The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1870-03-19
A singular Adventure.

ago. a very singular accident befel young
man there, which we narrated briefly at
the time. A few days ago we CHANGED
to meet him here in MusAegan, and he
narrated bis adventure at our request. 1t
occurred on the farm of Gen. A. W. G..
Davis, in Greenbriar county, in 1856.
We give his story in his own words, as
near as we can recollect them: 81 was
plowing on Gen. Davis farm in 1885,"
said he, 'unsuspicious of being on inse-
cure ground, when suddenly the earth
seemed to fall beneath me. / saw the
horses descending, but was too frightened
to let go the plow handles. The pitch
of the hbrses 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 instinctively. What thought
when falling l can hardly tell. At any
rate l did some rapid thinking. When
| landed I fell on the horse whose name
had hold of, and although the horse was
instantly killed, [ was merely stunned
and confused. On recovering myself l
looked up, and the hole through which
had fallen looked so small concluded l
must have fallen $50 feet.
My first thought was to call for aid,
but instantly recalled the fact that [
was at least mile from Gen. Davis
house, and that there was not the remot-
est probability that any one had seen my
descent into the earth. It was then
| early morning, and as | had brought out
my dinner with me, no one would miss
me before nightfall. While going over
these facts in my own mind, [ heard the
rush of water near at hand, and it oc-
CURED to me that [ must have fallen
upon the bed of Sinking creek, which,
as you know, falls into the earth above
Frankfort, and does not come out but
once till it reaches the GreeDbrier river.
To stay where [ was, or to attempt to
follow the subterranean passage, was the
! next question. [ sometimes took the
| team to my own tenant stable, and mig ght
not be missed for days; so l determined
to follow the stream. | waded in it, and,
| Judging from its depth of from one to
three feet, concluded it must be the
/ identical creek spoken of. Leaving my
dead companion behind me, | followed
| the stream. For the most part had
pretty easy work Of it, but sometimes |
came to deep place where was forced
| to swim considerable distance again,
! L was OitOh Pi0StBttoeSo AhAO
deep water by the precipitous nature of
! the rocky bed OF the stream. Talk about
the darkness Of the grave! A grave
itself could not have been more palpably
dark than the passage l 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 my efforts, l
laid down on comparatively dry rock to
rest, and must have slept for hours.
When ] awoke again | took to the
water, carefully ascertainiug which way
| it ran, SO as not to lose my labor by re-
| tracing my steps. 1t seemed to me that
the farther | went the more difficult pro-
1 gress became. When had gone perhaps
a mile, [ came to place where l had to
crawl on my hands and knees in the
water. Here was dilemma / had not
looked for. [ tried either bank of the
river, but found no passage. | could
swim under the water for considerable
distance, but the distance before me was
unknown and | halted long before max
| ing the dangerous venture. At last [
concluded that my fate was as doubtful
in returning as proceeding, and plunged
boldly into the current, and soon found
that it was so swift in its confined pas
sage that | only needed to hold my breath
and go through. In the course of twenty
or thirty feet [ got my head above the
water aud took long breathing spell.
Again the archway above seemed to en-
large and the bed of the stream become
more even. [ sped along comparatively
rapidly, keeping my hands stretched to
prevent my running against the jagged
rocks. Wearied out, L again laid down
and slept soundly In my wet clothes.
On awakening, [ pursued my course
down the subterranean stream, and at
last, in the long distance ahead, saw a
glimmer that looked very bright in the
darkness I was then put in. Nearing
this, I found that it did not increase in
brightness and when I had gone per-
haps a mile, [ came to another place
where my path narrowed to the very tun-
mel filed by the water. My case was
now become more desperate. l could
not possibly retrace my steps, SO [ sub
mitted myself to the current, and was
immeasurably overjoyed to find myself
rapidly swept into daylight. Exhausted
and half drowned, I crept out upon the
land and was not long in recognizing the
objects above me. | had come out into
the Greenbrier river, as | knew by the
familiar look of General Davis mill on
the bank. On reaching home found
had been over forty eight hours in max
ing my perilous journey of six miles uu-
derground." The hole where this man
went through is now fenced round. On
listening one can plainly hear the rush OF
water below, and stone thrown down
will sometimes be heard to splash in the
stream.
The "LABoR UNION" DIsHED THE
Gubernatorial candidate of the "Horny
Hands" has been fabbergusted The
Colonel has been routed from centre tc
circumference, and the "three laborine
lawyers" have succumbed to the 18th
amendment and the Chinese treaty! Blu,
this does not imply victory for the Her.
AIDS State Printership-for there is q
Democratic practical disciple of the craft