The find is in York Township where workmen excavating for a public highway found the skeleton of an inhabitant of early days. The bones indicate that the person was fully nine feet tall. The bones are unusually large and the position of the skeleton when found indicated that the person had been buried in a sitting position. The belief is advanced that the remains are those of a mound builder.

WASHINGTON BEE, NOVEMBER 4, 1899 THE VANISHED RACE A BUILDING THAT HOUSED 6,000 CLIFF DWELLERS A Ruined Aboriginal City on a Cliff a Thousand Feet High--Skulls of a People That Had Double Teeth All Around—Some Remarkable Relics. Laden with relics of the vanished race of the Cliff Dwellers, the Rev. Dr. George L. Cole has returned from a journey to the ruined cities of Southeastern Colorado and New Mexico. Valuable results were secured by excavations in an ancient communal dwelling, as yet unnamed, which stands on the cliffs of the Santa Fe River, fourteen miles from Espanola, N. M. This is the largest pueblo yet discovered in the United States, and Dr. Cole was practically the first to visit it with scientific objects in view. He found stone implements and pottery of extreme rarity, and the bones of a race all of whose teeth were molars or grinders. Among the bones excavated from a burial mound on the mesa were a woman’s femurs measuring nineteen inches, a length which indicates that this aboriginal giantess must have been at least seven and a half feet tall. The cliff on which the unexplored ruins stand rises a thousand feet above the surrounding country. On one side of the isolated rocky mass is the valley of the Santa Fe River, on the other that of the Santa Clara. Up to 600 feet is a shelf which furnished a nesting place for the Cliff Dwellers of nobody knows how many centuries ago. In the soft pumice stone they burrowed dens for their families. Eventually the original shelters in the cliffs grew to be a great warren. Room after room was hewn out until the rows were four or five deep. Under the shelter of the overhanging cliff, walls were built, extending the rows of rooms. The Cliff Dwellers were sheltered from rain or storm and their homes were inaccessible for their enemies. Not satisfied with their rock caverns, the Cliff Dwellers climbed upward, and on the mesa, 400 feet above the shelf on which the caves opened, built a communal dwelling. This mesa is about three-quarters of a mile wide and a mile and half long, which cliffs all about and the best opportunities for defense. On its edge was reared a watch tower of granite, whose height Dr. Cole believes to have been not less than sixty feet. The blocks were painfully carried up the 1,000-foot cliff, for the nearest granite deposits are at a considerable distance. For greater security a wall was built across the middle of the mesa. On this rock platform, 1,000 feet up in the air, there stand to-day the ruins of two communal dwellings, one evidently much older than the other. The older dwelling is as yet untouched, and what little exploration of the more modern one Dr. Cole had time for amounts to a mere scratch on the surface. There were not less than sixteen hundred rooms in the larger building in its prime, says Dr. Cole, and probably two thousand. The building measured 240x300 feet. It was blocks of stone measuring six by six by fifteen inches, quarried from the cliffs below, and carried up by the workmen. The rooms were roofed with timber, and the walls then carried higher. In the centre was a great court, a common kitchen for all, from which radiated immense numbers of rooms. The building spread with the growth of the community until it was three stories high and the rooms stretched away twelve deep from the central court, with smaller courts here and there. Dr. Cole estimates that the population averaged about three to a room, which would make between 4,800 and 6,000 people dwelling in the immense pueblo, besides those who lived in the cliff caves. The rooms at the sides of the communal dwelling averaged about fourteen feet in size. On the upper stories they were mostly smaller, some being only seven by fourteen, others seven by twenty-one. Some rooms were found as large as fourteen by twenty-one feet. With the trophies of his summer’s explorations spread out about him, Dr. Cole has turned his parlor into an anthropological museum. One table is covered with water jugs and incense pipes, the sofa hidden under stone axes, mortars, pestles, weaving shuttles and pottery. Another table is decked with a row of grinning skulls and huge crossbones; beneath it comfortably repose all the parts of a skeleton, from the toe bones to the shoulder blades, waiting to be wired together, and strewn about are bows and arrows, baskets, jugs of twisted twigs, made water-tight by pitch; modern Indian pottery, photographs by the score, and a stump of petrified wood. The skulls are a particularly valued possession. “Look at those teeth,” said Dr. Cole, tenderly fondling the skull of the giantess. “She has no incisors, no cutting teeth, in front, as have all the other races of which I have any knowledge. She has grinders all around, and so have the other skulls. That shows they were grain-eaters rather than meat-eaters. The foreheads are high and the shape of the skull shows intelligence, but notice how curiously they are flattened at the back.—Los Angeles Times.

