The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1864-1911, 1866-12-26

cry NeaT fhe Head waters of
the MissiSsfppi-T ra es of
American fre-EAistOTic Civiii-
zatiOn, sc. r1
ST. ANTHONY, MINI, Dec 3, 1866.
The mouotony of our quiet little town has
been considerably dis urm d OF late by dis
cOverics OF most curious and remai Eablr
nature. which have been made within "a few
days past. in cur midst They ar. of so
singular a character as to be beyond the
pale of edcnce in the minds Of almost eve
ry one who has nor been q witness to the
facts in the case: but they are vnuched far
by citizen of such known rrsptctabllity AMI
vtfacify. that the grnuineneSs Of the state
plcnts i'll regard to them is placed beyond a
doubt
A Mr.. Reuben Nesmith, who lives in a
small house near the German Catholic
Church, had occasion to go down in the eel
lar on the evening on the lst inst. to arrange
a place for his winter stick OF potatoes.
which he had been hauling that day from
his farm, about two miles beyond Nancmin
While engaged i'll putting together a tenn
pornry bin, and while digging to make room
| for the timb + used in constructing 1t, his
| shovel came IN contact with plate OF iron:
which, after being cleared Of earth, proved
| to be trap door, which was secured by
cuuously wrought lock, with heavy bolts
running into stone beneath. 1t was so
much corrddrd BY rust.that little pressure
| witha crowbar caused the plate to Live way,
! and upon taking it up an opening was dis
covered. beneath which spiral stone stair.
case led down into the earth. Before ven
uring down this staircase Mr.. Nesmith
| communicated the fact its discovery to
his brother in.iaw, Mr. Luther Chamber
| lain, and having procureh lantern. the two
| pr0ce del 10 descend, and after gong down
one hundred and twenty-thrre steps they
! found themselves in "A marrow horizontal pas
| sage dug in tht white sand, which, as every
| one familiar with the geological formation
of the banks eff the upp,r Mississippi
knows, undell lies a stratum of linlest one -
Proceeding along this passage the distance
of about seventy five feet. they emerged in
toa spaciau artificial cave, also eXcayated
| in this white sand. ..
Thi. cave vas Of an oblong form, and
leading ont al il were several smaller ante
chambers all of which gave signs Of having
been ut s4me former lay occupied as de-
posiores of some kind Iran and copper
! i"pIements, of 4 rough kind of work man
ship, were found scat cred about, some Of
! them evidently having been used for exca-
vating purposes. Others 70 cooking ute IS,
| the marks Of fire being observable on the
| latter On entering one Of the small ante
chambers a number Of rude seats were
found, and upon one side Of the room an
elevated platform, upon which stood a
| roughly hewn stone, something like the
reading desk { an Episcopa Church On
| thu wall behind this desk on either side Of
! Il cuirs,Sui i,rrru,, Gsa~,.. ia iasnr4. very
cur.ou' Eier>giyphicS were found traced in
| the white sand, and an Ornamental tiacely
of peculiar design covered the other three
sife> ol the chamber In the mkt apart
mcnt sort of ston" sarcophaguS was found
upon the top of which was lad an immense
| pock, firmly ccmn ed to the burial case, and
which required tn united rxprtions Of four
men to remove. Th. being done, a human
skeleton was found unlernca'h. the bones
OF which crumblpd to powder immediately
upon exposure to the air. Several copper
and iron rings were found in the sarcopha
gus. a also "A cuio's silver ornament. oc
togona in shape. aud ca vel in unntel,igi
bic characters, some of which correspnnd.d ID
with those upon the wall oi the apartment
above referred TO-
| 4 third chamber was much larger in OK
tent than the Others, aud the ceiling was
very much like on inverted funnel in shape,
directly under the apex OF which was a
large cabc-,hnp"d stone. which was stained
with marks of fire and some other dark sub
stance and drpo>it of hardened ashes lay
around it upon the ground. 1t was evident.
Y used us Il .acr fetal altar, and this theory
srrms tn be confirmed by the fact that an
aperture large enc ugh tn admit the body o!
a mrn opens trom thi' apartment into a
Sriallcr one, the foor Of which is below that
nt' the o her rooms, aud viii iii is covered
with a linly powder appa aiently the ashes OF
| homes: hctner human or otherwise can not
be a>cel taln d.
On continuing their explorations the
party found an iron plate, VIII ch easily gave
way upon h,tle pressure, aad passage way
abou tn e, feet in height anl large enough
or ona p3 son to pasS in STOPPING posture,
was d scovrred. Mr.. NeSnith ant his
brolher.in- law followed this passage way,
| which led in some what circuitous direc.
tion to the vi Unity Of the river. This is
proved by the sound of water washing upon
the shora, which may be distinctly heard at
the end of this passage way, the outer
opening to which has apparently been filled
up from the inside with broken rocks, and
through the intersticeS Of which tresher air
! than that OF the cave can be felt blowing at
times.
The Will affair is a mystery; the relics
found are not al Aboriginal in character,
and may have been the work of a people
existing long before even these prair!es
were the hunting grounds of the Indian. =
Copies of the hieroglyphies have been care.
fully Transcribed and forwarded to some of
the most learned archaeo!ogists OF the EaS-
tern States. and it is hoped that they may
be able to obtain some clue as to its origin
and use OF the remarkable relics We I'M
dcrstand that the State Historical Society
has made Mr. NeSmith very liberal offer
for them. In the ,rean time, our little
town is all sgog a. to the discoveries. and
hundreds of pc pie have visited the house
Of Mr. Ne.mjth 10 see tn 'se remarkable
ant,quitis,. We trust the His orical
Society may b. able t. secure them as a
most inter, stink addition to their small but