The American Goliah | Page 4

practical chemist, geologist or naturalist. The underside is somewhat dissolved, and presents a very rough surface, and it is probable that all the back or lower portion, was never chiseled into form, and may have been designed to rest as a tablet. However, as the statue has not been raised, the correct appearance of the under surface has not been determined, save by feeling as I pressed my hand as far as I could reach under different portions of the body, while its lower half lay beneath the water.
This is one of the greatest curiosities of the early history of Onondaga county, and my great desire is that it should be preserved for the Onondaga Historical Society. Efforts are being made by some of our citizens to secure this in the county where it belongs, and not suffer it to bear the fate of other archeological specimens found in this region.
Hoping to be able to write you more in a few days, I remain yours truly, JOHN F. BOYNTON."
IS THE BODY A PETRIFACTION?
"The majority of visitors disagree with the opinion of Dr. Boynton, that the figure is a statue, and pronounce it a petrified man. It is claimed that no sculptor would have invented such an unheard of position and design for a statue. No sculptor could have so perfectly imitated nature, especially in the minutiae which render the image such a wonder. It is claimed by the stone cutters and quarrymen who are constantly engaged in cutting the Onondaga County stone, that no single block could have been found of sufficient size, without a seam, from which to have chiseled out such a monster, (they claiming that the seam would have caused any such statue to split and fall apart under the necessary concussions required for cutting it to anything like its perfection in form.)
Other persons argue that no model of such a human being would have been likely to have been presented to any of the Indian or other inhabitants of America, within the past few centuries.
Many also ask for what reason should such an immense and expensive statue be hewn out and placed in so unfrequented a part of the country? How could it have been transported from the region of rocks to its present location, in a swamp entirely free from stones) especially since it is completely without any base or support of stone on which it can rest." "No statue is known to have been constructed," say the petrified advocates, "in reclining posture, unless the artist left some portion of the block of stone upon which the figure should rest, and be supported and strengthened for a durability of ages."
Other incidental suggestions are set forth as follows, by a writer in the Syracuse Daily Standard. "
The probabilities of its being a petrifaction have a better foundation, independent of outward appearances. First, is the fact that within a very short time, in the work of grading on section six of the Cazenovia & Canastota R.R., the skeletons of five mammoth human beings were exhumed, one of them eleven feet tall. The point of exhumation is not twenty miles distant from Cardiff. There are proofs of a giant race on this continent, and in this part of it; how far back, no one can tell. Second--There is now in the possession of the Onondaga Historical Association, a fish near one foot long, petrified to a perfect stone solidity, which was found near Cardiff, and the color of this petrified fish is very similar to the Cardiff giant stone. Mr. W.B. Kirk, of this city, when living at Cardiff many years ago, found near there a good sized Perch, that was perfectly petrified. Third--Five miles further down the valley, at what is known as the Onondaga Valley Cemetery, in taking up a human body for removal some years ago, it was found to be solid stone; still further north, but in the same range, the corpse of a child, on being taken up was found to be petrified--solid stone.--Still another case--the body of a man who had been buried a few years was taken up for removal, and being found a perfect petrifaction, the widow had it taken home, and it is yet retained in the house, and has never been reburied. We might give names, but do not feel at liberty to do so without first consulting family friends or relatives. These, and other samples that might be given, prove that petrification is not uncommon in the vicinity of Cardiff, where our ten feet two and a half inches, and well proportioned, giant was found."
A different statement still is made by Mr. Wright, father-in-law of Mr. Newell, who formerly owned Mr. Newell's present farm. Mr. Wright says that within a short distance of the present discovery, there