Show finds death trees feared by indians tribesmen also claim aid in gambling trees of death gnarled shrubs which are held in superstitious awe by indians have been discovered in a lonely canyon john W hilton authority on desert lore has disclosed that he found the trees after a long fight to overcome superstitious fears of indians the sap of the tree of death or elephant tree is believed by the cahuilla indians to be a deadly poison for doing away with enemies quietly clui etly mr hilton said they also believe he said that in the hands of medicine men it can drive away evil spirits and that if pr prepared and used properly it gives e extra tra keen perception in playing pion plon an and dother other gambling games the recently discovered trees are believed to be the farthest north on record knowing better than to ask direct questions about the fabled trees I 1 had to wait until some indian told me about the whole affair mr hilton said finally the son in law of a very old and powerful medicine man claimed to know where the tree was and agreed to lead me to the spot for 5 high up in the canyon we stopped but the indian saying that the wind was blowing toward us from the tree took a zigzag zig zag course up a mountain so as to approach the tree from behind but our search was fruitless the guide decided that the tree did not wish to be found and we went home later however a young educated indian took me directly to the tree the indian guide stabbed the trunk of the tree and a blood like substance oozed out mr hilton then carefully plucked sample sprouts from the bush and took them to the government date gardens at india where experts identified them as micro phylla or elephant tree |