Evening Star Newspaper, October 18, 1925, Page 87

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., OCTOBER 18, 1925—PART 5. 5 Picking the Worst, Rapid Land Profits and Famous Farewells “Getting Our Florida by the Minute” And Showing What Columbus Missed BY NINA WILCOX PUTNAM. UEEN ISABELLA of Spain once wrote to Christopher Columbus: “Dear Chris, pen in hand ask you why didn't you I take my to write and hit Florida instead of them bum you landed on? Where estate judgment, anyway tell you. dear friend, but as a realtor you are a darn good shoeblack. I only wisht I had picked on Ponce, when 1 was picking. There's the boy with the head on him, he give only one string of beads for all of Miami, a plugged nickel for Palm Beach, and the natives felt they had cheated him at the price so they threw in St. Au- gustine and Tampa for good luck, and now lookit the darn thing. That De Leon feller is the kind of a boy-friend to have. Hoping this makes you feel as bad as it does me, yrs. ‘truly, Bella.” How T do love to read them quaint old personal letters of great people! As T wr ving only the other night to George, that's my husband, a per- son can learn such a lot from read- ing about the mistakes of the great, such as that poor queen of Spain, Really, it was through reading her correspondence that we come to get interested in Florida real estate. We decided we was going to turn over a profit by her loss, on account there ain’t now any doubt about the stuff Ponce De Leon pulled. In fact, the Florida boom in real estate is the most frequent thing & person hears this season and has even drove pro- hibition out of our national conversa- tions. The more I and George thought this over, the more anxious we was to get something good down there, nothing extravagant, see, but maybe forty or fifty acres of just rough country stuff | that could be picked up cheap near the ocean for $25 or $30 an acre. Nor was we unreasonable about the loc tion. It didn't have to be anvthing fancy, in fact we felt pretty near any old place would do just so long as it was one where we could be absolutely certain of cleaning up a coupla hun- dred thousand on it, during the first two weeks. The only trouble was, T and Geo. hadn’t ever been to Florida as yet, only in our imagination, which of course evervbody has done that. And o it was kinda difficult for us to de- cide where to sink our money. Nat- urally we had read a big bunch of real estate ads about developments, sub- divisions, additions and other arith- metic of the real estate school, and the whole lot of them was listed so swell a person felt pretty near com- pelled to enney meenie mines moe them with the forefinger and send the first payment to the one the Moe fell on. * ok * ¥ 'AKE for a sample the Chilicon- carnd Development. That sound- ed like hot stuff. All it says was that they had for sale lots Nos. 167899— 3681411—924699—1123325 Section P. D. Q. Township 0000. It was one of them simple statements that speak for theirselves and nobody else. Any one who was such a stmp as not to know at once where that property was located, wasn't it to own it, you could just see that. I was all for jumping right inta such a promising proposi- tion, especially as the terms was 1-10 down and never no more, because you ‘was certain to turn it over before the next payment come due. But Geo. says no, they probably mean you will turn it over with a spade. I'd rather take something in one of them developments with a pret- ty picture in the ad, you know, one of m with two-story Spanish Hildagos, the kind that is built around a por- tiere or whatever they call it. Or else a development on the beach with pic- tures of one-piece bathing suits all filled to overflowing with girls show- ing how good the development is, and etc. And I says no such thing, George Jules, you'll buy in one of them places ‘which is advertised as thoroughly re- stricted or I won't get the money out the Savings Bank. ‘Well, at that Geo. grabbed one side of the newspaper, which was all full of Florida real estate ads, and I grabbed ahold of the other, and we was just about to start a regular old style tug of words out of it, when the “l:li(flil!).i _MORE LIKE FLORIDA THAN ANYTHI G YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE.” it be, only that Mr. Goofnah which he is in’the real estate business and his wife was with him. Well, folks, says Mr. Goofnah, we just dropped in to tell you good-bye. We're gonner run