The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1859-11-05
Thrilling Cave Adventure.

wa, born and brought up In the neigh
borhood Of the sal,-works Of NJ. My
father was second engineer, and filed th1
situation Of as,istantl The Eserc Of our mi
ming operations, at the time Of the even;
which am going TO narratc was IN a narrow
valley, lying close to the foot Of perpcndie-
ular cliff Of rock ubou: one hundred feet
high. On its bare sides neither grass ncr
shrub was 10 bc seen, and scarce any incqua-
lily was visible, whcrcun the foot OF the elm
Der might find a resting place. In lct, It
was considered unscalablr for a distance of
two miles, when it sunk down gradually at
eithsr end TO the level Of plain. Ascending
the cliff, one bchcld on It's summit wide
plain, stretching OF in the distance TO a sharp
edge Of the prccipice, and from tha, dizzy
point could look down upon the works Of the
miners below, close under it, sides.
Upon the top Of the cliff which have been
describing, was strollinc listlcssly late one
Sunday afternoon, thinking Of strange and
sad circumstance which had happened about
year before in our family. My only bro
lhcr, a lad Of fifteen, had gone out early one
summer morning to shoot plo,cr ON the
+ heights, and from that hour had never been
heard Of When last seen, he was mounting
the olih, from the eastern side. and though
(Whcn alarmed at his long dchy) We made
immediate search and inquiy, We never
gained any further information. To speak
Of our family distress, and my own heart,
grieying for my wcll-belo,od young brother
is not nov my purpose but it was the only
subjcct Of my thoughts on that quiet summer
evening wh5n all the noise frem the work.
was,hushed, onG the stiffness seemed tenCol,
10y contrast
approached very near the edge Of th,
clifS | was now at It's s,cepest part, asd loo
king down its smooth sides, thought hoy
terrible fall would be but my brother ecul,
not have fallen down. In that case his mnn
gled body, at least would have been found
was recalled to myself 10y strange Siu,
ing Of my feet. My first confused idea Wa
that the soil had given way from the edge O
the clif, upon whose utmost verge stoo,
and that was about to be prccipitaIcd t
: the bottom. l became dizzy with horror, 70
- | felt at once that could not recover mys,l
so sudden was the caving in Of the earth b,
4 meath me. l made ous stumble forward, i
{ wild struggle to save myself felt ringin
q and crushing in my ears, and then lost ID
' further sensation.
y 1t must have been many hours before va
). sufficiently conscious TO know that still e,
l. istcd. Sick and bruised, was long uulh
u to raise myself from the PROSTATE poSi;gn
- which became aware at last, that was !.
n ing. 1t was quite dark, and every porto
Z, of earth or stone that touched was wet, Ian
y a smell of damp salt peryaded the close a
,r mospherc thought had fallen into d
exhausted salt mine, but soon remembers
that | had been standing on the edge OF Il
=, cliff II was an impossiblity. Then can
~ the idea that must have fallen to the bo
~, tom, and the loose earth and stones had fall,
.. over me. That, too, soon found equal
p, unlikely, and, after cropping about some tin
on my hands and knees, (every moyemc
u one Of intense ngony,f became sure that u
n prison was cave OF some eNtent loo wci
A TO move farther, lay down and /cndcayor,
To think OF my pohllon' II hcqu'u mop
less one. ] was certainly in one of tho
NJ caves formed in the salt rocks and sorrietm
n found by miners, running Ear below the cartl
~ surface. l.had no idea how far had ialle
- il might be hut few feet il might he mat
hundred As set | could find no trace of q
er passage through which had dropped, but
al remcm bercd that had case Of matches
.e- my pocket, and It was not long before ! ~
l,, cecded IN dragging them out, though Il "
ercuciating pain to my bruised Limbs to mo
- them.
ID, Having no taper, determined to be We