Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1858-12-29
terraneah shelter of some sort, which the com

4 terranean shelter OF some sort, which the com
pany prepared at once to explore.
/ Dry branches of trees and dead nndergrowth
1 were gathered, tied into bundles and lghted
with fire kindled with flint and finder. 4 " it'll
| these for torches, six of the most resoluee men
entered the opening between the rocks, M5th a
view of exploring the interior to which it led
The passage was SO narrow that only two could
walk abreast. Two men in front bore torehes,
as did the two in the rear. The middle cou-
| pie carried muskets heavily charged.
As they advanced the passage rapidly vi
| dened, and the root sprang up to great hight
overhead. They had gone about twenty PAGES
| from the eatrance when a blaze of light, &C.
companed by the almost simultaneous report
of firearms, flashed forth from distantinte-
rior point of the cave. The two men in front
! fell to the earth. Discharging their musiSets
in the direction of the fash, the others retrea-
| ted from the cave, dragging their fallen COM
panions after them, one of whom was serious
| ly wounded, and the other entirely dead.
Euraged at the spectacle of blood and death ,
| the beseigers began more resolutely the work
of assault upon the cave, Tor such it was now
ascertained to be, and of considerable dlmen-
sions, too. An effort was made to induce the
dogs to enter. The more resolute advanced a
| few PAGES, and then ran back in apparent alarm.
The majority stood at the entrance and bark
ed, but could not be enticed by words or blows
to 60 further.
Another expedient was triod. A large tree
was cut, down and riven into bolts of consider
able length and thickness. A double row of
these timbers placed upright across the
entrance passage, some twenty feet from the
opening, and securely wedged and braced so
as TO form barrcade or wall. The powder
in all the horns and TASKS, except few rounds
reserved in each, was poured in pile on the
ground near the upright tImbers. Another
barrIcade, similar TO the inner one con-
structed in front and close to the powder, a
train being first laid from the pile through a
notch in the timbcrs, TO the outer edge OF the
barricade. a lire of dry leaves formed,
extending from the powder several feet out
side the entrance.
The crowd having retired to safe distance
or hid behind trees and rocks, the train of
leaves was fired by man who quickly gained
the shelter of large tree close by the cave.
In a few moments 4 terrific explosion fairly
shook the mountain and filed the air with sui
phurous vapor. stiff breeze blowing direct
ly into the mouth of the cave soon dssipated
the smoke, when it was found that both barri-
cades had been thrown down by the concns-
sion, but the sides and roof of the cave re-
mained unharmed.
Night was coming on. A detachment of
men sent back TO the settlement for pro-
visions and such materials as would be needed
in the execution of the next plan of assault
which it was decided to pursue. The rest re-
NAMED as guard over the now imprisoned
robbers. Building large fire near the en-
trance of the cave, they watched and slept by
turns until morning.
At daylight the recruiting party returned,
bringing more men, provisions for man and
horse, and materials for the further prosecu-
tion OF the assault upon the cave.
After eating hasty meal and feeding their
horses, the assailants collected large quanti-
ties of wood, green and dry, and then begin
ming as far inwardly in the entrance to the
fhnv couIi I'm 90 hey nilad IL
up in successive layers, interspersing dried to-
baccO stalks and leaves and sulphur in great
abundance, among the wood, until only small
space was left between the top of the pile and
the root of the passage. The outer end OF
the heap was then set on fire. 4 strong wind
blowing directly into the mouth of the cave,
spread the flames rapidly through the pile ,and
drove the smoke in dense column into the
cave, the narrow avenue between the wood
and the roof serving fue to conduct the
interior.
No voice or sound came from the cave, or,
If any was uttered, it was lost in the roar of
the fire, which blazed and cracked, and fam
ed in the narrow passage until it glowed and
shot forth sparks and smoke like the crater of
q volcano during an eruption. For several
hours the fire ragged with unabated violence,
fresh fuel being constantly supplied from the
djacent wood. The smoke having filled the
cave streamed out in dense masses aud foated
nights Of the mountain.
At length the fire was permitted to burn
down. y stream of water issuing close by,
from the side of the mountain, furnished the
ready means for cooling the rocks and extin-
gushing the smoudering embers. But it was
not until Late hour in the evening that the
smoke had escaped from the cave sufficiently
to permit an entrance to be made.
With lighted torches, and armed with guns
and pistols, the crowd crept cautiously into
gloomy cavern. The passage which led to it,
widening rapidly as they advanced, spread out
into spacious room. Into this ante-chamber
several small lateral fissures or apartments o.
pened. The cave, thoagh produced by some
convulSOn of nature, possessed much regular
ity. and the sides and the roof were all OF solid
rock. The lorch-lght, redenng in the smoke,
and reflected feebly from the rocky surface,
lit up the gloom with an obscure radiance
which increased the horror of the place. The
crowd, advancing and dispensing with appre-
hensive look and cautious steps, looked, amid
the sullen light, like phantom host returning
to their covert in the mountain from the glare
of the outer day.
In the large room casks, boxes and barrels
were found, filed with meat, -four and eatables
of various kinds. In the lateral assures beds,
guns, ammunition, cooking utensils, table fur
niture, and, in short, almost everything neces-
sary to the rude comfort and convenience OF a
snbterranean dwelling, Were arranged in some
thing like household order. The dead bodies
of five men, of an old woman, and of boy,
apparently fifteen or sixteen years old, lay
scattered through the several apartments, Nv
id and discolored in the face, and most hide
Gus to look upon.
After making full exploration of the cave,
and removing from it every aiticie OF value,
the crowd withdrew, leaving the bodies OF the
robbers as they found them, unburied and un-
recognized. The cave which had been their
hair Lob md fO