WILLIAMSBURG, IOWA, JOURNAL TRIBUNE, APRIL 27, 1900 DOUBLE-TOOTHED GIANT The discovery in Hardin County a short time ago by Joseph Booda and Elliot Charles Gaines of innumerable mound builders’ relics, and the subsequent finding, by other parties, of the remains of a man of the prehistoric period, have greatly interested scientists in other parts of the country, the chief among these being Curator Charles Aldrich, of the state Horticultural Society. Assuring himself of the truthfulness of the various newspaper reports, Mr. Aldrich has arranged to be in Eldora next month and begin a careful and systematic exploration of some of the mounds in the vicinity, the legal permission having been obtained. In a large show window in Eldora for several days has been exhibited the skeleton of the man, which was found in a mound on the banks of the Iowa River, near Eagle City, six miles north. It has caused much interest and wonderment. Although well preserved, it is estimated that the skeleton is many centuries old. The skull is very large and thick, fully a quarter of an inch. A set of almost round double teeth are remarkably well preserved. They are yellow with age, are perfect in shape, and appear to have been double, both above and below. The femurs are very long showing a giant in stature. Dr. N. C. Morse, a prominent physician who examined the skeleton, pronounced it that of a person who had evidently been trained for athletics, as the extremities were so well developed. THE BOODA COLLECTION Joseph Booda, who has taken much interest in mound exploration, has a rare collection of implements of the stone age, all found near Eldora. Among these are pottery axes, arrows, beadwork, pestles, mallets, and, although he has offers for the collection, will not part with it, unless he may be induced by Curator Aldrich to loan the collection to the state, to be placed in the historical building in Des Moines when completed.

1901-1910

NEW YORK TIMES, FEBRUARY 11, 1902 NEW MEXICO DISCOVERY: 12-FOOT GIANT FOUND Owing to the discovery of the remains of a race of giants in Guadalupe, New Mexico, antiquarians and archaeologists are preparing an expedition further to explore that region. This determination is based on the excitement that exists among the people of a scope of country near Mesa Rica, about 200 miles southeast of Las Vegas, where an old burial ground has been discovered that has yielded skeletons of enormous size. Luciana Quintana, on whose ranch the ancient burial plot is located, discovered two stones that bore curious inscriptions and beneath these were found in shallow excavations the bones of a frame that could not have been less than 12 feet in length. The men who opened the grave say the forearm was 4 feet long and that in a well-preserved jaw the lower teeth ranged from the size of a hickory nut to that of the largest walnut in size. The chest of the being is reported as having a circumference of seven feet. Quintana, who has uncovered many other burial places, expresses the opinion that perhaps thousands of skeletons of a race of giants long extinct, will be found. This supposition is based on the traditions handed down from the early Spanish invasion that have detailed knowledge of the existence of a race of giants that inhabited the plains of what now is Eastern New Mexico. Indian legends and carvings also in the same section indicate the existence of such a race.

THE ST. PAUL GLOBE, JANUARY 24, 1904 BONES OF A HUMAN SKELETON ELEVEN FEET HIGH ARE DUG UP IN NEVADA May Be Related to Cardiff Giant WINNEMUCCA, Nev., Jan 23.—Workmen engaged in digging gravel here today uncovered at a depth of about twelve feet a lot of bones, part of a skeleton of a gigantic human being. Dr. Samuels examined them and pronounced them to be the bones of a man who must have been nearly eleven feet in height. The metacarpal bones measure four and a half inches in length and are large in proportion. A part of the ulna was found and in its complete form would have been between seventeen and eighteen inches in length. The remainder of the skeleton is being searched for.

