Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 3.djvu/64

 of the exposure and for a time the public was in doubt, while the controversy among the newspapers brought increasing crowds to see for themselves. Newspaper reporters were sent to Fort Dodge who followed the story of the pamphlet step to step from the quarry on Gypsum Creek to the artist who carved it into the statue, from there to Union, New York, and to Newell’s farm where it was buried.

The controversy which arose over the remarkable “Giant” was not by any means confined to the owners, the newspapers of the day and people who had traveled hundreds of miles to view the “petrified man”; but the Popular Science Monthly, The Galaxy, Silliman’s Journal and most of the magazines of that period contained learned and critical articles upon the “remarkable discovery,” presenting many theories as to the origin, antiquity and character of the colossal figure which was puzzling the scientific world.

The genius for deception displayed by George Hull, the author of this the most successful fraud, was shown in the selection of a block of gypsum lying partly in the creek where, for thousands of years, erosion had been going on. In having the statue carved, Mr. Hull instructed the artist to leave the portions of the block showing the erosion on the back and left side of the giant to prove its great antiquity. It was this erosion more than anything else which deceived Prof. Hall and other scientists and proved to their satisfaction that the giant gave evidence of “great antiquity.” Prof. O. C. Marsh of Yale College and Andrew D. White, first President of Cornell University, were among the early visitors at the Newell farm to investigate the famous “Stone Giant” and they were not deceived. President White in an article on “The Cardiff Giant,” in the October (1902) number of the Century Magazine, says, in writing of the examinations made by Dr. Woolworth of the New York State University and Dr. James Hall: