Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1870-11-23

| MILES IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS.
(From the Muskegan (Mlch.) EnterprIse)
When we were publishing {
paper in Lewisburg, West Vir
ginia, several years ago, a very
singular accident befel a young
man there, which we narrated
briefly at the time. A few
days ago we chanced to meet
him here in Muskegan, and he
narrated his adventure at oul
request. 1t occurred on the
farm of General A. W. G.. Da-
Wis, in Greenbrier county, in
1856. We give his story in
his his own words, as near as
we can recollect them.
Il was blowing on Gen. Da-
Wis farm in 1885," said he,
'unsuspicious of being on in
secure ground, when suddenly
the earth seemed to fall beneath
me. [ saw the horses descend.
ing, but was too frightened to
let go the plow handles. The
pitch of the horses with the
earth gave my fall an impetus,
and somehow 1 caught the
name of one Of them in my fall,
and so held on instinctively.-
What | thought when falling
| can hardly tell. At any rate,
| did some rapid thinking
When / landed | fell on the
horse whose name l had hold
of, and although the horse was
instantly killed, I was merely
stunned and confused. On re-
covering myself 1 looked up,
and the hoe through which |
had fallen looked so small |
concluded I had fallen full $50
feet. My first thought was to
call for aid, but | instantly re-
called the fact that / was at
least a mile from General Davis
house, and that there was not
the remotest probability that
any one had seen my descent
into the earth. 1t was then
early morning, and as | had
brought out my dinner with me,
no one would miss me before
nigbtfall. While going over
these facts in my own mind, |
heard the rush of water near
at hand, and it occurred to me
that l must have fallen upon
the bed ofSinking creek, which,
as you know, falls into the earth
above Frankfort, and does not
come out but once till it reach.
es the bank Of the Greenbrier
river. To stay where l was, or
to attempt to follow the subter.
ranean passage was the next
question. | sometimes took
the team to my own tenant sta
bles, and therefore might not
he missed for days; SO I deter
mined to follow the stream. |
waded in it, and Judging from
its depth of from one to three
feet, | concluded it must be the
identical Sinking creek spoken
of. Leaving my dead compan,
ion behind me L followed the
stream. For the most part /
had pretty easy work of it,
but sometimes | came to a deep
place, where I was forced to
swim fora considerable distance,
again | was often precipitated
headlong into deep4, water by
the precipitous nature of the
rocky bed of the stream. Talk
about the darkness of the grave!
The grave itself could not have
been more impalpably dark
than the passage l was follow
ing. The occasional ripping
of the waters was an inexpress-
IDLY dear sound to my ears
Day and night were the same
to me. At last, wearied with
my efforts, / laid down on a
comparatively dry rock to rest,
and must have slept for hours.
When Iawoke again l took to
the water, carefully ascertain.
ing which way it ran, so as not
to loose my labor by retracing
my steps. 1t seemed to me
that the further / went. the
more difficult progress became.
When | had gone perhaps a
mile, | came to a place where
.thcarchway narrowed so much
thar J had to crawl on my hands
nn1 knees in the watar Hara