down to Florida and pick up a coupla million. And his wite says yes, Mr. Goofnah has consider- able interests in real estate down ths And 1 says sure, 1 believe he's got interest in real estate there, so have we, but has he any proper Of course he has, says she, or rather he did have until he turned it over. And found nothing underneath? Geo. wanted to know. Nothing only & gold mine, says Mr. Goofnah, high hatting Geo., what we are going down for now is to buy some more land be- fore prices go up uny higher. Well but, says Geo. do you know anything about land down there—I mean on a big scale? I'll say I do, says Mr. Goofnah, why it was me put the ac in acreage. That's what I want, says Geo. ~Acreage—lot of lots and I'm all set to come across with $500 in real actual money. I'd like for you to handle it for me. i LL right, says Mr. Goofnah, you can make money with even that much. I will put you in my syndicate. And Geo. says well don't forget to put me in your monthly balance as well. And by the way, Mr. Goofnah, what kind of a place is Florida, anyways? Well, says Mr. Goofnah, that de- pends on whether you own real estate down there or not. But as you now practically as good as own some, I will slip vou the real, inside dope. Florida s more like Florida than any- thing you can possibly imagine. To commence with it is filled with out- spread palms, cocoanut palms, wait- ers' palms, bellhop palms, and the glad hands of the natives, on account we sure do like to make strangers feel at home. And it the welcomer generally shakes hands with one hand and tries to sell you a piece of real estate with the other, why you gotter admit where it's profitable for both. As for the houses, vou oushter see the beautiful ones we got down there, mostly Spanish tripe, especially where we live —out at Del-Dillpickle Visita! 1t's lit- tle, but oh my! Some bungalow— Spanish-on-the-half-shell. And I tell you George, Mr. Goofnah went on, we got more ocean and a better quality of it, than any other part of the world per quart. No kid- ding. We got the best auto roads and the fewest auto trucks to cramp your style on them of any State— that is, of course, per capita, y'under- stand. Yeh, says George, getting en- thusiastic, too, why we got the biggest number of biggest hotels down there, in't we, Tom” And, if all the first front door bell rung, and who would ass golf links in Florida was placed end to end there wouldn’t never be a Florida husband come home to Sun- day dinner—they would simply play on forever neath the shade of their sheltering golfcaps. Aln't that so, boy? And Mr. Goofnah says, check to that, George we certainly have, I mea we do! Why even the telephone poles | and fences, in parts of Florida are so rich and luxurfant they grow a hand- some varlety of Spanish moss, the | kind that can be used for mattress. stuffing or chewlng tobacco, af will. In fact, George, says Mr. Goofnah, we have bumper crops of pretty near everything, especially tourists—why the bumper crop of tourists was so heavy last season, they was bumping Into each other on the streets all the time. 1 tell you what, George, says Mr. Goofnah, the only thing we got that's not a success, is the cemeteries—we | certainly have the meanest, scantiest | lot of cemeteries I ever seen, on ac count so few of our citizens have so far taken up their residences as yet. L will say, however, he says, that the ones that have taken up their options in our cemeteries are certainly per- manent. * % % x H, but old timer! There's one bumper crop you ain't as vet mentioned that we raise down there—and raise and raise and raise and still can’t meet the demand— I am speaking of real estate values! You sald a dictionary, says Mr. Goofnah, why people can hardly realize how things is going. Now I know a case where a feller went down there not many vears ago with a bunch of toothpicks and 40 cents in cash. Well, he give the cash for 30 acres of ocean front, bullt a bungalow on it with the toothpicks, and last! week he rold out for a quarter of a milllon cold. Sounds hot to me, says George. And then take another case I know, Mr. Goofnah went on, there was a bird bought a lot over in Loo Loo Park | on Wednesday for $1,800 50 cents down, {and sold it the previous Tuesday for $15,000, s'fact! Hot tamale! sa George, and getting up out of his morris chair he done a morris dance and a Spanish-type Fandango, Florida style, or sort of stacatto stucco. Say, | tell me more! he says. Oh well, says Mr. Goofnah, of course the fellers that got in the| game way back in 98, and so forth, why they are having the best of it. 3ut there is still a heap of money to be made, as I'm gonner show you. And now I guess we better run along, we got quite a trip ahead of us to-| morrow. With which remark they sa good night and we says ditto.