Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1869-12-25


Island, 50 that II might not attract the
attention of any itinesnnt visitors,
should any come along during my
absence. now again cleaned oh
the sand, and gased long and Iabori.
ously ufsu the cryptograph, yelled
In meaningless figures, dots and let
tes. After laboring mentally
during most Of that night, /
fell into q deep slumber, from which
I did not wake until seven o'clock
next morning, Dec. 20. then recol-
iectcd that ON that day before twelve
yeasyouand FLOR the first time visited
this Cave. 1t wasalso embered by
me, that about hall the time had ex.
pired In which We had agreed to meet
again. ! have before told you, that 1
have paid an annual visit 10 this
Cave every year since we parted Dec.
LIST 1874, and I continued my annual
visits up 10 1859, the time Of finding
this cruclflx Of stone, In truth have
continued them ever since, but with
different Views and somewhat differ
ent purposes. Prior 10 1865 I visited
these silent chambers with the view
Of nndtng and tracing other subter-
rancan passes other than those already
familiar to the curious adveuturer.
Since 1869 Ihave come here annually
for the avcwed purpose and firm de-
termination Of dsciphering this ito
you,) veiledsnigmA, but TO me, J plain
and perfectly soluble. I did not ind
out Its true import until Dec. LIST 1883.
I had come down a. usualon my an
nual visit, and was occupying my 40
customed seat, engaged In deep medI-
tation upon the cabalastio figures,
noticed one rather singular feature In
reference to the disposition Of the fig-
ures, which was, that the figure s's''
was used more frequently than any
other, Ia truth nearly three time Al
often any other one IN the whole
cryptograph; this indeed was link
In the chain Of Investigation; I again
noticed that the figure ''S'' held next
precedence 80 on gradually down from
the maximum figure, to the mini.
mum, at least the problemstical ratio
tended To this hypothesis. I believed
that these figures represented the or
binary english letters, consequently
II this be true, the figure '9'' occurring
oftenest represented that letter In the
english alphabet which occurs more
frequently than any other, In any
common or ordinary competition =
Now1t b aconceded fact among liter
ary men that the letter az" holds
this prominent position, this being
true, I took out my pencil and dotted
down the letter "E." Ny next ster
was to secure the proper letter repre-
scented by the figure 49," this l found
to be the letter "a" next In grads-
tion down, that represented by the
figure, 2, which is the letter "I."r ]
continued 10 to work down to the
minimum figure, and found the
scale to be thus as represented by all
the figures; commencing on the max.
imum viz: e, al, d, h,n,r,s,t. After
thus securing these prominet letters
1t was an easy matter to solve the
riddle, as you will notice that letters
are intermixcd with the iigurers, 90
by making a proper disposition OF
rather substituting the proper letters
In the place Of the figures 30 used, We
necessarily arrived ct the following
sentence, a. dellneated on the stone
crucifix. "Six hundred and fifty
feet from the centor Of the skull,
North fifteen degrees East, then
angle left sixteen feet North thirty
degrees West, base Of wall, May Il
A. ID. l760." nuaaig .r0laRaa rida y
"As to the skull" continued he, !
do not know, to certainty, that
/ can demonstrate II dcfinitly and
clearly; I however, have my opinion.
think 1t more than probable that
some poor specimen Of humanity
paid the penalty Of death for his In.
discretion, and this skull, 80 chiselled
and painted In scarlet, conveys the
inference that death has ensued with.
In these sileat chambers, and that
too, most probable by violence; be
sides 1 have other and more CON vino
ing testimony Of the probable truth
of my conjecture"
"And before bring forward this
witness, let me again ask you, John
Sylvester, II you can keep secretT'
81 told him that I thought I couid.n
Will you do itr' said he agaiu
told him." that would, u my honor
was not compromised" He then
said, as he did before" 1t 10 weil."-
He then bent down. and with a
giants strength, lifted the stone. cru
/ cifix from its resting place, and reveal.
ed TO my wondering gaze, a human
skeseton. !, for the first time In my
LIE, felt appalled,, yea, terror strick.
en-, andwould have shrieked aloud In
agony, II ! had physical ability.
oven stood frigid with fear ], who
bad faced death In q thousand differ.
ent forms, from the heights Of the
maiefactor's gibbit, to the calm quiet
slumberings Of the infant sealed In
death. The skelstonlay due East and
West, and when the stone crucifix
was in its accustomed place II would
reach from the head To the lower part
Of the breast. Claiborne, without Q
word Of explanation, then replacsd
the stone aud sat down In silence,
nj sasraoknxn ~ ofl.~~ n (.yt . .--x.