* IOWA NEWS HERALD, APRIL 14, 1904 FIND SKELETON OF A GIANT Interesting Relic of Ancient Mound Builders Discovered in Ohio A giant skeleton of a man has been unearthed at the Woolverton farm, a short distance from Tippecanoe City, Ohio. It measures eight feet from the top of the head to the ankles, the feet being missing. The skull is large enough to fit as a helmet over the average man’s head. This skeleton was one of seven, buried in a circle, the feet of all being towards the center. Rude implements were near. The skeletons are thought to be those of mound builders.

BOSTON EVENING TRANSCRIPT, JUNE 12, 1906 OUR OWN ARCHAEOLOGY A VALUABLE RELIC OF A FORMER AGE FOUND IN NEBRASKA, AND WHAT IT TELLS Omaha World Herald – A find of the greatest archaeological interest was made some days ago a few feet back of the bungalow of Myron L. Learned, on the very top of the high bluff a half mile north of the village of Florence, by graders preparing for the foundations of an extension of the present building. Under about two feet of vegetable mold and half a foot of loose deposit, of which the bluffs are formed, E. Wicke, the contractor doing the grading, plowed up what appears to be a stone spearhead. The implement, which is seven and one-quarter inches long from the extreme point of its base to its sharpened end and three inches wide at its widest point, is considered to be the most symmetrical and the best made ever found in the state. Charles F. Crowley, professor of chemistry at Creighton Medical College, who is a practical geologist, also declares the implement to be made of flint but of a kind not native to this part of the United States. One side of the stone is colored lustrous cobalt blue, while the reverse is white. Held to the light it is of a beautiful translucent rose orange. The chipping is evidently the work of a master in the art and the owner is greatly pleased at such a handsome and valuable addition to the stone implements which have been from time to time found about his summer cottage. The projectile point was found lying beside the teeth and larger bones of a bison, the inference being that its thrust had caused the death of the animal. An Omaha archaeologist who has examined the implement declares it to be an arrowhead, and he infers that it was probably used by one of the race of giants of which the legends of the Omaha tribe of Indians speak about. One of the tribal secret societies which has existed far back in the history of the nation tells of a people who preceded them in this section of the world, the males of which were ten or twelve feet high. Some ancient mounds opened in this vicinity have shown skeletons between eight and ten feet long, and he makes the deduction that if the projectile be an arrowhead its size indicates that the shaft into which it was originally fashioned was correspondingly large, and with so large an arrow, a bow with which it must be thrown would be too large for use by a man of ordinary stature. These deductions are conjectural, but the find must be regarded as a valuable one.

* THE NEW YORK TIMES, MAY 4, 1908 GIANTS' SKELETONS FOUND. Cave in Mexico Gives Up the Bones of an Ancient Race. Special to the New York Times. BOSTON, May 3.--Charles C. Clapp, who has recently returned from Mexico, where he has been in charge of Thomas W. Lawson's mining interests, has called the attention of Prof. Agassiz to a remarkable discovery made by him. He found in Mexico a cave containing 200 skeletons of men each above eight feet in height. The cave was evidently the burial place of a race of giants who antedated the Aztecs. Mr. Clapp arranged the bones of one of these skeletons and found the total length to be 8 feet 11 inches. The femur reached up to his thigh and the molars were big enough to crack a cocoanut. The head measured eighteen inches from front to back.

