The democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1868-1874, 1870-04-04
A SINGULAR ADVENTURE.
sinking Creek In Gr,.nbrier Coun

relate. the iolluviag singular adventure :
When ve,were publishing. : paper in
Lewisbury. West Virgini., tevsrl years
ago, worry singular AGO dent bsfel > young
man there, which We narrated briefly at
the time. A few days ,go We chaac.d to
ase. him here in Nlaskegau. and he sar-
rated his adventure at our rsgsest. II
occurred on the farm Of General A. w.
G. Davis, in Grespbrisr county ,,in 1856
We give his story in bis own words, -
near sIWe eAn recsllect them.
II was ploving Oh General Davis far n
in 1856, unsuspicious Of being on insecure
ground. when suddsaIy the earth seemed
10 fall beneath me. ssv tie horses de.
ucending, but -, too. frishtsped 70 let 70
the plo1 handles. The pitch ofthe, horses
With the earth gave my fall an impetus;
aud somehow saugh,,hs aans Of one Of
them in my fall. and so held on instiuc!
lively. What though. when falling !
can hardly toll. At nyrssstI did somc
rapid thinking. Whes i lihdsd ] fell on
The horse whose nsae i had hold Of. aud,
although the horsessss ins,an,ly Killed. !
vas merely s'unaed.sad confused dOn re.
covering myself looked up. and the hole
through which Ihsd fallen leok'd 20 small
tIlatI concluded ] must hars, ,kllea rtull
150 feet. Ny ir,. thought vac 10 sall for
aid. but I instantly recalled she fact sha.
I sss s,'lesss . mile from General Davis
house. and tha, there vas not shc renotest
probability that any oae had seen ny de-
scent into the earth. !. was then early
mornisg. sud, % l had brosgh. out my
dinner With ne,t no ono would mies iue
before tnishtfall. While! going over these
fscts'in ny oyn n,ind, l heard the rush
of waters n.sr at hand. sad ii occurred to
me that I mus, have fallen upon the led
of Sinking Creek. which. nss, youikDov.
falls into the earth shove Frankfort. ssd
does not come out but snce ill it rea hes
the buuks Of the Gresnbrisr river. IT, say
vkersil vis. q stsenp. to fellsv The sub-
passagc. vas de ssrt question.
I sop,esiu,es took the team TO my y'oun ten.
az. stable. ssi ,hesefoss -nish. no. be
missed Tor Days; % fdsterthined TO follow
es.rssu. yadsd into Is, :.uA judging
from il depth sf sss 10 three, feet, tcon.
cluded II s,uss b shs identical Sinking
Creek spoken ol. Leaving NY desd COM
pauion brliad ne. i followed ID. ,,.r.sn,.
Yaf .hs most part ! hid pretty easy work
Of il. :Sst son,e,ines l cans y . deep
place. where | was forced ID svio, for' .
considerable di,tapce sometimes ran
-sSsisss jagged rocks, spd ,ksu sgsin was
often prscipi,ated hsadlons into deep wsser
b. ihs precipi,ous nature Of tho rocky bed
of the ssresn,. Talk abost the dsrksess
Of the grave! A graves itssif,eosid lss
have been more ilupalp.bly dark than ths
passage I vas following. The occasional
iippling Of the waters Gas an ike1pres.ibly
desr saqnd to ny ears. Day and night
vas the ia,iis ts nc. Ai.laat, ,sssr;si
With ny eaetis. fl.id down on eompar-
atively dry, rock to rest. and aust have
slept for hosrs. Whcs | awoke | again
tonk 10 the water, carefully ssecr,aining
which ssy,it,ras. soas not 70 loss my labor
by rttfseihg my st.ps. Il seemed to me
that the further went the moro difficult
progress bcealns. When | bad gone per.
hsps mils-E esne TO . place where the
archway narrowed 70 msch ,ha. hsd 10
crawl on my hands and knees in the water.
Here vasa dilsmna I hid not lsoktd for.
I tried either bank vf the river. but found
no pasaass.s !, could rssjn underwater
for 1 con.idersble distance, but tie dis.
t.nc. before me was unknown. and |
halted long before making tie dangerous
yentsre. At last I concluded that my
fate xas equally deubtial in retsraing Is
in proceeding. and plausedbsldiy into the
swift current. and soon found ,hM ii vas
80 .wif. ia its confined pa,sage that only
need TO hold my breath 10 70 through
In the eouf,e sof twenty Or thirty feet |
again 70. my head above water, aud took
. long bre,ihiug spell. Again the arch.
way sbo,s seemed 10 enlarge sad the bed
Of The stream become more even Isped
along comparatively tanid, keeping my
hand, outhretehed to prevent my running
against the jagged rocks 9 Wearisd soui,
I again lsid down and slept souadl, in MY
vet clothes. On au.kesine | pursued
my course down the ,ubterrsn.an stream.
and al last, in the long distance shcad.
say y elimmsr that locked VIZ bright In,
ths darkness I vas then pent in. Near.
ing this, I found .ha. il did Nv. iucres,s
in brighsness; and when 4 hsd gone per-
haps 4 mile came TO another place where
ny path narrowed to the very tunnel filled
By tde water. My ease now Lscame more
desperate. I could no. possibly r.tr.ce
my ,tsys, 80 I I,ubmitted my.elf to the
current. and vas inmta,urahiy ev.rjoyed
to End myself rapidly swept into daylight.
E1iausled aad half drowned. I erept out
spon the land and vas net long In resog
nising the objects sbou. me. Ihad come
out into The Grsenbrisr river, asI knew
from the familiar lsot Of General Davis
uill o. the bsAk. On reaching home I
found that J.; had been over ,y.eish.
hours il making my psti!sus journey Of
siI miles under grduad r.
The hole where this man went .hrosgh
is now fenced ruand. d.-Oa listening one