| Show WARS OF THE AND U ag frea frequent luent mention is made in the or annals of the book of mormon of atch teli towers and observation stations jad we select the subjoined sub joined from berou notices of the remains of merou iner oui W claw class of works found upon the faw of the country f aho the second class of military militar y works which va are exceedingly numerous on all ohp watercourses water courses existing not only on th asie ohio and mississippi but on all their especially on the 1 juni om scioto miami wabash illinois and minor streams are mounds which seve serve as out oat looks these wore ere always alway placed in positions to com F casad extended views view 9 and from which 1 va 11 I 1 could be given to still others of she 1 same character or probably to settle y ments remote from the watercourses water courses SIA A system oystein of those these works no doubt extended north of dayton ohio on the areat reat maimi river to the ohio southward ond and connected with wilh the great settlement on the site of cincinnati and with the begh bluffs on the kentucky shore the rest reat maund at ten miles routh oath of dayton formed a part of this bain there is little doubt that the mound nd builders in the latter period of r occupancy of this region when apprehensive reben sive of danger from their ene J alea employed a system of signal telegraph by which communication was had through means of batoh fires or the torch between localities as aa distant as those now occupied by dayton and cincinnati cin ein nati 19 john T short north americans of antiquity p 52 these signal stations placed on lofty summits and visible from these settlements and communicating with the great watercourses water courses at immense distances rival the signal systems in use at the beginning of the jp present resent con century and there are evidences that the watchers upon those lofty towers in all probability made use of instruments of a telescopic character to aid the power of the natural eye we have accounts of the discovery of tablets notably the davenport and cincinnati tablets tabletop giving incontestable proofs that scientific astronomy was well understood by the mound builders and if so they must have pursued the study of that grand science by the aid of a powerful apparatus mr short mentions antique tubes telescopic Devi devices evs being discovered in the valley of ohio mr schoolcraft says several tubes of atone were discovered the longest measured twelve inches the shortest eight three of them were carved out of steatite being skillfully fully cut and polished the diameter of the tube externally was one inch and four tenths the bore eight tenths of an inch 69 A silver figure found in peru represents s a man in the act of studying the heavens through one of these tubes and captain duplx saw a stone in mexico bearing the figure of a man sculptured on its it side in the act of using one of these tubes baldwins baldvins Bald wins ancient america p 42 quoted on pp ap 1223 3 11 col whittlesey in the of the state arch soc ch 4 has figured several symmetrical tubes of stone from ohio mounds the most perfect of these he says may have served ae telescopic helps for distant views C the huron states were most frequently employed in the manufacture of tubes I 1 as they were in the manufacture of the class of objects known as ceremonial relics in the preface to his book mr short takes occasion to t say that the growing interest in the origin iiii migrations i actions and life odthe races of american antiquity led him to write and present his bis work to the world ho he there gives a copious list of authors from whom he be drew the materials for the body of his colu yolu volume me among other books be made free use of Ban crofts native rabes P and on pp ap 5 of his bier own book quotes Ban crofts account of the colonization of north ame america raba as given in the book of mormon short characterizes the book of mormon as that pretentious fraud and adds the claim that the numerous tumuli scattered over the face of the country cover the remains of hundreds of thousands of warriors who fell in their deadly strife merits mention only on the ground of its romantic character and not on the supposition for a moment that it contains a grain of truth and yet he never read the book but says himself that he drew his notice from Ban crofts book and bancroft probably never read the book of mormon for he translated his account from bertrand bertranda Bert rands Is memoirs pp ap 82 the account quoted by short is the following the book of mormon attributes the colonization of north america soon after the confusion of tongues to a people called Jared ites who by divine guidance reached our shores in eight vessels and developed a high state of civilization on our SOIL the first colonists however became extinct about six centuries B 0 because of their social sins the jared ites were followed by a second calou colony Y this time of israelites who left jerusalem in the first year of the reign of zedekiah king of juda they reached the indian ocean by following the shores of the red sea where they built a vessel which bore them across the pacific to the western coast of south america having arrived in the now new land of promise Prom iee they separated into two parties called Nep hites bates and Laman IAma itee respectively after their leaders they grew to be great nations and colonized north america also religious strife sprang up between the two nations because of the wickedness of the Lama the neph however adhered to tb their religious traditions onis and the worship of the true god christ appeared in the new world and by his administrations converted many of both peoples to him but towards the close of the fourth century of mour era both Neph Nep hites itea and Lama tama backslid backslide back slid in faith and became involved in war with each other which resulted in extermination of the former people the numerous tumuli scattered over the f face see of the country cover the remains of the hundreds of thousands of warriors warriors who fell in their deadly strife mormon and his son moroni the last of the neph ites who escaped by concealment deposited by divine command the annals of their ancestors the book of mormon written on tablets in the hill of cumorah ontario county now new york in the vicinity of which the last battles of these relentless enemies took place this is the account which john T short without giving any reason Tron pronounces ounces a pretentious fraud but why this account of the early settlement of america is not worthy of an equal amount of respectful attention and investigation with the score and upwards of other theories of prehistoric pre historic origin of american races cited by him to is inconceivable after an inter interesting bating description of the he military defenses mounds citadels weapons etc mr makes a pen picture of an ancient american battle nothing No he says of a warlike character coald exceed the grandeur of a fight maintained from the base to the summit of one of the tremendous teo calis call or pyramids we may suppose then gathered from their more scattered work of ruin and circling with yells of fury the immediate precincts crecine to of the mound while the rushing multitude fly from their burning habitations toward their last resort the g goal aa I 1 legal is gained ned the first who reach it ascend to its top rank after rank succeed till in frightful circles of ferocious warriors the whole pyramid to is but one living hven mass I 1 of lury fury now the a nemy enemy cows come pouring g round as a deluge and be begirt girt th tola final refuge of the waiting populace while warrior facing warrior each moment fells fella his thousands by the noiseless death slab of the dirk of copper while from the ranks above the silent but vengeful arrow does its work of death here from the strong arm and well practiced practical sling stones with furious whizzing through the air cover in showers the distant squadron Equa dron with dismay circle after circle at the base both of invader and invaded fall together in glorious ruin now the top where waved such signals of defiance as rude nations could invent becomes thinned of its defenders who pressing downward as the lower ranges are out in pieces renew their fight now the farthest circle of the enemy near the fatal contra centre now the destinies of conflicting nations draw nigh those of the pyramid have thrown their last stone the quiver is emptied of its arrows arrow ii the last spear of flint and battle axe have fled with well directed aim amid the throng surrender captivity slavery and death wind up the account a tribe become extinct whose bones when heaped together make a new pyramid such doubtless is 19 the he origin of many of the frightful heaps of human bones found scattered over all the west JOHN H KELSON |
