On the writer's second visit to Hansell, the latter was at his father's
farm. He stated that the photographs shown him were representations of
the stone, and said that he considered that he had been cheated. He
had had no idea of the stone's value, and declared that it was a "mean
trick," the purchase of all his relics--the stone included--for $2.50.
When it was explained to him that Mr. Paxon, the purchaser, had been as
ignorant as he in the matter at the time, he seemed satisfied.
On the third visit, February 10th, Hansell said:
I am sure that I found the large piece first, in the spring of
1872 (the year after my father bought the place--1871), and
while "ploughing for oats" in the "corner" field, and near the
corner where the by-road joins the Durham road--the roots of
the last year's corn crop had shortly before been harrowed out.
It was in April. When I saw it, it was lying on the top of the
ground, a little to one side of the furrow. I stopped and picked
it up; it seemed like "something different" from what I had ever
found before. It was dirty--dirt stuck to the stone; by rubbing,
I could see lines--"queer marks" over it. (When I afterward saw
it at Mr. Paxon's, the latter had "cleaned it.")
I am certain I saw an animal like an elephant on it before Mr.
Paxon saw the stone. I carried it around a day or two in my
pocket, and then put it in a box along with the other things;
and whatever arrow-heads and other relics I found, I would put
into the same box. The same day, I planted a corn-stalk into
the ground to mark the place--a shower might wash out something
else, I thought. I left the corn-stalk until the oats harvest,
and then threw a stone there, but I soon came to know the place
by heart. The box with the relics I kept locked up in my trunk,
and I took care to keep it locked,--there were so many boys
about. In the meantime, I was married. I showed the relics and
stone to my wife, but she would not remember the elephant on the
stone. I might have showed it to father, or might not, I am not
sure. He would not remember. In the same field, I and others
on the place found arrow-heads, coins (English and American
pennies), and a part of a tomahawk or banner stone (sold to Mr.
Paxon). I did not find any thing else in that field, but "gorget
stones" without inscriptions, and round stone balls, with
incisions on sides, were found near by.
In the spring of 1881, Mr. Paxon asked me whether I had any
Indian relics. I said that I had. I told him I would be at home
on Sunday, and he came the next Sunday afternoon--about May or
June, as nearly as I can recollect,--1881. I brought out the
box of relics, and told him that I would sell him the perfect
arrow-heads for ten cents, and the broken ones for five cents
apiece. I had a broken tomahawk and a piece of another, and I
laid them and the stone aside, and said I thought I would keep
them. But he did not take much interest in the rest, and said he
wanted all the relics. He did not look much at the arrow-heads,
but he picked up the stone and turned it around, and wet his
thumb and rubbed it. He did not say any thing about the stone.
I did not much want to sell him the stone, for I never saw any
thing like it before.
But he said he would take all the relics or none for $2.50. So
I let him have them. At the same time he asked me whether I had
not the other piece; perhaps I had, he said, and did not know
it. I told him that I had not.
About a month after that time, he came by on foot and asked me
whether I had found any thing more? I said that I had not. "If
you do," he said, "keep it and give me the first chance."
I always had the other piece in my mind, and when I went in the
field I used to look for it. I would walk around the spot in a
circle, for I thought some one might have picked it up and then
thrown it away again.
After we had cut the corn in the field, and as I went in to
husk, I happened to pass near the place--I always remember the
place,--I was thinking of the other piece, and was hardly in
the field before I picked it up. I noticed the marks and the
shape, and saw at once that it was the missing piece. It had
notches around the edges. I put it in my pocket and laid it in
the drawer. My wife never saw it. It was the little piece. I was
married then and in my own house, and there was nobody about the
house, so I did not lock it up.
This was in the fall--after the exhibition at Doylestown
(October), in 1881. When I went down to Mr. Paxon's father's,
Squire Paxon's, to pay my tax, on the 9th of November, 1881, I
took this piece along. Young Mr. Paxon was not at home, but I
waited till he came back. I said I had something "pretty nice"
for him, and showed him the missing piece. He thought when he
saw it that I would make him pay pretty dear for it, but I told
him that I would give it to him. I had not rubbed or cleaned it.
He put the pieces together and said "that is the missing piece."
He took me up to his room and gave me some minerals. I advised
him to glue the pieces together with "hickory cement." I had
some of this cement at home, and offered to give it to him.
The next spring I saw the stone again, all washed and cleaned.
It did not look altered--only clean and rubbed off. I saw it
again this February (1884), when you and Mr. Paxon came to see
me, and I saw no change in it.
I never sold a relic before I sold those to Harry Paxon, and
never knew any one from Philadelphia that took any interest in
Indian relics. I used to give things away to relatives of mine,
often boys--my cousins, when they came up from town. They had
never seen any thing like an arrow-head before. I never gave a
stone to any one but a relative. William Hansell, my brother, a
little boy, saw me pick up the small piece of the Lenape Stone.
I never heard of any one in this neighborhood interested in
Indian relics before Mr. Paxon.
The first things that I remember giving away were a couple of
black arrow-heads that I gave to James Aikens, in 1871. He lives
in Germantown. This was before I found the stone.
[Signed] BERNARD Z. HANSELL.
Sworn to before
BENJAMIN S. RICH, J. P., Nov. 6, 1884.
The writer questioned Hansell's wife. She remembered his having shown
her the relics before they were sold to Mr. Paxon, but had paid no
attention to "these little stones he picks up," and did not remember
whether "this stone you are talking about" was among them or not. The
writer also questioned Hansell's father and mother. Neither had seen
the stone. The boy, William Hansell, brother of Bernard, said that he
had seen the little piece when Bernard picked it up, but had never seen
the large piece of the stone. The piece he had seen was covered with
dirt and mud, and had "half a hole" in it. Bernard had told him that he
was going to give it to Mr. Paxon.