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About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (July 6, 1911)
Itza/t e Hoe _or THE ITZAS Br SYLVANUS G. TiffTPT FY ~n i •X : bei... iii«- 4iic0ier> of America ih*-r* Oc ia southern Mexico. Iil< ■ In. itl parts of Huiluoi a great iM. iBtica. which has been caU <4 the Maya U «nay be said at tbe acfset uititout x*g*eratiot that this .•wiliutint had reached a heigh* •OadM by w other peep!-* of the • Mara *m -Uphero p io; to the corn •t« of the white *iaa. la arct Hectare ia ecuIptwre mad ia priatiai the Mayas esrefied Their j .“teste were rdrusuom of tw. mear ability, hat .«■*■ r*«4 sad rw-arded without oe aid of in UfaeVa 'Of prceMas- .u m as are ha*, it it to us «*•< ! -ra'hs of (be Solar acd Vsiei rear# and psobtM r the bag'i- of I be Mercery aid Mar roars la addition to this they L*>. dei eloped » cei-wdar syateoi and perfe* -d a * brctti*!o*y wfci -h la mono of its chart. tertsik way snpe nor n ear sea TV the Mrini cittfT uf this people t -o U«y «**• i-a i4i* Their star had act. The.: greai -* cm -*» had to** abandoned and lay in ndw. wad h*4» rwoatry was promt rated by the qua: "*• d • scare wr nun- of petty tauer-ender: ibxAhH, each of abuts mas waging war on the .. fees Bte» the tw*waor> ««f the older c!t •e*. d their ralt-it. sorb a* Paleeqoe. t'opan «wd far » _*j*|4e seeoiv ;<• hit past 'd ft wo the tatad of iu«. *1 etr farat: rihtncr < • c • -a Khattae pr.ruew-# acd Internet m tdeide ore aJ so*d ft. hoie bees .uw r butory k'tae« ’a the 4er.> and eeiijioe which overtook >«<•• hrttiam aboriginal rtiniiitlo" seven.: Wh* before the *pgr -■ ' L t i-e. ~*~ — t*t •■%«*» jr the targea*. *«mi - tutf r the Qu>i u gulf * *s*. af Che rwt'Md mie> *he apma.--b « satjj»r •*»» Inal am their amt at u, *■ tmm anas Chi rhea fitta. * '»■**! * Stark nr* ta its 1-Mbtua there stilt oita* • r a »h» >«bd sradukta* of foasaer uadlt; aid apiea dw The Baste <~k-he« Itxa *» Hsta aad strap* ch aiek ' Vt-sdb aat kza • he saar of the Kata irthr rh * S*t«d ta the aeidabor (••*« af she tdare. "Ttw h»Mt af he Waits of tfe* I'tt <f" 'heeafere ta (he tw srnjac at (he spate; nor fel a autre appropriate am# hare harp applied Ut the piare hjr mar people Th# irhaie prxttaeola of * a- >im m a vast tune* toor lormanoa a.tu .t t • wrfaca «Urr One ild travel (nr <o«i-» aad athv and sever cross river or brook. ■m -res r*a»re upon a modest spring indeed .« t.« MflMn part, where most of the great tamed rtties are lorated. wafer iw t feet I. me the surface af the ground The modern vhsabeb'i Merraar this difficulty b| met. ns W arils and windmills, shirk afford the only ■ inne <d water supply during the dry wi se lerralwr ta June* exrep*Ing what H'tle safer assy ha»e been caught durizg the tmmr wmto and stored In cisterns. Mv trf weds and aindwilla the am ten* Ms' a* knee nothing aad. generally speaking had «* uut been (or the great natural reservoirs whj-b nature had scattered hew and there oerr the <ountry Yucatan never could hate hers, . udoatred. These great natural wells, or. as the Mayas •r ><•-«. ccwotea. are found all over Yucatan. Ta-. ace usually shout 1M feet in diameter, or . j • era muhr. aad about 7* feet in depth to the nd of tnr water. Geologists say that is rant«a are places where the limestone r««. which everywhere covers the surface at «uratan. haa become weakened by the of aabferraaeaa waters ana has cai laps'd of l«a own weight, forming great sink boom tar natural wells on a large scale. And a. r* II Is clear why the ancient inhabitants af l niches tu* as named their city. In the ».iw of t'jrir aaaderiags. the general trend *al which was aurthward. the Itzas. entering Ya ataa (rva the south, finally reached the . pi remote*, around which Chichen Iua late' was le.itt. but which then waa probably noth tag but wilderness. Mere the striking contrast •4 «d--d by such aa abundance of water in a ■ sue try so generally parched could not fail to bar— slimmed their attention The plar« mat i.a.-e ufsmad ta the thirsty wanderers a God gtsen rite for (he iocs'too of their nea home. Hi right of discover* they claimed the place, aad tv the city which crew up around the cen wtvw 'hey gate the same of Chichen Itza. ‘ The Mwwtb of the Weds of the Itsas " The two rroolM U Cttlrhri Itu have been k»w* by the Mayas from lime immemorial a> the Ceaate Crande mad the Ccnote Sacra ■» *ue large ('rant* and tk* Barren Ceaote. re lye’i.py The first of these unly la former av used for the water supply of the •4‘t. >he Sacred Ceeote being reserved for re <igtaas war esdusiiely It Is the Utter, bow etwr. sad tbs rvUgtous observances held in • awsrtlao with It. which gave the city Its Lady character' From far and near all over fwcatsa. aad prihably even from points more were made to the Sacred It aswsas to have been the most holy of the Maya people, comparable only tm Usportaare ta the Mohammedan Mecca and <W "briatlan Jerusalem fa time of drought af all kiado wore thrown into it— . aad la rases of extremity even 11* I oacrtficoa. Itxa today is somewhat changed In i 'rua the time when pilgrims came corn far