Lake Charles Commercial

Four miles south of Bernard, Mo., there was discovered a few days ago the skeleton of a giant. A farmer found the bones protruding from the banks of a ravine that has been cut by the action of the rain during the past year. The skeleton was that of a human being whose height was twelve feet. The head through the temple was twelve inches; from the lower part of the skull at the back to the top was fifteen inches, and the circumference forty inches. The ribs were nearly 4 feet long and 18 inches wide. The thigh bones were 30 inches long, and large in proportion. When the earth was removed the ribs stood up high enough to enable a man to crawl in and explore the interior of the skeleton, turn around and come out with ease. The first joint of the great toe, above the ball, was three inches long, and the entire foot eighteen inches in length. The skeleton lay on its face, twenty feet below the surface of the ground, and the toes were embedded in the earth, indicating that the body either fell or was placed there when the ground was soft. The left arm was pressed around backward, the hand resting on the spinal column, while the right arm was stretched out to the right and front. Some of the bones crumbled on exposure to the air, but many good specimens were preserved and are now on exhibition at Bernard. Medical men are much interested. The skeleton is generally pronounced a valuable skeleton of the prehistoric race, and the find is vouched for by the Hon. J. H. Hanly, of Bernard.—Times-Democrat.