I have examined the two specimens you have placed in my hands
from the Hansell Farm, Bucks Co., Penn., and see no reason to
doubt their authenticity. The lines cut upon them seem to have
been made a long time since, as exhibited by the weatherings
within the incisions. One stone seems first to have been
designed for a perforated ornament, but not completed, and was
afterwards used as a rubbing implement, as shown by the notches
on the edge. The other stone is of a natural form, in which two
holes have been drilled, and on one surface a number of waves
and zigzag lines were cut, evidently for the purpose of using
the stone for an ornament.
Yours very truly,
[Signed] F. W. PUTNAM.
* * * * *
The reader is referred to a series of articles mentioning the Lenape
Stone in the Bucks County _Intelligencer_ of August 9, 23, and 30, and
September 20, 1884, and headed, "Who Perpetrated the Forgery?" also to
a personal discussion which took place in the columns of that newspaper
between the owner of the Stone and Mr. H. C. Lewis, of the Academy of
Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, in which arise various questions of
veracity as to the facts of an interview which had taken place between
them--_i. e._, whether Mr. Lewis had or had not wished to buy the Stone,
and how long he had been allowed the loan of it; whether he had or had
not been permitted to take photographs; and whether he or Mr. Paxon
had scratched the surface of the Stone "to see its inside structure."
After a fair consideration of every fact bearing upon the case, and
with ample knowledge to judge of the particulars of this interview at
the time it took place, personal considerations prevent the writer
from discussing the merits of this controversy, purely personal in its
nature and irrelevant to the question before us.