The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1870-03-10

Il Wsa TfrgiTsia PgOarmaa Fazs into a
EabteTTunoa1a Rirer.

6sGbteTTunedIl Rtrer.
(From the Muskegon (NIich.) Enterprise.)
When we were publishing paper N
Lewisburg, West Virginia, several years
ago, very singular accident befeH
young man there, which was narrated
briefly at the time A few days ago We
CHANGED to meet him here, in Muskegon,
and he narrated his adventure at our re-
quest. 1t occurred on the farm of A. w.
G.. Davis, in Greenbrier county, in 1886.
We give the story in his own words, as
near as we can recollect them:
81 was blowing on Gen. Davis farm
in 1856" said he, ''unsuspicious of being
on insecure ground, when suddenly the
earth seemed to fall beneath me. l saw
the horses descending, but was too
frightened to let 90 the plow-handles.
The pitch of the horses with the earth
gave my fall an impetus, and somehow L
caught the name of one of them IN my
fall, and so held on instinetively. What L
thought when falling, | can hardly tell.
At any rate, did some rapid thinking.
When [ landed / fell on the horse whose
name / had hold of, and, although the
horse was instantly killed, L was merely
stunned and confused. On recovering
| I looked up, and the hole through
which had fallen looked so small l con-
| cluded | must have fallen $50 feet. My
! first thought was to call for aid, but / in
stantly recalled the fact that | was at
least mile from Gen. Davis house, and
that there was not the remotest probabili-
ty that any one had seen my descent into
| the earth.
cit was then early morning, and as /
had brought out my dinner with me, no
one would miss me before nightfal.-
While going over these facts in nv own
mind, heard the rush of water near at
hand, and it occurred to me that | must
have fallen upon the bed of Sinking creek,
which, as you know, falls into the earth
above Frankfort, and docs not come out
but once till it reaches the banks of the
Greenbrier river To say where / was,
or to attempt to follow the subterraneous
passage, was the next question. / some
times took the team TO my own tenant
stables, and therefore might not be missed
for DAYS: so I determined to follow the
stream | waded in it, and, judging from
its depth of from one to three feet, | con-
cluded it must be the identical Sinking
creek spoken of. Leaving my dead COM
panion behind me, / followed the stream.
For the most part had pretty easy work
of is but sometimes | came to a deep
place, where | was forced to swim for a
considerable distance; again was often
precipitated headlong into deep water by
the precipitous nature of the rocky bed OF
the stream.
Talk about the darkness of the gravel
The grave itself could not have been
more impalpably dark than the passage
| was following. The occasional ripping
of the waters was an inexpressibly dear
sound to my ears. Day and night were
the same to me- At last wearied with
efforts, l laid down on a comparatively
drv rock to rest, and must have slept fol-
hours. When | awoke again | took tc
the water, carefully ascertaining which
way it ran, so Us not to lose my labor by
retracing my steps. 1t seemed to me that
the further | went the more difficult prog
ress became. When had gone perhaps
mile, came to place where the arch.
way narrowed so much that l had to
crawl on my hands and knees in the
water.
''Here was n dilemma, had not look
ed for. tried either bank of the river,
J Jul 1ONtll AAO JdSSdASC- COulI swirl uu-
der water for a considerable distance, but
the distance before me was unknown, and
| halted long before making the danger
Gus venture. At last / concluded that
my fate was equally doubtful in return
ing as in preceding, and plunged boldly
into the current, and soon found that il
was so swift in its confded passage that
only needed to hold my breath to 90
through. In the course oftwenty or thir-
. ty feet | again got my head above water,
and took long breathing spell. Again
the archway above seemed to enlarge, and
the bed Of the stream became more even.
| sped along comparatively rapidly, keep
ing my hands outstretched to prevent nv
running against the jagged rocks. Wear
led out, | again laid down and slept
soundly in my wet clothes.
On awaking | pursued my course down
the subterranean stream, and at last, in
the distance ahead, saw glimmer that
looked very bright in the darkness / was
then shut in. Nearing this, found that
it did not increase in brightness, and when
L had gone perhaps mile, | came to an
other place where my path narrowed to
the very tunnel filled by the water. Nv
case was now become more desperate.
could not possibly retrace my steps, so
submitted myself to the current, and was
immeasurably overoyed to find myself
rapidly swept into day light Exhausted
and half drowned, l crept out upon the
land and was not long in recognizing the
objects about me. L had come out into the
Greenbrier river, as knew from the IA
miliar look of Gen. Davis mill on the
bank. On reaching home | found that
| had been over forty-eight hours in MAX
ing my perilous journey of six miles I'M
derground. The hole where this man
went through is now fenced round. On
listening one can plainly hear the rush of
water below, and a stone thrown down
will sometimes be heard to splash in the
stream.
Taoer's speaking machine is a master