NEW NORTH WISCONSIN, JULY 23, 1908 GIANT SKELETON FOUND MASSIVE HUMAN BONES AND INDIAN RELICS UNEARTHED NEAR PELICAN LAKE That human beings of enormous size inhabited this section of this country ages ago was proven last Sunday, when the massive skeleton of an Indian was unearthed near Pelican Lake. The interesting discovery was made by George Patton and L. H. Eaton, two Chicago tourists, who are spending the summer there. For several days the men noticed a mound on their travels through the woods, and, at last led by curiosity, decided to excavate it. Procuring spades they fell to work and after digging down to a depth of about four feet were surprised to find the bones of a large human foot protruding through the earth. Digging further, they gradually uncovered the perfect form of a giant. The skeleton was nearly 8 feet in height and the arms extended several inches below the hips. Buried with the bones were numerous stone weapons and trinkets. Among these were a curious stone hatchet, a copper knife, several strange copper rings, and a necklace made of the tusks of some prehistoric animal. The skeleton is no doubt that of an Indian who was one of a tribe of giants who roamed this part of the state over one thousand years ago.

NEW YORK TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 3, 1909 SKELETON 15 FEET HIGH UNEARTHED IN MEXICO News was received here from Mexico that at Ixtapalapa, a town 10 mile southeast of Mexico City, there had been discovered what was believed to be the skeleton of a prehistoric giant of extraordinary size. A peon, while excavating for the foundation of a house on the estate of Augustin Juarez, found the skeleton of a human being that is estimated to have been about 15 feet high, and who must have lived ages ago, judging from the ossified state of the bones. Romulo Luna, judge of the district, has taken possession of the skeleton which is complete with the exception of the skull. Judge Luna says that as soon as the search for the skull is finished the skeleton will be forwarded to the national museum of Mexico that has an almost priceless collection of Aztec antiquities.

* PORTLAND, OREGON SUNDAY OREGONIAN, MARCH 13, 1910 PREHISTORIC MAN’S BONES ARE FOUND Skeleton 10 Feet Long Discovered in Southern Idaho Cave PART OF A GUN ALSO TAKEN Members of Hunting Party Making Strange Find Cannot Identify Rusty Barrel Among Known Firearms—To Move Bones BOISE, Idaho, March 12.—(Special)—Unmoved, unseen and untouched for hundreds of years and hidden in the recesses of a deep cave 25 miles north of Shoshone, Lincoln County in Southern Idaho, is the skeletons of a giant, ten feet tall evidently of prehistoric origin. It was recently discovered by a hunting party from this city. As corroborated proof the members are now exhibiting the rusty and worn flint lock barrel of what appears to be an ancient gun weighing between 25 and 30 pounds, resembling a flit-lock rifle. This they say was picked up beside the skeleton. These bones will be taken out of the cave at the earliest possible date and carefully packed and forwarded to the Smithsonian Institution. It is believed by those who have seen the skeleton there will be an invasion of the caves in that section of Idaho by students seeking knowledge of the earlier inhabitants of America. Skull of Great Size. The skull of this giant is twice as large as that of the average man today. The large limb bones indicate that he must have been a man of great physical power. The skeleton is well preserved and was found upon the surface of the ground far back in the chambers of the cave, stretched out at full length. Close by was the barrel of the rusty rifle, which is of peculiar make unknown to those familiar with firearms. No reasonable theory can be advanced by the discovery as to how the skeleton happened to be in the cave. Those who have looked into the facts believe the skeleton represents one of a lost race unknown to men of this day, which occupied the American continent long before the redskins came. Geologists say the Western country was the scene of a great volcanic disturbance at one time and great streams of lava overflowed the now fertile plains of this state, forming caves and great natural basins. It is possible that this one representative of a lost race was caught by the flows and sealed up in the cave in which he was found. Extinct Volcanoes Abound. There are numerous extinct volcanoes in this section of the state and particularly where the gigantic skeleton was found. The older Indians say their fathers told them about the mountains which were afire and of the continual underground rumblings. Among the “lavas,” as these regions are called, are to be found many fissures that seem to be connected with large caves, formed when the lava was cooling, and at times the suction is so great at the mouth of these fissures that large papers thrown into them are immediately sucked downwards, while at other times the current of air is outward and can be heard for miles on a frosty morning. Few people care to enter the caves but those which have large openings on the surface are considered perfectly safe.