Oregon Republican. [volume] (Dallas, Or.) 1870-1872, 1871-03-11


insecure 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 horses with the earth
gave my fall an impetus, and somehow
| caught the mane of one of them in
my fall, and SO held on instinctively
What | thought when falling, | can
hardly tell--at any rate | did soml
rapid thinking. When | landed, fell
on the horse whose name had hold of;
and although the horse was instantly
killed, | was merely stunned and con-
fused. On recoverinz, | looked up,
and the hole through which had
fallen looked SO small concluded |
must have fallen full hundred and
fifty 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 remotest possibility that any
one had seen my descent into the earth.
It was then early in the morning,
and as | had brought out my dinner
with me, no one would miss me before
nightfall. While poring over these
in my mind, | heard the rush of water
close at hand, and it occurred to me
that must have fal en- 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 banks of the Greenbrier
| River To stay where | was, or to at
tempt to follow the subteraneous pas.
sage, was the next question. Isometimes
| took the team to my own tenant stables,
and therefore might not be missed for
some days, so | determined TO follow
the stream. | waded into it, and judg>
ing from its depth of from one to three
feet, concluded it must be the identi>
cal sinking creek spoken Of. Leaving
my dead companion behind me, fol-
lowed the stream For the most part
had pretty easy work of it, but some
times came to deep place, where |
was forced to swim for considerable
distance; again was often precipitated
headlong in:o deep water By the precip
itous, 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 | was following. The occa-
sional ripping of the waters was an in
expressibIy dear sound to my ears. Day
and night was all the same to me. At
last, wearied with my efforts, | laid
down on n comparatively dry rock to
rest, and must have slept for hours.
When / awoke again, took to the
water, carefully ascertaining which way
it ran, so as not TO lose my labor by re-
tracing my steps. 1t seemed to me the
further | went, the more difficult pro-
gress became When | had gone about
Il mile, | came to place where the
archway narrowed so much that had
to use my hands aud knees in the water.
Here was dilemma had not looked
for. tried either bank of the river,
but found no passage. | could swim
| under water for a considerable distance.
but the distance before me was un-
known, and | hesitated long before
making the dangerous venture. At last
concluded my fate was as doubtful in
returning as in proceeding, and plugged
| boldly into the current, and soon found
taat it was so swift in its confined pas
sage that | only needed to hold my
breath to go through. In the course of
twenty or thirty feet | again got my
head above water, and took a long
breathing spell. Again the archway
above seemed to enlarge, aud the bed
| of the stream became more even. sped
along comparatively rapidly, keeping
my hands outstretched to prevent my
running against the Jagged rocks.
| Wearied out, | again laid down and
slept souudly in my wet clothes.
On awakening, | pursued my course
down the stream, and at last, long
distance ahead, saw q glimner 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 milo, |
came to another place where my path
narrowed to the very tunnel filled by
the water. My case now became more
desperate. | could not possibly re.
trace my steps, SO | submitted myself
to the current, and was immeasurably
overjoyed to find myself rapidly swept
into daylight Exhausted and half
drowned, | crept out upon the land,
and was not long in recognizing the OBJ
ieets about me- | had come out in the
Greenbrier River, as | knew from the
familiar look of Geneal Davis mill on
the bank. On reaching home, ] found
that / had been forty>eight hours in
making my pcrilous journey of six
miles underground
The hole where this man went
through is now fenced around On
listening, one can plainly hear the rush
of waters below, and a stone thrown.
in will splash. GazeHe.