Circumstantial Evidence Casting Doubt on Authenticity of Arizona Relics Found

Circumstantial evidence which tends to cast doubt on the authenticity of the Hebrew and Latin inscribed relics unearthed at an old lime kiln on Silver Bell Road, west of Tucson, has come to light according to a despatch from Tucson to the “New York Times.” According to the despatch, Leandro Ruiz, a pioneer retired cattleman, tells of an educated young Mexican sculptor and student of the classics, who lived with his parents at the lime kiln forty years ago.

Timotio Odohui was the name of the sculptor. His father, Vicenti Odohui, also a man of education and culture, told Ruiz that his family had been driven out of Mexico by revolution following the French invasion, through which his property and fortune were lost.

Young Odohui, according to Ruiz, whose statements have been substantiated by Edouardo Machado, a local transfer man, was a sculptor of no mean ability and both Ruiz and Machado recall seeing objects carved in stone by the young man. Suspicion that Odohui may have been the author of the relics is strengthened by the fact that he was known to have moulded articles in a soft alloy metal, resembling lead, presumably the same metal of which the “Roman-Hebrew” inscribed relics were fashioned.

The fact that the “Roman” and “Hebrew” inscriptions found upon many articles are almost word for word in the “glossary of foreign words, phrases, etc.,” in the back of a dictionary, as by E. S. Blair, Cornell graduate, suggests that the inscriptions may have been copied by Odohui from one of the ancient volumes, the despatch states.

JEWISH COMMUNAL ACTIVITIES

$15,000 was bequeathed to charitable institutions by the will of former Supreme Court Justice David Leventritt, filed for probate, which disposed of nearly $350,000.

The following charitable institutions each inherit $2,000: Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Crippled Children’s East Side Free School and the Hebrew Technical School for Girls. Legacies of $1,000 each are left to the Young Men’s Hebrew Association. Educational Alliance, Emanu-El Sisterhood of Personal Service, Emanu-El Brotherhood, Inc., United Hebrew Charities, Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society, Montefiore Hospital for Chronic Diseases, Hebrew Orphan Asylum and Ladies’ Auxiliary of Mount Sinai Hospital.

The quota for Chester, Pa., in the United Palestine Appeal was over-subscribed, it was announced by A. W. Wolson, chairman of the Campaign Committee. The total was $300 over the original quota of $3,500.

The Jewish community of Philadelphia subscribed the sum of $3,416,300 in the first two days of the $3,500,000 Building Fund Campaign of the Federation of Jewish Charities. With seven days yet to go, the campaign stands only about $34,000 from the quota.