The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-03-26
4 FEARFUL SUBTERRANEAN
JOURNEY.
4 Marvellous Story about an Under
ground River In GrcCnbrier Coun-
" and How Man Navi-
0nfoI II
From II" JitGkegon (liieh.) EaterTrise.

SUteu liz
From thu h.&kegon (lfieh) Eaterprise.
When we were publishing u paper in
Lewiston, West Virginia, several yearS
agO, very singular accident bctcla young
man there, which We narrated briefly ut
the time. 4 few days ago we ChanCGd to
meet him here, in AtuskCgon, and he mar
rated his adventure at our request. 1t oC-
CURED on the farm Of General A. W. G.
Davis, in GrccnbriGr county, in 1856 We
give the story in his own words, us near
us VIC can rCcOlleCt Them
IL was plOwing on General Davis farm,
in 1856" said he, "unsrlspiciOus of being
OH insecure ground, when suddenly the
earth seemed TO fall beneath me. saw
the horses descending, hut was too fright
encd to let go the plOw.handlcs. The
pitch Of the horses with the earth gave my
lall IN impetus, and somehow l caught
the name of one OF them in my fall. and
SO held on instinctivcly. 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, was merely stunned
md confused. On recovering Hooked up,
and the hole through which | had fnllCn
looked so small concluded must have
fallen $50 feet. My first thought was 10
call for aid, but ! Instantly recalled the
fact that | was ut least mile from Cen
cral Davis house, and that there was moi
the rcmOtcSt probability that any one had
seen my descent into the earth.
ut was then early morning, and as |
had brought out my dinner with me, nn
one would miss Inc before nightfalL While
going over these lhcts in my mind, heard
the rush Of water near at hand, and Il OC-
Cured to nc that must have fallen upon
the bed Of Sinking creek, which, us you
know, falls into the earth above Frank
tort, and does not come out but once till 1t
reaches the banks Of the Grcenbrier river.
10 stay where was, or TO attempt to fol
low the subtrrrNncOuS passage was the
next question. sometimes took the team
to my own tenant stables, and, therefore,
might not lie missed for days; so deter
mined TO follow the stream. | waded in
II, and, Judging from its depth Of from ono
to three feet, l concluded il must be the
identical Sinking creek spoken Of. Lcav-
ing my dead companion behind me, fol.
lowed the stream For the most part !
had pretty easy work OF 1t, but sometimes
CaMc to- deep place, where | was forced
to swim fora considerable distance; again
was OI(Gn prCCipitated hCadlong into deep
water by the prCCipitOlS nature Of the
rocky he'd Of the StrcNm.
Talk about the darkness Of the grave
The grave itself could not have been more
implpably dark than the passage ] was
following. The occasional ripping Ofthc
waters was III iuuxpressibly dear sound to
my ears. Day and night were the same
to me. At last, wCaried with my efforts,
laid down on Il comparatively dry rock
to rest, and must have slept for hours
When awOkc again, took to the water
carefully asCcrtaining which way 1t ran,
so aS not TO lose my labor by rCtrtCing my
steps. 1t seemed 10 me TINT the further
went the more difficult progress became
When had gone perhaps y mile, came
to place where the archwAy narrowed SC
much that Ind TO crawl on my hands
and knees in the water,
Here was dilemma I Ind not looked
for. | tried either bank Of the river, but
found no passage. | could swim under
water for considerable distance, but tho
distance before me was unknown, and
halted long before making the dangerous
venture. At Inst | concluded TINT my
fate was equally doubtful in returning as
in proceeding, and plunged boldly into the
current, and soon found TINT II was 50
swim in its confined passage that | only
needed to hold my breath TO go through
In the course Of twenty or thirty feet !
again gOl my head above water, and took
long breathing spell. Again the arch,
way above seemed to enlarge, and the bed
Orthc stream became more even. sped
along comparatively rapidly, keeping my
hands OutStrrichCd to prevent my running
against the jagged rocks. WcNricd out,
again laid down and slept sOnndly In my
wet clothes
ION awakening, | pursued my course
down the Subtcrrancan stream, anil, Ht last
| In the long distance ahead. saw u glimmct
that looked very bright in the darkness
was then shut in. Nearing this, ] found
that it did not increase in brightness; and
when | had gone perhaps q mile, came
to another place where my path narrowed
to the very tunnel filled by the water My
case Ind now become moro desperate,
could not possibly rctracc my steps, so ]
submitted myself to the current, and was
immcasurably OvCrjOycd TO tin0 myself
rapidly swept into daylight, Exhausted
and halEdr0wncd, Crcpt out upon the
land and was not long in recognizing the
objects about me. ! had come out into
the Grccnbricr river, US | knew from the
familiar look of General Davis mill on the