aad aaar to appease with human sac i'fire the wrath of offeadod deities. Now the -ny Mew hurled ta a thick Jungle, which hit steadily won Ms wsy Into the very heart of the Jady |4es Colonnades have been over I'ams aad pyramids covered with trees to their summit. courts have been loot In a taagie of thorn and creepers; and palace* utrtppid of their sculptured embellishment. Iewuialioa baa spread everywhere in the aak* at the eacroscblag vegetation Me the Vowighcr a Little Ad vice aa ta Whan ta Make ' tJoa't," aaid tuehr * ram to bit hwpefwi yooog oepbew, "make any maielMi daedal ow a bee you're tired Whew we're turd we want to get tbo gai Mina aattltd aad we re ready to o»eLe warnaaina* to gtre cay. r.nd .Le -the? ceaa It cere to get the bet t#t <-e «e Unde Hiram to His Nephew T/tf CA5772.10 Qfi CASTJ.T f/YO v/£tv or r/t£ ffO/ft/A 5 Qtf ST0rtA5Tf/?Y To % isit the ancient city now. one jolts for 5 long and weary miles in a two-wheeled cov ered ait drawn by three mules over the rough er kind of a highway imaginable. This pres ent Mu-onvenieoce fortunately is not to be one of long standing. A new and straight road Is about <• be built and an automobile service to •he ruins probably established, which will shorten the present length of the trip from Jour hours to about half an hour. Now. how ever this ride from Citas, the nearest railroad point seems interminable. The road, so all h1 by courtesy only, winds through the im p«ne'rabie bush, which everywhere in the nat •ral state covers northern Yucatan. Through this the creaking cart finds a dubious way mile e.t-e mile until every muscle in one's body groans an agonized protest. Finally, when it seem? thai the limit of physical endurance has been reached, the cart suddenly lurches around a sharp turn in the road and as if by magic the lofty Castillo flashes into view, towering ugh above the plain and the rest of the city !n its lonelj- magnificence. This imposing structure, the highest in Yu catan, rises 78 feet above the plain. The pyramid on which the temple stands is 195 J**t long on each side at the base and covers about an acre of ground. The Castillo would seem to have been the • enter of the ancient city, and probably Its • hief sanctuary. To the north lies the Sacred i'eno’e and tlie causeway, just mentioned. eadiug to it. On the east Is a vast group of buildings, colonnades, courts and pyramids. The City of a Thousand Columns,” as some one has picturesquely described It. Due west Is the group of structures known as the Ball Court. To the south for half a mile or more, si altered through the jungle, are pyramids, courts, temples and palaces. The central lo cation of the Castillo with reference to all of 'bese. as well as its great size and command ng height, argue strongly that it was the • hief sanctuary of the Holy City. Another interesting group of structures at ■'hichen Itza. perhaps slightly less sacred In * baracter than the Castillo, Is the so-called ' Kail Court." mentioned above as lying Just west of the Castillo. This, group is composed of two parallel masses of solid masonry, each 272 feet long, 27 feet high and 16 feet wide, placed 119 feet apart from each other. These two great walls, for such they really are, form a court nearly 100 feet long by 119 feet wide. High on the side of each at the middle point from end to end there is attached a stone ring four feet in diameter with a hole through it. These rings are fastened to thnlr respec tive walls by tenons of. stone, and are so placed that the surface of each is perpendicu lar to the vertical face of the wall. The ar rangement is very similar to the baskets in our modern game of basket ball, except that at ("hichen Itza the "baskets" have their open ings perpendicular to the ground, while in our game the openings in the baskets are parallel with the ground. To make a basket at the ' hichen Itza court a somewhat horizontal •hrow. as in baseball, was necessary, while nowadays It is a toss that wins the goal. At the open ends of the court formed by these two walls stand temples, which in effect inclose the area, definitely marking its boun daries. On top of the east wail, at its south ern end. there is a beautiful temple, which affords a commanding view of the entire court. This has been called "The House of the Tigers.” because of a frieze of stalking tigers, which is sculptured In alto-relievo around the “W» often hear It said that it’s a good thing when in doubt about any thing to sleep on it, and this is sound advice. The general theory of the benefits to be derived from sleeping on a question Is that sleep clarifies the mind, but In coming to a settlement about a thing the most important ad vantage that we find In sleeping on it lies in the renewed strength that sleep gives os. It renews our cour age, makes us ready not to give way but to stand up and fight and fit and able to light. “Don’t be in a terrible hurry to set tle things. Stevey. anyway. There are times when you must s’~ike when the Iron is hot, but as a general proposi tion don’t be Impatient to get things settled; it's the man able to