478 MISCELLANEOUS KECOLLECTIONS-I 



wasted by age ; that it was then dotted or pitted over with 

 minute pores by means of a leaden mallet faced with 

 steel needles ; that it was stained with some preparation 

 which gave it an appearance of great age; that it was 

 then shipped to a place near Binghamton, New York, and 

 finally brought to Cardiff and there buried. It was fur 

 ther stated that Hull, in order to secure his brother-in- 

 law, Farmer Newell, as his confederate in burying the 

 statue, had sworn him to secrecy ; and, in order that the 

 family might testify that they had never heard or seen 

 anything of the statue until it had been unearthed, he 

 had sent them away on a little excursion covering the 

 time when it was brought and buried. All these facts 

 were established by affidavits from men of high character 

 in Iowa and Illinois, by the sworn testimony of various 

 Onondaga farmers and men of business, and, finally, by 

 the admissions and even boasts of Hull himself. 



Against this tide of truth the good people who had 

 pinned their faith to the statue those who had vested 

 interests in it, and those who had rashly given solemn 

 opinions in favor of it struggled for a time desperately. 

 A writer in the i l Syracuse Journal expressed a sort of 

 regretful wonder and shame that &quot;the public are asked 

 to overthrow the sworn testimony of sustained witnesses 

 corroborated by the highest scientific authority&quot; the 

 only sworn witness being Farmer Newell, whose testi 

 mony was not at all conclusive, and the highest scientific 

 authority being an eminent local dentist who, early in 

 his life, had given popular chemical lectures, and who had 

 now invested money in the enterprise. 



The same writer referred also with awe to &quot;the men 

 of sense, property, and character who own the giant and 

 receive whatever revenue arises from its exhibition&quot;; 

 and the argument culminated in the oracular declaration 

 that &quot;the operations of water as testified and interpreted 

 by science cannot create falsehood. * 



1 See letter of &quot;X&quot; in the &quot;Syracuse Journal,&quot; republished in 

 the Fort Dodge Pamphlet, pp. 15 and 16. 