| And when the door was closed Geo. turned to me with a strange glitter in his eyes. says George. | over—Oh boy! | to Say my dear, he says, I'm just crazy to hear what old Goofnah picks up for us, with them 500 smackers he ought to get something pretty big, say 1,000 acres or so. And say, do you know, he says, I ain’t so sure we will sell all of it, at that—just say about half of it, when the price gets right. Then we could build ourselves a pa- latial Spanish n the other half, after all, George, 500 acres would be plen a gentleman's estate, even there. I might, he eonsiders, put in a pri- vate polo fleld, and a mnine-hole golf course for me says down can just eee 0ld Joe's face when I ask him down. And we might have a yacht basin put in if the land happens to be on the ocean front, I have always thought it would be kinda fun to have a vacht in Florida. Well, Geo. vacht it 1s quite pe get us one of them small porcelain I ins, vs, when it comes you may be right, kind. But don't count vour real estate | until you get the title. * ok % % WELL Hot Bozo! I gotter confess I was pretty much excited about the deal myself, and time seemed to kinda drag along while we was wait- ing to hear from Mr. Goofnah and our money. And when a night letter come from Mr. Goofnah we could hardly wait to open it It says. Delray, Fla. Nite, Blue X 11:25. Have just sold Florfda sand off wheels of my auto for eleven thou- sand clear profit stop Bought you % front foot on Dixle highway and am mailing you same today by insured parcels post stop Advise you put it in safe deposit vault at once as am cer- tain of six hundred per cent increase by height of season congratulations Goofnah. It's a outrage! says George, he had ought of had better sense then to throw away my money like where am I going to put my golf course on that parcel of land? And besides, 1 aln't got any safe deposit box! Well, while T was still speechless and George hadn't yet come down from the ceiling, who would come back but the Western Union mes- senger, with another wire, a straight message this time. To say we tore it open is putting the facts too mild. Delray, Fla. Green, straight 11-7 says this one. And then it went on to remark. Have just sold your 13 front foot on Dixle for eighty thou- sand dollars cash, twenty per cent down and balance in 1-2-3-4 years wire if satistactory and send back property to me by return mall. Much hysterics in which I hope you joln me—Goofnah, (Copyright, 1925.) Imagine Napoleon Engaged in Modern Gasoline Good-bye| BY STEPHEN LEACOCK. N the days before the mot when a man said good-bye shook hands and was gone. he was to ride on horseback he made a brief farewell to each person present, shook hands, leaped upon his horse and was off. Now that the motor car has come into use as the gemeral instrument of visiting, this no longer happens. The people say good-bye, get into thelr motor car, and are not gone. They make an affectionate farewell and then sit looking out of their glass windows while the car goes “Phut, phut—bang”—and sticks there. The more dramatic the good-bye, the more touching the fareweil, the more determined the car always is 1o say “Phut, phut—bang,” and re-| fuse to move Witness the familiar scene of the Rood-bye of the Joneses to the Smiths at 6 p.m. on any Sunday evening at any rural place where city people end their vacation. The Joneses have motored over in their own car— & real peach, tin all over—and have spent Sunday afternoon with the Smiths, who have a cottage for the Summer which they call open house, and where they take care that no- body gets in at meal times. ‘When the time has come for the Joneses to go they all mingle up in a group with the Smiths and every- body says good-bye to everybody els and shakes hands with each one, and they all say, “Well, we certainly had a grand time.” Then they all climb inte the car, with Mr. Jones himself at the wheel, and they put their heads out of the windows and they say, ‘Well, good-bye, good-bye!” and wave thelr hands. And then the car goes: “Whrrs-or-errrrrerrr-rr—phut, A wisp of thin blue smoke rolls away and when it has gone