keep cool and wait and let the other fel low do the worrying that generally gets the biggest piece of the cake “We may meet occasionally a man of high and unbroken continuous V/£W Of T££fPL£ CAllOJ C/Z/C/fA/YC/ZQS pasvopajva or r/f£ MAm arcr/c»r/v jtza outside of the building. This temple contains also on the walls of an interior room, an elab orate mural painting representing an attack by some enemy upon a city, perhaps Chichen Itza itself, and its defense by the inhabitants. Some of the poses taken by the combatants in the conflict are extremely realistic; such as in the throwing of ,'avelins. the swinging of war clubs, and the like. This bit of mural decora tion in The House of The Tigers at Chichen Itza probably marks the high-water mark of aboriginal painting in the Western Hemi sphere; at least it is superior to everything else that has survived. The identification of these two great walls and the temples associated with them, as a ball court, rests on firm historic foundation. When the Spanish first came to Mexico they found the natives playing a game of ball, which was of sufficient importance to have a spe cial court or ground set apart for its exclu sive use. Several of the early Spanish writers have described the game in some detail, and all agree as to its having played an important part in the life of the people. One chronicler has it that the object of the game was to strike the ball so that it would pass through the opening in the stone ring above mentioned as an important feature of the Chichen Itza court. He adds that the feat was one of con siderable dexterity, since the ball could not be hit »ith the bands, but that the hips or other parts of the body had to be used instead. This rule of the game very materially in creased the difficulty in making a "Maya bas ket;” so much so, in fact, we are told, that the lucky player making this winning stroke had forfeit to him as a reward for his skill all the clothing and ornaments of the spectators. At such times, the chronicler concludes, the spectators were wont tc- scatter in all direc tions without loss of time, hoping thus to es cape paying the penalty, but that the friends of the lucky player immediately gave chase and endeavored to exact the full forfeit. Although the name Ball Court has been giv en to this group of temples at Chichen Itza. it should not be supposed on that account, that this great court was built primarily for sport. Such an explanation of its fundamental purpose is incompatible with any conception which the American aborigine ever seems to have entertained. To the Itza people the chief function of their Ball Court was doubtless a religious one. Games played there, if not actually held in connection with religious fes tivals, were at least sufficiently religious in their meaning as to completely overshadow the element of sport as we understand the term. That a game was played in which com petition and skill entered in cannot be doubt ed in the face of contemporaneous evidence, and to this extent perhaps tne Mexican Ball Courts were athletic fields; but it must not be forgotten for a moment that its true signifi cance was religious, and that the games which were played there probably were held only in connection with religious festivals. It is not improbable, however, that the Aztecs were breaking away from the religious feature of sport at the time of the Spanish Conquest, but that "The Holy Men of the Itzas,” as the peo ple of Chichen Itza are sometimes called in the early manuscripts, had taken any such a radical step Is little short of Inconceivable, so religious in character was the whole Maya civilization. To the east of the Castillo lie a great group of courts, pyramids and colonnades. "The City of a Thousand Columns.’' already mentioned. courage, but not often; the biggest of men hare heart sag at times, though they may not show It; we are all hu man and much alike under the skin if that’s any comfort to you; we all hare our moods; times when we are buoyant and happy and times when we are low In spirits and depressed. “Don't, Sterey. settle things when you are feeling low and dissplrited. You’ll take a different view when you come back, as you inevitably will, to the summit ’’Let your decisions be made. BI//ID/AO CAIjLBD r/ff/GLft5/A, OP CJil/Pm Here desolation is wide spread. it seems as though an earthquake must have shaken the Itza capital at some time. How after row of col umns have been over turned and now lie pros trate within a foot of their original positions. Perhaps a capital or a drum here and there is broken, but for the most part the stones lie just where they fell. In its entirety this section of the city must have presented an iiu[losing appearance, being literally a forest of columns surrounding and connecting the various courts. As to the use of these great colonnades, tradition and his tory are equally silent. Some think that they ! were the law courts of the ancient city, where justice was administered and punishment meted out. Others say that they were the market places, where the produce of the sur rounding country was bought and sold. This latter explanation has one strong recommenda tion in its favor in that the descendants of the builders of the ancient city of Yucatan, the present Maya Indians, still hold their mar kets under the portals surrounding the plazas in the towns and villages throughout the coun try today. South of the Cenote Grande there are a num ber of well-preserved structures, most of them presenting beautifully sculptured facades. Tc these fanciful names have been given, which probably have little or nothing to do with the original uses o? the buildings. One large structure, for example, has been called “The Akabtzlb." The name is Maya and means "The House of the Dark Writing.'