THE CARDIFF GIANT -1869-1870 471 



To these considerations others were soon added. Es 

 pecially interesting was it to observe the evolution of 

 myth and legend. Within a week after the discovery, 

 full-blown statements appeared to the effect that the 

 neighboring Indians had abundant traditions of giants 

 who formerly roamed over the hills of Onondaga; and, 

 finally, the circumstantial story was evolved that an 

 Onondaga squaw had declared, &quot;in an impressive man 

 ner, &quot; that the statue &quot;is undoubtedly the petrified body, 

 of a gigantic Indian prophet who flourished many cen 

 turies ago and foretold the coming of the palefaces, and 

 who, just before his own death, said to those about him 

 that their descendants would see him again/ 1 To this 

 were added the reflections of many good people who 

 found it an edifying confirmation of the biblical text, 

 &quot;There were giants in those days.&quot; There was, indeed, 

 an undercurrent of skepticism among the harder heads 

 in the valley, but the prevailing opinion in the region 

 at large was more and more in favor of the idea that 

 the object was a fossilized human being a giant of 

 &quot;those days.&quot; Such was the rush to see the figure that 

 the admission receipts were very large ; it was even stated 

 that they amounted to five per cent, upon three millions 

 of dollars, and soon came active men from the neighbor 

 ing region who proposed to purchase the figure and ex 

 hibit it through the country. A leading spirit in this 

 &quot;syndicate&quot; deserves mention. He was a horse-dealer 

 in a large way and banker in a small way from a village 

 in the next county, a man keen and shrewd, but merci 

 ful and kindly, who had fought his way up from abject 

 poverty, and whose fundamental principle, as he asserted 

 it, was &quot;Do unto others as they would like to do unto 

 you, and do it fust.&quot; 2 A joint-stock concern was 

 formed with a considerable capital, and an eminent show 

 man, &quot;Colonel&quot; Wood, employed to exploit the wonder. 



1 See &quot;The Cardiff Giant Humbug,&quot; Fort Dodge, Iowa, 1870, p. 13. 



2 For a picture, both amusing and pathetic, of the doings of this man, and 

 also of life in the central New York villages, see &quot;David Harum,&quot; a novel by 

 E. N. Westcott, New York, 1898. 