the Joneses are seen sitting there, abso- lutely still. Their car hasn't moved an inch. Jones, at the wheel, sticks his head down among the grips and clutches and says, “I guess she is a little cold,” and the Smiths y, “Yes, it often takes a little time to start them.” Then there’s a pause and nothing seems to be happening and then very suddenly and cheertully the engine of the car starts making & loud— i BRI “Pur-rrr On this, all the Joneses and all the Smiths break out into good-byes again, il talking together: “Well, tainly w We cer- a great Alf— come back soon. I— We sure ha time— Remember us _all We certainly will— You tainly have u nice cottage here— We ce: tainly enjoved that lemonade—well— good-bye, good-bye, good-bye!" And then the ca Whir-ror-r-reerr-r- bang!” And there is another biff emoke, and when It clears av is behind it? Wh there in thelr c Sk HEN the machine goes “bang!” all the Joneses in_the car and all the Smiths standing beside the road e knocked into silence for B} o be som: .r-v-r-r-r-r-r—phut, onds. Jones mutters— hing wrong with the igni- and Washington At this happy sound the good-bys break out all over again In a chorus “Good-bye— Look after yourselves— | Tell Min we'll see her Friday—good- |bye— We certainly had a—" | “Bang!” All stopped again. This time Jones is determined that when the engine starts hell keep it started. There shall be no false alarms this time. “Let her get going good,” some of them advise him. And so when the engine mnext starts Jones doesn't throw in his clutch, but just lets her %0 on humming and roaring till every- | body feels assured that this time the start is actually going to happen, and the good-byes erupt all over again. The noise gets lotder and louder. the conversation rises into shouts “MY HEART FOREVER WILL REMAIN — WHI-RR-R-R, PHUT — BURIED IN THE SOIL OF FRANCE—BANG!” tion"—and somebody else says—‘‘She doesn't seem to be feeding right”— and there's a little chorus of —"Oh, she is just a little cold, they. take a little up”—“she’ll start in a And then again the machine begins, this time at a terrific speed, about a million revolutions to the minute— “WHir-r-r-ror- I-L-T-F-r--T-FT-T rrrrrprrr e RN mixed with the “phut, phut, phut” of the machine, and then all of a sudden there’s a tremendous “bang!” and a volume of blue amoke and when it clears away—where are the Joneses? Gone—clean gone, they seem to have vanished off the earth! At last you catch a glimpse of their car 200 yards away, disappearing in cloud of smoke, “Theye're off!” murmur the Smiths, and the painful scene is over. Thinking over all this, I cannot but reflect how fortunate it has been for mankind that the motor car was not invented earller in our history. So many of the great dramas of history have turned upon farewells and depar- tures that some of the most romantic pages of the past would have been spoiled If there had been any gasoline in them. * ¥ % Ok AKE for example the famillar case of Napoleon saying good-bye to his officers and soldiers at Fontainebleau before going into exile. The fallen emperor stood beslde the steed he was about to mount, turned a moment and addressed to his devoted comrades words that still echo in the ears France. But suppose that he had the same thing while seated in a little one-seater car with his head stuck out of the window. How inadequate it would have sounded: “Farewell, my brave comrades— phut, phut—together we shared the labor and the burden of a hundred campaigns—phut, bang, phut—we must forget that we have conquered Europe — whir- phut —that our eagles have flown over every capital —bang—I leave you now for exile, but my heart forever will remain— whir-r-r, phut—burled in the soil of France, bang! O take as a similar case In point the famous farewell to the Nation spoken by George Washington as his last service to the Republic that he had created. Gen. Washington, supposing there had been gasoline in those days, would have been reported as leaning out from the window of his sedan car and speaking as follows: “‘Let America cultivate and preserve the (l'lend-hlgl of the world—phut, phut—let us have peace and friend- ship with all—whir-r—and entangling ulliances with none—bang! I have grown old in the service of this coun- try and there i{s something wrong with my igniti 'To each and all of you I bid now a last farewell— Whir-r-rr— Farewell Phut, phut, phut, phut. Farewell! Banrg! (Copyright. 1925.) This Is Queer! B Were bora on holldars. type bungalow home!