The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-01-16
THE sMUGGLER,s CAVE.
From the Papers Of Revenue Omc:
BY sYLvANUs COBB, JR.
| CONCLUDED.

In the morning Igot up, and eat break
last with my hostess. She svery par
rcalar to know if had slept well, and |
assured her that | was never better sat
i~hed with nights rest i'll my life. |
.tye her half crown, and then slung
irv trunks over my shoulders, and took
my leave. The distance to Lancaster
was only fifteen miles, and reached that
city by the middle of the forenoon. |
found Windbam at his tavern, and be-
fore noon all my men had been notified.
II was arranged that we shonld meet, at
,Jght o'clock that evening, in a small
wood between there and CalntOrd, when
we would proceed upon our mission.
AZ the time appointed we were all to-
pether in The wood, and | then related
to my men what had seen aud heard. /
described TO them the location Of the cot
where had spent the night, and ordered
item to follow me, and halt at my fur
Their directions. | was to GO ahead, and
they were to drop along, singly OF i'll cou-
pies, so as not to excite the suspicion OF
any of the peasants who might chance to
see ne By eleven o'clock we were to-
gether again, close 10y the smugglcr's cot.
We found a good hiding-place III the
wood, wheIe we could observe any one
who might approach the dwelling, and
there we lay i'll wait. About half ali
hour after midnight we heard the tramp
of men. coming up through the wood
from the sea, and ere long we saw dusky
forms approaching the cot. We could
hight, but we could see that there were
L.. ,l,1,s nF Il. 4,
stopped by one Of the small out-build-
ings. In a few moments more, we heard
the squealing of l pig, and shortly after
that the fellows seemed to be very bu-
silly at work.
Now was the time, | thought, and
passed the word for my men to be ready;
aud as soon as they had their weapons AT
hand, | gave the order for starting. We
took our way carefully down, under covor
Of the wood, and when We came to the
point where We must show ourselves.
gave loud shout. and dashed forward.
with my men close at my heels. The
smugglerS WeTe taken So completely by
surprise that we had a score of them
down aud haidcuffed ere they knew
what had happened. The remainder
showed some fight, but we easily and
quickly overcome them and when we
had no more fighting TO do, We looked
around TO see what had been going on
There We're some forty small kegs OF spirit
lying upon the ground, while close at
hand observed broad opening in the
earth, like the mouth of pit, with
board fence upon three sides of it.
took one of the lanterns which the SNUG
glers had dropped, and examined the
mysterious looking place. found it TO
be curious continuance. In the day
time this had seemed TO be but very
ordinary pig-pen, the bottom covered
with straw and dirt, and pig prhntinp
about in it; aud it had been passed and
repassed many times by officers who
were in search of the smugglers' depot
without exciting suspicion But now
the pig had been removed, the straw
cleared away, the plank flooring taken
up, and the way opened to q vast su bier
rauean vault, where we found over five
hundred casks of various sizes, and con.
tanning varions kinds of liquor, besides
several boxes of tea, tobacco, and sugar
As soon as | had seen my prisoners safe
took half of my men and moved down
to the coast 1t was crooked, hidden
way, among rocks and trees, but il had
been travelled so much that, by the help
OF the lanterns, we managed to follow il.
At the waters edge we found three boats.
IN charge ofsix men; and as they thought
ws were friends until we got close upon