NOAH'S DIARY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 70, 21 March 1908, Page 13

NOAH'S DIARY.

A REMARKABLE SWINDLE. | Through an alleged copy of Noah's diary, j upon a copper table, said to have been dug ' up ii Michigan, having hoeu offered for sale i Ito a Wisconsin collector, one of the clever-I jest relic swindles of recent years has been J uncovered. An ex-Secretary of State is said , .to be Implicated in the affair, and with him are a University museum curator and some' i Michigan men. J The enterprise consisted in manufacturing ancient relics out of Michigan cop-! 'per, coloiiriug them green to represent ver- ; digris by dipping them in corrosive acid, i and burying them iv mounds. Then they ; were dug up by relic hunting expeditions. ', [under tht leadership of the promoter*. ! j ihe affidavits of prominent citizens that : I they bad seen the relics dug out of the ground were sufficient to secure their sale jto credulous collectors, no oue dreaming ;that the pre-bistoric age might have been only eieveu mouths before. Indian copper implements, battle axes and leaf copper, I well tempered spear heads and other sup-! posed rare and anciently corroded relics i which have been treasured in Michigan! joad outside museums are declared to be bogus, with the result that all colieeiioc« of the sort aie thrown under more or less i 1 suspicion. I The relic manufacturers branched off ! from Indian relics. They went so far as' ;to dig- up, in the presence of reputable ; witnesses, bronze tablets inscribed with : iiieroplyphlcs aud symbols, giving an ac- j count of tbe deluge and the building of tiie I Tower of Babel. The diary of Xoah was offered to a wealthy man of Wisconsin, who asked the advlci- of a museum curator about accepting I UK offer. This muu had had consider- i jable experience with fakes, and warned the I relic patron to beware, n beiher the relic ! tiually u-as soid cuuuot be learned. • ;