| gl 1 Joe Bush to play| ible we will be able to | Finnegan Had Some Lots Down There But Still He Didn’t Indorse the Climate BY SAM HELLMAN. OOKS like Florida's got Call- fornia on the run,” I remarks to “High Dome” Finnegan. “In what way,” he wants to know. “Well,” says I, “from what I reads in the papers they're building at least 563 hotels every day, Kknocking to- gether 40 or 50 towns per week, throw- ing rallroad lines across the State at the rate of 60 miles a minute and——"" “If I were you,” suggests “High Dome,” “I'd wait until the hen stops cackling before I begun counting eggs.” eaning which?" 1 inquires. “Meaning,” returns Finnegan, “that there is so much hurrah and noise about this Florida boom nowadays that a real fact hasn't a chance of belnfi heard. It's too early yet to tel whether the hen down there's laying gold bricks or golden eggs.” “It's not all ballyhoo, that's certain,” says I. “It's a cinch that there is & lot_of building going on down thers and folks are pouring into the place in trainloads. That's a fact, ain't it?” “Get me right,” comes back “High Dome.” I ain’t making the crack that all this Florida rahrah is rot. That joint’s been moving ahead as a solid Winter resort for years, but I'm always suspiclous of these sudden rushes. It may be all on the square, but it'lluke a couple of years to find out if it is or isn' s “Maybe,” I admits, “but thousands of birds are putting their hard-earned piastres into Florida and they're not of the come-on, sucker class, either. ““When a boom's on,” remarks Fin- negan, “everybody's in the sucker class. It's a kind of hysteria that wraps itselt around Peter Cautious as well as Slmon Stmple. Did you ever notice that every time a rich man dies they always find & bunch of phoney gold and oll stock in his safety deposit o: verybody pulls a bad one once in 1 suggests. says “High Dome.” “and ft's when booms are going on that the bad ones are pulled. The oil stock was bought when everybody was falling for the big profits in that game; the gold stock represents a period when there was a lot of noise about gold mines. That stuff’s just some of the fruit off the boom hysteria tree. Talking about Florida, there is something I don't un- derstand.” ou do . yourself an injustice,” I protest “Florida,” goes on Finnegan, “is about the oldest dump in the United States, vet it's taken three or four INNEGAN, hot there in Summer. I've been there in July and August, and If it's not hotter than the hinges of Hades—that wet, sticky heat you get all along the gulf sections—I'm the King of Slam's mother-in-law.” * ok x % 66 A CCORDING to what folks say,” 1 tells him, “it's been nice and cool down there this Summer. “What does a guy with h know about weather?” asks Dome.” Do you think when a fel ler's throwing a it he knows or cares whether it's elghty in the shade or a hundred and eighty? A bunch of boomers could go up in Labrador and get_so wrapped in putting their stuff across the were pineapple: “Just the same,” 1 argues, seen figures of the temperature down th W erfa Igures, eh?" sneers Finneg: could get you up a set of hand-pic “High |and alw: get thelr toes frozen in the Sahara desert than in any other spot on earth. I've seen flgures from St. Louls showing that it was so chilly there in July and August you had to wear fur overcoats &t noon. E been there? “Yes,” says I hot there don't shed his @lothes.” ake it from me,” returns “High Dome,” “it's hot in Florida in Summer be, and the boom boys s to try to play the State as “but the fact that it's ke a guy in Florida lare suck “Just how' ants to k “Well,” s: High Dy fill up the st 2 1o landholders from up North soon the small fry’ll dc place and then it's curtains things that make Palm B from tr u of little 1 pretty ite the for the ach and <h boya tracted to ever folloy or respect “What' . spectable?” 