* This build*i ing was so called, because of the fact that i over one of Its interior doorways there is a | lintel inscribed with hieroglyphs. This lintel i is so placed that the hieroglyphics can. only \ be seen by artificial light, hence the name, "The House of the Dark Writing.** Nearby is j a round tower, with but one exception the only structure of its kind in the Maya area. This is called "The Caraco.” Caracol is the Spanish word for snail, and since the interior circular corridor and spiral stairway of this structure bear some remote resemblance to the convolutions of a snail shell, the name was applied to the building. The Manjos (Spanish for monastery) is perhaps the most beautiful ! building at Chichen Itza. It Is composite, ! showing three different periods of construction, i The above are only a few of the many strnc- j tures at Chichen Itza. But in all directions for J several miles the brush is strewn with ruins. Crumbling walls and jungle-ridden courts are to be encountered on every side: disintegration so far advanced that these once splendid pal aces and temples are now but little more than shapeless mounds of fallen masonry. The total area covered by ruins which may be assigned ‘ to this center of primitive population has been j estimated by some as high as ten square miles. ; That larger Maya cities yet remain to be dis covered now seem highly improbable so thor oughly has the general exploration of the area been done. Consequently we may affirm with but little hesitation that “The Holy City of the Itzas'* was the largest and most important of the Maya civilization and probably of abor iginal America aa well. THE SIGH FOR LEISURE. Lives there the man who has not sighed lor leisure? And lives there the man who in his more sober moments, has not been honestly glad that he must work? Human nature, which sweetens under toil, sours In leisure. And It Is by no means sure that the fall from Innocence which first brought work into the world “and all our woe" was not bringing salvation dis guised aa labor. Faithfulness will dignify and beautify even drudgery; no Lnatter what the work is, provldecf it is honest, if it is done well it commards our instinctive respect. Besides, if we did not all have to work so hard to keep alive the jails would have standing room only. Stevey, not when you are tired or de pressed but when you are fit and strong, and pride and habit will make you live up to their " His Trade-Mark. “I wish yon didn’t have such a flat and plebeian nose, papa," said the aristocratic young daughter of the plain old merchant “That’s the mark of the grindstone, my dear.” replied the plodding old mao. From a hungry newsboy on the streets of Y.'asbington to the presiden cy of the youngest republic in the world is the remarkable record of Dick Ferris of Los Angeles. Coinci dentally with the revolution in Mexico headed by Madero there broke out a revolt against Mexican authority in Lower California and one of those who encouraged it and helped to finance it was Ferris. A filibustering expedition fitted out by Ferris left Sail Francisco for Lower California and without much of a struggle the weakened au tbority of Mexico was overthrown and the republic of Lower California cre ated. Of this new republic Ferris ha* been elected president. Ferris was a “newsy” on the streets of Washington twenty years ago and found the battle of life a hard one. One cold night after he had sold a pa per or two on a street car he was in jured while stepping oft and one of his arms was broken. One of those who took an Interest in the lad was the late Frank Hatton, a passenger on the oar and then the publisher of a Washington paper. He had the boy removed to a hospital and later took such an In terest in him that he provided means for his education. Ferris was a quick and ambitious youth and turned out a credit to his benefactor. After leaving school he turned his attention to the stage. He formed a stock company in Minneapolis which proved the foundation of his fortune. Later he went to Los Angeles, where his theatrical ventures proved success ful. He then turned his attention to other venture*, investing heavily in oil and fruit orchards, and rapidly accumulated wealth. Last fall he entered the arena of politics and was a candidate for lieutenant governor on an independent ticket. Now he finds himself the president of a full-fledged