306 HISTORICAL. FOOTPRINTS IN AMERICA. 



used by masons of a certain grade in the East, soon after the building 

 of the first temple by Solomon, and before the erection of the second,'* 

 — with much else equally wonderful; so that the Holy Ke\-Stone,, 

 as it was now designated, became an object of immense interest to 

 American free-masons. The discussions on the authenticity and signi- 

 ficance of the mound -version of the Decalogue fell with equal propriety 

 into the hands of divines, though not without other learned aid. The 

 Rev. J. W. McCarty, Rector of Tr nity Church, Newark, was the first 

 to interpret the mysterious characters. The Rev. Theodore Dwight 

 confirmed his interpretation, and proved the antiquity of the inscrip- 

 tion by references to Gesenius, comparisons with rare coins of the 

 Maccabees, and remarkable coincidences with the Samaritan version. 

 J. J. Benjamin, " perhaps the best Hebrew scholar now in this coun- 

 try, whose home is in the Turkish Province of Moldavia, and who is 

 now in this country for the purpose of prosecuting researches among 

 the Indians for evidences of the Lost Tribes," with the aid of an in- 

 terpreter, gave new readings ; until not a few rejoiced in the belief that 

 the veritable sepulchre of Moses had at length been discovered, — not 

 in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth Peor ; but in the 

 Newark valley, in the State of Ohio.* 



The favourite idea of finding the Lost Ten Tribes among the Red 

 Indians of the New World, which pervades Lord Kingsborough's ela- 

 borate work, and pla.yed a prominent part in the speculations of the 

 earlier American ethnologists and antiquaries, lies at the root of 

 this class of marvels. It retained its hold on the popular mind as long 

 as such subjects possessed any attractions ; and notices of the disco- 

 very of shekels and other Hebrew relics could be easily multiplied by 

 a little research in the files of Western American newspapers. The 

 Rev. George Dufl&eld, of Detroit, furnishes one account of a Hebrew 

 Shekel, found in Indiana among the bones supposed to have been 

 thrown out of an ancient mound; and conjectured to be of the time of 

 the Maccabees. f The discovery of a large hoard at Jerusalem, in recent 

 years, has rendered the silver shekel a coin by no means rare ; though 

 its appearance might well excite wonder, among the genuine contents 



* Cincinnati Commercial, July 12tb, I860; Nov 5tb, Tth, &c. Newark 

 North American, July 5th. I860, kc. Harper's Weekly Journal, Sept. 5th 1860. 

 New York Independent, March 14th, 1S61. j1 representation of the two stones, 

 with the characters inscribed on tlu'm, that were found by D. Wyriek, during the 

 swnmer of IS&O, near Newark, Ohio; &c., &C: 



t Schoolcraft's History of the Indians. Vol. iv. p. 149. 



