That wasn’t much help. Checking through the various other references in Prescott, I gathered that the presence of a cross as a symbol of worship superseding Christianity had been most prevalent on the Island of Cozumel (just off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula) and in Yucatan itself.
I laid Prescott aside thoughtfully. There was a possible lead. Geographically, Yucatan is situated so as to be almost an island, set off from the rest of the continent by an almost impassable barrier of jungle, swamp, and low hill ranges. The home of the Maya Indians; the seat of one of the most astounding of ancient civilizations — the Mayan; Yucatan has been the object of intense archeological research during the last few decades... considered by scientists as an almost perfect “laboratory case” for such study because it is so isolated that outside influences have been reduced to a minimum.
And Mike O’Toole, renegade Irish adventurer, had settled in Yucatan, where Leslie Young had met him!
Not much of a tie-up. Far-fetched and fantastic, of course. But, a beginning. Something to start on.
Jerry Burke had told me I would know what to look for if I found something. Was this what he had in mind?
My next port of call was the public library. I hardly knew what I was looking for, nor how to go about finding it, but Yucatan was a lead that stuck in my mind.
The cross-reference filing cards of the library were peculiarly productive. Because of El Paso’s proximity to Mexico, I suppose, the reference shelves of the library contained more than their share of scientific research into the ancient Mayan civilization.
Choosing at random, I took a crack at Cheese-borough’s six volumes of “A Study of Mayan Antiquities.”
The numerous color plates fascinated me... Tinted photographs, mostly, of reliefs sculptured God knows how many centuries ago on stone walls and the arches of ancient temples.
I flipped the pages rapidly, looking for a two-barred cross. I found crosses, dozens of them, but all were the conventional single traverse type.
I was half-way through the second volume before I thought to consult the index.
And... there it was! I had a crawling sensation in my belly as I stared at the words:
“Stone Crosses in Architecture: ...Latin, Double Patibula, IV, p. 432...”
My fingers trembled as I opened volume IV to page 432. There they were. Two of them. Flanking the entry of a teocalli near the fabled metropolis of Chichen Itza.
Stone crosses, rudely hewn from the solid rock by the copper instruments of a people unacquainted with iron.
Beneath the photograph of the two crosses was the caption:
One of the most curious and interesting archeological discoveries on the Yucatan Peninsula to date is the above entry to a ruined teocalli which is guarded by twin double-barred crosses of stone which appear to be exact duplicates of the encolpia worn only by Patriarchs or Archbishops during the Middle Ages.
Antedating such usage by centuries, an interesting field of conjecture is opened by asking ourselves what particular significance this symbol enjoyed in the Maya mythology... a question which is only partially answered by fragmentary hieroglyphics which indicate the existence of a secret cult which must have flourished about 200 B.C., dedicated to the worship of a strange God, Huexchipatlan, who is represented in two sculptured reliefs inside the above-pictured ruins as a squat Buddha-like creature, holding aloft a double-barred cross in his left hand and a rude sacrificial knife in his right. There are further inscriptions which indicate that Huexchipatlan may have been regarded as the God of Vengeance, and the sacrificial altar of this teocalli may have been used as a death tribunal for members of the cult convicted of traitorous acts. For further interesting conjectures, see: Martin Jenson: “Modern Mexican Mythology,” p. 341.
Back I went to the reference files, praying that the library would have a copy of Mr. Jenson’s book.
A brown-eyed girl wearing a smock and a friendly smile was hovering around the filing cabinet when I reached it. She asked if she could help me, and I let her because she seemed so anxious to help somebody.
“I wonder if you have a copy of Martin Jenson’s ‘Modern Mexican Mythology’?”
I noticed a little frown pucker her forehead, and was surprised by her prompt answer:
“Yes. I know there is a copy. But I’ll have to look up the number. It’s rarely asked for and I can’t tell you exactly where to find it.”
She turned her back and drew out the “J” drawer of cards. As her fingers flipped through them, I asked curiously:
“How do you happen to remember the name of that particular book? Don’t tell me you go in for Mexican mythology.”
She tossed me a professional smile over her shoulder. “I don’t, as a matter of fact. It just happens that I had another inquiry for the same book a couple of days ago.”
I stiffened like a bird dog on a point. It couldn’t be a coincidence. It had to mean something. Someone else running down the same dope.
“I wonder if you could recall who it was,” I said as casually as I could.
“She didn’t tell me her name.” The girl was copying some numbers down from the file.
“I wonder if you could describe her to me,” I said desperately. “I’m doing a feature article on Mexican Mythology and I’ve an idea...”
“Why, that’s what she was doing, too. I remember she was particularly interested in the origin of a cross with two bars... and I helped her chase it down to this book you want to see. But I don’t believe I can describe her at all. So many people are in and out all the time.”
“Can’t you remember the color of her hair?” I asked. “Whether she was fat or thin? Young or old?”
“She wasn’t old. Moderately tall and slender... I think.”
“When was this?” I asked her tensely. “It’s... important.”
“Day before yesterday.” She was very positive about it. “Just before noon, day before yesterday. I was off yesterday, and I remember distinctly.”
I muttered my thanks and followed her to a shelf where she instantly found Mr. Jenson’s book and handed it down to me.
I sat down with it at a table, my mind in a whirl. Day before yesterday at three o’clock, Leslie Young had been murdered. At noon of that day... three hours before the murder occurred... Some woman had looked up the symbol which was later found marked on Young’s cheek with a woman’s lipstick.
I tried to quit thinking, and opened the heavy volume to page 341. A section titled: “DO THE DEVOTEES OF HUEXCHIPATLAN STILL WORSHIP AT THE SHRINE OF THE DOUBLE-CROSS?” read:
In Mexico today (1936) there is a closely guarded inner group in the Young Nationalist movement which would appear to be a dominant factor in the future development of that party.
Their policy is one of force and of ruthless reprisals in high places rather than of peaceful penetration as is advocated by the ostensible leaders of the movement.
Banded into secret unity by certain vows and rites known only to the initiate, it is cautiously whispered that their identity may be discovered only by the tattooing upon the chest of each member of a symbol which may be conveniently identified as the “Double-Cross,” described as a conventional cross with an extra transverse bar.
In this connection it is interesting to note evidence of a similar organization which had its inception in Yucatan during the reign of Iturbe in about 1825 whose members were similarly marked and whose object was to effect a return of the government to the common people of Mexico.