The Sun.
London, England, 1829-01-23 00:00:00

FATAL CURIOSITY.

A melancholy story was related a few years
since, by a traveller in the western section of our
country, of a man who, in company with a
friend, attempted to explore the celebratrd Cave,
in Green's County, Kentucky, which is about
ten miles in length. After having provided
themselves with a lantern, food, and other re-
freshments, sufficient for one or two days' sub-
sistence, they commenced their subterranean tour.
As they proceeded from one apartment to
another, viewing with astonishment the wonders
of this stupendous cavern, they frequently came
to large and very deep pits, which they avoided
with much difficulty by crawling upon their hands
and knees. They wanderad about, alternately
walking and crawling, nearly a whole day, during
which they had passed a number of these deep
pits. They had just approached one, when,
by some fatal accident the light which they carried
was suddenly extinguished. The one who •
carried the apparatus fbr restoring the light, in '
the agitation of the moment, made a mis-step,
exclaiming, « Lord have mercy on us," and fell
headlong into the pit they had the moment be-
fore discovered. His companion listened, and
distinctly heard the unfortunate man strike the
bottom, and fetch a deep groan like one in ex-
treme anguish. - He called on him, but received
no answer—he called again, but all was as silent
as the tomb. The narrator stated, that had he
.but fallen with him it would- have been a happy
circumstance ; for to attempt to find the mouth
of the cave, and pass the many dangerous places
they had met with in their way , thither, would
be imminently hazardous, if net utterly impos-
sible. He thought, therefore of only dying,
the lingering and painful death of starva-
tion. He sat down and gave vent to his
anguish in a flood of tears. He finally
concluded to make an attempt to get out,
he could but share the fate of his companion by
falling into a pit, and this would sooner put an
end to his mental sufferings. lie commenced
what he conceived a ietrograde movement, by
crawling on his hands and knees, and proceeded
without accident a long time, when he again
yielded himself up to despair. A copious effu-
sion of tears subdued in a measure his agony.—
He set out again, but with little hopes of ever
arriving at the mouth of the cave. The survivor
had noticed that it branched off in various direc-
tions : he therefore concluded that he had taken
the wrong way, and was probably as far and
farther from the entrance as when he first started,
He halted, with the determination of waiting
patiently the approach of death. Like the drown-
ing man, who is said to catch at, a straw, the
possibility of escape again occurred to him ; and,
summoning up his remaining strength, he made
another effort to find the outlet to the cavern.—
On the morning of the third day, when nature
and hope were nearly exhausted, he thought he
observed a ray of light, and on suddenly turning
a corner, the morning star shone full in his face.
Hi; feelings, he said, must be imagined, for they
cannot be described. He >immediately made
known the fate of his companion ; a number of
citizens commenced a search in the cave, found
the pit, and with some difficulty obtained the
body, and had it decently interred.—Bastom
Paper.

4 699 cowslip, with seven or eight pips, was
plucked a few days no in a pasture in the parish of But-
terwick, near this town.,--113i,sion Gazette.
AN EIcENpLATtY Doc.—Mr. Douglas, of
the Douglas Arms Jon, Castle Douglas, has a small dog of
the Messian breed, which regularly on Sundays, whether
any of the family attend church or not, sets out as soon as
the bell rings, and proceeds to Kelton church, a distance
of about two miles, when it takes possession of the family
scat, and places its fore-feet upon the book-board, and there
remains till the sermon is over, when it returns home.--
Liverpool
A 8u147-E 414 44NWIPK--A few weeks
ago, a fellow called at the shop of a chemist, in this town,
and asked if he would purchase a body which he had
brought from the Ballast hills. The person declined, but
sent for one of the police, to whom he related the circum-
stance. The officer immediately went round to the carriers
and coach-ofces to see if a package of such a description
as that might he supposed, ha;l•been brought by any of
theM. Nd such package had arrived. The officer
shortly after saw the fellow in the street, and repre-
eanta him as a rabrderous7looking rascal. This roan
and a woman had been brought by Moore's coach
from Newton on the Moor ; and they both pro-
ceeded on to Berwick by coach, having only a small
bundle. It may not be out of place to remark, since it is
ultimately connected with the subject, that, as those
'f teachers of anatomy" in Edinburgh have shown such
igwowice of what they teach, no; being Ovule tp detect th:,.4
different appearance of a body which had suffered death by
violence from that of one dying naturally, it would only
be justice to students and the public to disqualify such
iynarant fellows from ever again practising dissection.—
Tyne Mercury.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCII. •-• • '
LIVERPOOL. • .
. . .
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21.—Wind
water two minutes past twelve.—Arrived the Ara..,
bian, Wells, from Calcutta ; Edgar, Vaughan, 'lllte.ao;
Concord, Leith, Pernambuco; Eleanor, Russel, front
2daranham ; Frances Henrietta, White, New York; Car'
sair, Jenkinson, Halifax; La :Honcho, Charwick, frog°
Nantes ; Broad Axe, Hacquoil, Bilboa; the British Tar,
, from Limerick ; and Habnab, Alexander, fro/
Bilboa.

—.....—.
Sailed—The Heywood, Burrell, for Africa; William
Weir, for Gibraltar ; Roselle, Man, fer Valparaiso and
Lima ; Jessie, Cooper, for Ramsay ; Peggy, Carver, for •
Derbyl►aven.