The Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1870-1875, 1870-12-06
WaFriek County Silver Mine !
AN ON TEGEND REVIVED.
Tbs Philosophers Stone Discovered!
especial Correspondence Journal
R0oNVUIE Dec. 81. 1870,

W. III TIC NAGAuAtg Va A5 hAfhASi
causes Of which your readers may be
interested in knowing. They are, as
briefly as | can state them, about as
follows:
For many years after the Indians
were driven out of this county, 1t
was generally believed that silver ore
existed in considerable quantities
somewhere between the White and
Ohio Rivers. The opinion prevailed
that some subterranean cavern was
used by the Indians to melt the ore
and run it into bars. lt is fact we'll
known that powerful tribe OF In
dians, who had possession of this o0un-
try, and whose headquarters were at
the mouth of Cypress Greek, one
mile above NeWburg. were IN the
habit of selling silver to the
French traders at Vincennes. Soon
after the Indians moved West, white
man, who had for many years been a
prisoner with them, came back to this
part Of the country and reported that
he and other prisoners had been COM
PEELED to carry heavy loads of metal
from some point in the interior but
the distance and direction were I'M
known to him, from the fact that he
was always blind-folded." and was
never allowed to see the contents of
his load. On his return to the white
settlements he spent many weeks
hunting for the silver ore, but with
out any satisfactory results. About
this time a half-breed Indian came
through this county and formed a
partnership with two North Caro-
linians for the purpose of work
ing this same silver mine. The
''half. breed" took the two white
men to a cave which was entered by a
narrow passage under the rocks, and
the mouth of the entrance was fully
concealed By q fat stone covered
with moss. The entrance was effect.
ed By raising the stone carefully, and
then crawling In, after which the
stone was let down over the entrance.
The men then followed a narrow pas
sage to large cave containing num-
Der of rooms. Here they set to work,
beating up the ore aud melting it into
convenient bars. They continued to
work until their small stock Of pro-
visions, carried there on theiI
backs, gave out, when it was de.
termined to divide the proceeds
and go to the white settlements
A dispute arose concerning the divis.
ion of the silver, the half breed
contending, inasmuch as he made
known the existance of the mine, be
should have at least half of the metal
| Whereupon, the two white men ac-
cused the Indian of bad faith, and the
result was a general engagement BY
all the forces; the half breed being 6
large powerful man, was too much fol
his tar heel assailants, and Wai
about to conquer them both, Wher
one of them dealt him a blow in tht
head with an axe, which brought The
fight to a sudden close, the half bree(
falling to the ground a dead man
There was no time to be lost by tn
survivors, as their stock Of provis
ions was almost exhausted, and /
was many long miles to the Whit
settlements. So they hastily gathered
up as much of the metal as they coult
conveniently carry, and left the cav
ern. Soon after their return to Nortl
Carolina, one of them died. Tht
other lived a few years, and Oh
his death-bed made the above fact
known, but did not divulge the pre-
else location Of the mines.
After the red men had all disap
peared from this part of the State, an,
few early pioneers began to OpeI
up farms, there lived a man in tn
northeast corner Of Warrick County
by the name of Mass Powers, VIII
!. was a decided character in his way
) He would make a pilgrimage, abou
once a year, to some unknown plac
at least unknown to his family
and would invariably return with con
J siderable quantities of silver. Whe
interrogated on the subject. he woul
give an eVasive answer. Many pei
sons now living in Vanderburgh an
Warrick Counties remember "Ol
Mass Powers" and have seen him pas
through the country with an old pal
of saddle bags full of silver. Man
persons believed that he belonged t,
clan of highway robbers, and OBJ
tanned his money in this way, Will
others supposed that he dug tn
precious metal from the bowels of tn
earth; but, to the day Of his death
nothing definite was ELECTED with re
gard to where or how he obtained hi
money.
About five or six years ago a ma
by the name of Pearce came to War
rick County and represented himsel
to be miner, and spent some tim
in making examinations Of tn
] country between Lynnville and Pleas
, antVille, and finally commenced dig
ging a shaft. The place selected wa
on high rocky knob about six mile
! northeast from LynnVille. Afte
! digging five or six feet deep he wa
6 taken suddenly i'll and died.
Nothing more was done in the prem
Uses until about year ago. Two boy
were hunting in the woods an
CHANGED to pass near the shaft du
) By Pearce, and being conversant wit
/ the whole history of the casa, they be
: gan to examine the rocks, stoppin
l.. frequently to look at peculiar col
D ored rocks that CHANGED to be in thei
] path. Just as the sun was settinJ
D one of the boys took up a small roun
/, stone and threw it with great fore
against large fat rock, that lay nea
? by, when to his surprise very brigh
e shining substance was discovered i
e the rock thus broken, which the boy
{ were confident was the long sough
: silver ore. So they gathered leave
} and moss and placed them upon th
{ broken rock lest some one passin
! that way should find it, and then wit
} their pocket knives they marked
small tree near by, and started 70
home; but instead of reaching home
they came out of the woods nea
Lynnville, in an opposite directio
: from their homes. The next da
they went back and tried to find tn
hidden rock, but were unable to do 81
About one year ago Mr.. Farme
e bought the land on which the sur
] posed mine existed, with the inten
ton of prospecting for silver-an
now comes the spiritual part of n
story. One of Mr.. farmers chi
dren-a little girl ten or twelve year
: old-discovered among the effects c
: Mr.. Pearce, deceased, a peculiar shape
! glass, said to have been used by hir
IN finding precious metals. The ma
DIS Oper0Rdi of using this glass
somewhat curious, and the particula
circumstances which led to its dis
: coverY is still shrouded in mystery
The little girl found that by look
ing into this glass In a very darI
room, a great many peculiar an
/ Esomewhat unnatural appearance
! were disclosed to her, and among othe
, things she discerned large quantitie