1 as “Nohc Baden'd last if every I obeyed “It ‘em, no mat- rgues town If vou for 10 cents 80 on a vac away fror 1 resort it t omes Finnegan. r at used to races and wd that's o E rnia nd-the-y more bt D! n all-the-y | mauke the com |gin_frizzlin | “IHow ind resort. It'll jus ns sore when they be. vou play it?"” I asks. | i s was played,” returns 7 a Winter hang-out. | 1 there is in th yachts and the ragging folks figures that would prove that more |lc fe nto 1) BY RING LARDNER. O the editor: Last wk. I wrote you in regards to the men’s beauty contest at What Cheer, la., and the men's radio contest held in our basement in which the writer of this here was unanimously selected as Mr. Radio for the season of 1925. This wk. I will try and describq the Ladies and Gents Eyesore Exposition to choose the ugliest man and the ugliest woman in the good old U. 8. A. This event was held in Moomaw, Nebraska, which is generally belleved to have the homeliest name of any American town. that, | The contest amongst the women wa | the closest in history and it was onl |after & bitter argument that the itle, of Bobo, Indiana. As the name of | Aliss America had been bestowed on Miss Lanphier of California in the fe- male beauty event at Atlantic City last mo., it was thought suitable by some that the Indiana girl should be christened Miss Greece. Other sug- gestions from those with a passion for plays on words was Mistake, Mis- shapen, Misfortune and Misprint, but these was all finally discarded in fa- vor of Miss Deal. Following is the official statlstics on Miss Grootle as of Oct. Age, 52 vears; weight, 186; helght, & feet ihalr, sparse; eyes, right, mischievou left, inches; statonary; mouth, normal, & expanded, 12 inches; nose, mythical; faw, reactionary: neck, nor- mal. 1614; in the wen season, 19; com- plexion, plaid; ankles, left, 23 inches; right, 18 inches. The judges was Mr. Simon H. Pat- ton, of Goose, Oregon, veteran inmate of the Home for the Blind, and Mrs. Elliott Grewsome, a Pittsburgh epi- leptie. First prizes was an 8-piece bathing suit, while second prize was the handle of a broken looking glass. These prizes was awarded immediat Iy after the parade of all the entrants up and down the alley behind Brew- ster's pool hall. This event was staged at 2:46 A.M. when it is usually quite dark in Moomaw. While she donned her prize, Miss Grootle was in- terviewed by a blindfolded reporter from the Binghamton Bat. “They call me a flapper,” she said, “but that is on account of my ear: However, they can call me what they like as long as they dont call me late to supper,” she added with a laugh that showed her tooth. “To what do you attribute your suc- cess?" “To pre-natal influence.” replied the Indiana hag. “During the year prior to my birth my father was superin- tendent of apes at the Omaha z0o.” | “And what do you intend to do {now?” she was asked. “I am considering several (2) of- fers. One is a job as scarecrow on c *“THE WINNER OF THE GENTS' PRIZE ONCE STAYED FOUR 32‘1‘“_1.5 WITH JOHN L. SULLL Max Groat's farm outside of Niles, Mich., and the other is to hide behind all trees all over the West." Miss Grootle, or Miss Deal as she will be called from this time om, has a rather remarkable record of achieve- ments since she really began to try. She got her first inkling of what £ths she might go to in August, 1304, when gl the doge that otught & glimpee of her immediately began to Whine, and subsequently left town, re- turning only after her femily had | judges finally picked Miss Lucy Groo- | “WAS MISS LUC moved to Elyria. On the 4th day October, 1913, she was shot by a F sian peasant who mistook her for '_(;ROOT LE OF BOBO, IND.” | f Ladies and Gents’ Eyesore Exposition Produced Marvels, Humorist Declares E dignant “What beat men’s cc ed to Mr N 5, Dick. oo e-e-25 horse in Millvale, Pa., her and became frightened and away, killing the inmates an When, i vear-old dray w | ran destroying a box of blott man in Ouch _once vith John L. Sullivan the end of the hout was obliged rner the bhetter. best ex- mation ht Well!"” exclaimed the old lad. e Like Many Another. Mr. Jones—How c boy | ting along in 1 Mr. Pumperr hack on the bac is yo -Ach! He's half- 1 and all the get- fo. | way HAT became of it? What was it—an index stone, a wolf. ~ Exactly three vears later a 37 fake or a find of untold significance? Now, while the radio is bringing us news from every quarter of the glole of the unearthing of old cities, revelations of forgotten clvili- zations, tracking of ancient traditions to historic homes, we agcept it all as a matter of course, and wait our turn to astonish the savants with anvthing that turns up in the United State from the suspected traces of the City of Cush to a skull so old it reduces the ancient man to a mere modern. But in the early 20s and 40s of the last century such stupendous natural wonders were thrust on our grand- fathers in such rapid succession that no one had time to think there was, or might be, an American archeology, with diggings richer even than our gold and silver