republic, which may not prove ephemeral COOKE DECLARED NOT GUILTY Edgar S. Cooke, who was found not guilty of embezzling $24,000 from the Big Four railway, was formerly local treasurer of the road In Cincinnati and was well known in railroad cir cles. The belief is that the judge's charge helped to free Cooke, Judge Hunt declaring the testimony of Mrs. Ford and of Warriner only made them equally guilty if Cooke were guilty. Cooke was the last of those indict ed in connection with the $643,000 shortage of Charles L. Warriner, Cin cinnati treasurer of the road, to be tried. First Warriner, indicted on nu merous charges, pleaded guilty to one charging the embezzlement of $5,000. He was sentenced to six years in prison. Then Mrs. Jeannette Stewart-Ford. accused of blackmailing Warriner, was tried in February, 1910. The jury in her case disagreed. Finally, after many delays, Cooke succeeded in having his case brought into court and the most sensational trial of the series ensued. Cooke sat impassive as the tortcal verdict was read, but Mrs. Cooke, who had been at his side for days, buried her face in her hands and then approached the jurors and shook each one by the hand. Later Cooke's face brightened and. with tears of joy in his eyes, he clasped the hand of his attorney, Charles W. Baker, and approached the attaches of the court. “I told you I would not be around here long after the jury went out,” he said with a broad smile. An indictment against Cooke for having received $100 of stolen money still remains, but it Is not probable that any action will be taken by the prose cutor. According to one of the jurors a verdict could have been returned a con siderable time before it was reported, but the jurymen were interested in reading the letters from Cooke to Mrs. Ford which were offered in evidence. It is understood that the jury was unable to find any actual evidence of Cooke’s having embezzled money and that the destruction of the cash books which he kept had great weight with the jurors. GOULD OUT AS ROAD’S HEAD The recent abdication of George Gould from the presidency of the Mis souri Pacific the keynote of the fam ily's great system of roads, was a con fession that the fight of nineteen years with himself on one side and Harriman, the New York Central, Pennsylvania, Baltimore & Ohio and other'big railroads on the other, has ended in defeat. In the language of Wall street, “they've got” George Gould. The fight against George Gould wai waged ever since his father died in December, 1892, with Intermission His first heavy battle was when he met Edward H. Harriman and Edwin Hawley in a fight for control of the Colorado Fuel and Iron company ir 1902. Without much difficulty he worsted them, but that fight was to have great influence on his future ca reer, for it was then that he began the feud with Harriman that with rare intervals of truce lasted until the letters death and even afterward through the survival of the Harriman tradition. The next time Gould and Harriman joined battle was in 1903. Gould planned, as his father had planned, to be the owner of the first transcontin ental system and in 1903 he made the boast that within 18 months he would have his system from ocean to ocean complete. But the interests opposed to him were too powerful and his moves were checkmated. The panic of 1907 sent four of his roads into the hands of receivers—the Western Mary Ia)d the Wabash-Pittsburg Terminal, the Wheeling & Lake Erie and the In ternational & Great Northern. Still he did not give up. But after this the fight on his side was a losing one and for more than a year it was the be lief in Wall street that the end of his control of the Missouri Pacific was in •sight. PROMINENT WESTERN SENATOR It is said that the Pacific Coast Dem-* ocrats may offer Francis G. Newlands, United States from Nevada, as a can didate for the presidential nomination. Mr. Newlands. who is now serving his second term in the senate, is a Mississipplan and was born in the old city of Natchez in the summer of 1848, He entered Yale college in 1863, dur ing the civil war, and remained until the middle of his Junior year in 1866; later he studied law at what is now the George Washington university, was admitted to the bar in Washing ton and went to San Francisco to prac tice. He removed his office to Reno, Nevada, in 1888, and since has been recognized as one of the ablest and most influential leaders in his stats. He served ten years in the house of representatives and was a member of the Democratic minority of the committees on irrigation. foreign affairs, banking and currency and ways and means, wnere ne was awe to participate actively In the most im portant legislation of the period and did his share in framing two tariff law and a currency law, and was the author of the existing reclamation act w hich he introduced in the house of representatives March 14, 1898 entitled "A bill for the construction of reservoirs in the arid regions.” Mr Newlanri is a protectionist Democrat and has been a long and persistent advocate r.i the free coinage of silver. ••