Osage Giant Indians
FROM THE ALTAR OF THE DIM PAST: TULSA WORKMEN UNCOVER MANY SKELETONS WHILE EXCAVATING IN OSAGE.
A MASS OF HUMAN BONES
Victims Were Apparently Indians
Bullet Hole Through Skull Told Mute Story.
The skeletons of five men, apparently Indians, were uncovered yesterday on the farm of Colonel C. B. Lynch, north of Tulsa, by laborers engaged in digging a cellar and sewer ditch. News of the discovery was brought to Tulsa by J. W. Syferd, 1406 South Carson, who is a contractor on the excavation job.
The farm is located two and one-half miles west and one mile north of Tulsa, in the Osage Nation. While excavating for the basement, the workmen dug up four skeletons. The skulls were all detached, and there was every indication that the bodies had been thrown into a hastily dug trench. The teeth were in perfect shape and white. None of them were decayed. All of the skeletons had very large jawbones and long thigh and arm bones, indicating that the men had been Indians of great size.
One skull found in the basement had a bullet hole in the front part. No evidence of wounds was found among the other bones.
In digging a sewer trench a short distance from the basement excavation, another skeleton was found, and the skulls of several others were found sticking out of the side of the ditch but were not uncovered. There may be a dozen or more bodies in the vicinity that have not been dug up.
That the Indians were buried there a long time ago was shown by the condition of the skeletons.
Old residents of the vicinity are at a loss to account for the discovery. They remember no wholesale killing in the Osage, and the slaughter must have taken place long before civilization had gotten this far. It was either a battle between warring Indian tribes or between Indians and white men.
Perhaps a band of sturdy “sooners” were attacked by the red men, killed and carried away, but not before they had thinned the ranks of the attacking force. It is not customary for Indians to bury their dead hastily in trenches, however, which shows that there must have been a cause for the Indians leaving the place in haste after firing had ceased and forced them to throw the dead into trenches.
Reading Eagle – September 12, 1922
Commentary:
The discovery of these giant Indian skeletons is truly remarkable and sheds light on a long-lost piece of history. The fact that the skeletons were found in such close proximity to each other suggests that they were part of a group that met a violent end, possibly in a battle between tribes or with the arrival of white settlers.
The size of the skeletons is particularly noteworthy, as it indicates that these Indians were of a much larger stature than those commonly seen today. It is also interesting to note the presence of a bullet hole in one of the skulls, which suggests that at least one of the individuals met a violent end.
It is unfortunate that the cause of the deaths of these individuals may never be known, but the discovery of these skeletons provides a unique glimpse into a forgotten piece of history. It is also possible that there are even more bodies in the vicinity that have yet to be discovered, which could lead to further discoveries and a better understanding of this ancient civilization. If these skeletons had not been lost or were found in a museum storage somewhere, they could have provided invaluable insight into the lives and customs of these giants of the past.
- Osage Giant Indians
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