Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1866-04-28
A THRILLING NARRATIVE.
Remarkabre Cave In Crawford Co.. I'm,


A correspondent Of the indianapolis
Herald, writing from Leavenworth, Craw
ford Co, Ind., gives an account Of re-
markable cave which has lately been dis
covered in that place, aud the terrible ad
ventures Of an exploring party. The story
is highly sensation one. The write
says: .' t-T h"
write to inform you of the particular:
OF an exploring expedition which left hert
on Thursday last, to explore Dead Mans
Cave, situated about four miles south o
this place, threeEquarters of mile west o.
the river. A few weeks siuce party from
Louisville, accompanied by citizens of this
place, explored it to the distance of three
quarters of mile, but were stopped by q
wide subterrnnean river, loo deep for fording,
and which they had 60 means of crossing,
The party which left here on Thursday con,
sisling of Major Throckmorton, of Louis,
vile; Capt. Holcroft, Sheriff Ssaue, DR..
e. II. Hawn aud Lyman e. Knapp, of this
place; Mr.. Jesse Brandon, of Nashville, and
your correspondent, who were prepared to
make a thorough exploration of the cave.
Besides the necessary lights, ropes, water.
proof clothing, &C., they carried with them
a light bat staunch boat, prepared express.
" for the purpose, on which to cross the
mysterious stream that had on former oc
casons stopped iber further progress.
The stream was reached without difficult
ty, and by meaus of our boat, q crossing
was effected, and with light hearts we went
to prosecute our explorations.
Directly ahead was wide gallery whose
roof was SO high that we could scarcely
distinguish it by the feeble light of the
lamps, while to the right and left ran the
stream through another gallery, or cham
Der, the two interseciing each other like the
arms OF Greek cross. We followed the
gallery before us for about quarter of
mile, when it suddenly narrowed aud ap
parentlyncame to sn abrubt termination.
After searching for an out let, and finding
none, We were on the point of reluctantly
turning back, when a shout of exultatioh
from Dr. Hawn proclaimed that he had
found an opening. To the right, some dis
tance from the termination of the cni de sac
the Doctor had discovered a narrow ooen-
ing. Crawling through this on our hands
aud knees for a distance of several hundred
yards, we came upon q high yaul,ed cham.
Der, partially lighted from above, which
was the most magnificent under gronnd
hall l have ever seen. Thousands Of sta
lacIites and brilliants hung pendant from
above, reaectiag the glare of the torches
ln millions OF pure rays of dazzling light
If the ceiling aud sides had been literally
hung with enormous clusters of diamonds,
the effect could not have been more bewil
dering. For momeut the entire party
was awe stricken and speechess. Then
the more exuitable Oaes broke forth in
rapturous applause. las2 23 500 ysII TN /
' Numerous small galleries were found, ra-
dating in every direction from this central
chamber, and these were explored 10 turn,
some of them coming to an abrupt close
against Dead blauk WALL Of rock and 9th.
ers gradually narrowing until they could
be followed no further. Others forked
brauched of into two or three other CALLER
ies 1t was found that the thorough ex-
ploration of the cavern from this point
would be work of weeks, if not months.
In Que place was found deep circular
hole apparently almost bottomess Stones
dropped into its gaping mouth would be
heard sulleny plungiDg from side to side
until the noise of their descent was lost in
the abyss far below. Mr.. Knapp was let
down by strong cord distance of some
thirty yards, when be vigorously siguifed
that he had seen enough BY jerking the rope
He was drawn up, looking triae paier than
usual end declaring that his curiosity had
been amply satisfied. Mr.. Knapp said
that after descending distance OF ffteen
or twenty feet, numerous winged 'hings,
apparently bats, fitted constantly about
his ears, yivaciouSly swapping their mau-
dibIes together With deYiish sort of twit-
ter, Que of these, cold, cIammy and inex-
presSbly nasty-alighted on his face and
Inflicted severe bite.
Tired and weary of sightseeing, the
party was on the point of starting on the
return, when, at The earnest solicitation Of
DIR. Hswn, We consented to at least partial.
lycxplore another cavern. II was followed
but short distance when II sud euly 1ar-
rowed. Mr.. Knapp, going first, passed
through the opening on his hands aud
knees, and entered another large hamber.
DR.. Hawn, who is o very heavy man, at.
tempted to follow, and became inextycabIy
fixed in the passage He could nei her get |
forward nor back. Fer three hours the |
party worked necessarily, but all to no
purpose. Meantime. one by one, the lamps
had burned out, uRtil barely enough oil was
left to light US on our way back to the
river. The thought of being imprisoned
ia that living tomb was too terrible TO be
endured for we knew without light We
could never find our way back. A panic
seized upon the party and leaving the Doc.
tor and Mr. Knapp to their fate We rapidly
retraced our steps across the river, aud re-
turned to the town, A supply of oil, tools.
etc, were procured, ard We returned to
The cave, determined to resc1e our compan
oni or perish IN the attempt. The river
was crossed, and we proceeded to the grand
chamber where we had taken the lunch, &C.
by numerous citizens pf Leaveu-
worth. But search as closely as we would,
we could not ind the gallery in which the
Doctor aud Mr.. Knapp were entombed =
ln vain We explored and shouted until
worn out aud fainting. All to no purpose,
Nearly three days have passed since we
first entered the cave. and during all that
time 1t has been full of people uselessly