THE CARDIFF GIANT -1869 -1870 477 



had accrued, a considerable number of people, most of 

 them very good people, had taken stock in the new en 

 terprise, and anything which discredited it was unwel 

 come to them. 



It was not at all that these excellent people wished to 

 countenance an imposture, but it had become so entwined 

 with their beliefs and their interests that at last they 

 came to abhor any doubts regarding it. A pamphlet, 

 * l The American Goliath, was now issued in behalf of the 

 wonder. On its title-page it claimed to give the &quot;His 

 tory of the Discovery, and the Opinions of Scientific Men 

 thereon.&quot; The tone of the book was moderate, but its 

 tendency was evident. Only letters and newspaper ar 

 ticles exciting curiosity or favoring the genuineness of 

 the statue were admitted; adverse testimony, like that 

 of Professor Marsh, was carefully excluded. 



Before long the matter entered into a comical phase. 

 Barnum, King of Showmen, attempted to purchase the 

 6 1 giant, but in vain. He then had a copy made so nearly 

 resembling the original that no one, save, possibly, an 

 expert, could distinguish between them. This new statue 

 was also exhibited as &quot;the Cardiff Giant,&quot; and thencefor 

 ward the credit of the discovery waned. 



The catastrophe now approached rapidly, and soon 

 affidavits from men of high character in Iowa and Illi 

 nois established the fact that the figure was made at Fort 

 Dodge, in Iowa, of a great block of gypsum there found ; 

 that this block was transported by land to the nearest 

 railway station, Boone, which was about forty-five miles 

 distant; that on the way the wagon conveying it broke 

 down, and that as no other could be found strong enough 

 to bear the whole weight, a portion of the block was cut 

 off ; that, thus diminished, it was taken to Chicago, where 

 a German stone-carver gave it final shape; that, as it 

 had been shortened, he was obliged to draw up the lower 

 limbs, thus giving it a strikingly contracted and agonized 

 appearance ; that the under side of the figure was grooved 

 and channeled in order that it should appear to be 