mines. Even Prof. Newberry's great sau- rian, found about 1858-9, was a full- flavored joke to the unscientific; and the junior members of his expedition were unmercifully chaffed until the huge bones were mounted and exhib- ited, and the public got a crick in its neck and a crimp in its mind trying to take in the tale of which they were an {llustration, And it was about this time that the holy stone was found in Ohio by a student of history, a lover of old things, while the State was buflding the Lioki Summit Resep- volr, for the use of the Ohio Canal. ER R TH!B section of the country abounded in Indian mounds, now of such interest and value to the sclentific world that they are carefully pre- served and can be opened only by Government permit, given to author- ized archeologists and ethnologists. But in 1859 they were investigated at will, or treated as removable obstruc- tions, with more or less interesting contents which were kept or thrown away by the finders. About 7 miles south of Newark, the county seat of Licking, was one of these mounds whose fame attracted local scholars and State scientists, It stood on a bluff about 500 feet above water level, and was described as “a truncated circular pyramid, 40 feet high, with a base diameter of 182 feet The stone of the pyramid was bought and removed by the State to use in the reservoir, and after a num ler of wagonloads had been hauled {away a small mound of clay, ahout 7 feet high, was disclosed, and this was explored by David Wyrick of Newark, an el by profession, antiquary by Tt proved to be a sepulcher of clay ch of rock, beneath which, embedded in the clz was a primitive cofin of the sort made familiar to us in the National Museum, a log hollowed by charring and then scraping with a stone ax. In it were the remains of a skeleton, copper bracelets and locks of black hair described as “beautiful.” The coffin and its wooden support were saturated with water, but it was lined with & prepared clay, unknown in the local- ity, which kept the contents so dry that when the fine cloth on which they lay was touched it crumbled to powder. This so interested Mr. Wyrick that he began a careful search for other human remains, in the center of a small depression he found connected with a section of the mounds nearby. 1t was about 20 feet round and 2 feet deep, and he had gone some 15 inches through the top soil when he came to a clay and pebble layer. An oblong of red quartz caught his eye, and he began to dig with great care. Some 15 inches farther down he came upon the holy stone. The shape of the stone, as pictured In an old wood cut of the periud, is not unlike a pocket-flask, but all of its sides are rounded, and slope to a narrow, rounded base; the neck has a flat-topped terminal knob, evidently meant for suspending it from a chain or_cord. It is described as “five inches long, is the color and texture of whetstone, is fipely polished, and has, in intaglio on all four sides, well cut characters.” These were declared to be ‘“‘obsolete Mystery of Wyrick’s Holy S;t611e Hebraic” by the 1 day who examined i The Rev. J. W, McCarty of Newark, Hebrew translated the f§ the sides to mean ," “The word of the word of ti * rned men of the The interegt in ceived Autumin of Mr. W two halves fittin running lengthwis > ‘Within it was another . 7 inches] long and 3 wide, having cut in good] reliet on its flat side a human figure surrounded by characters. tremend ick f her by a joi d the ston 1s ds over the head of the ain three letters. are Hebrew, Shel The wor human fig: 'wo of these and Heth ird, T take its form is exactly Muin, and it his give (Moses) or Me: “Some of the the Hebrew coin characters, some likg the Phoenician alphabet, a few bead resemblance to those on the Gravd Creek stone,” and some he could no identify by any known alphabet. The Grave Creek stone to whi he referred was a small tablet found in a mound near Winchester, Va.| having an inscription in cuneifo: characters llke the ancient Phoen clan. Who brought the index stone of temple and a table of the law into tlx land of the Ohios? When and by whom were they pu in the house of the dead? If it was 2 fake, who had the goi geous imagination to thrust the 1 dians back to the lost tribes of Israel by such stone talk? The Civil War broke out in th April following the meeting held i Newark and there were no mor memoranda from those who could what becawe of Wyrick's Livly sten to be Mem, a like the old Gaelid