The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-04-02
RALn MOUNTAIN.
.tSRwbones'- Elucidates thc Cusset3-
ness OF Newspaper Humanity.

.sSRwboncs'- Elucidates tae Cusses-
ness OF Newspaper Humanity.
NEAR TIE VOLCANIC REGIONS,
March 19.-"H- afoat in the
mountainsr-"Old Badly" Prepsr-
ing to observation-disclosures
Fire! The Earth Quakingl-
Things Trotting!"-I heard all this,
and | could not stand this. had
never seen q volcano, go | mounted
my horse and put cut FOR cold Bald"
The news got worse the farther | went.
As 1 approached the mountain | met
the natives a gcttin men, wO-
men, children and dogs. They begged
me to turn back, and sung, "Turn,
sinner, turn" and | think some OF
them prayed for me. 1t beat old
Mrs. Wards saloon at Greeneville.
To get out Of the fuss pushed on.
/ struck a leading spur of old Bald,
and rode up, as far as could ride.
Then l dismounted, hitched my horse
and walked on. Where the spur
joined the main mountain, my way
was INSTRUCTED by perpendicular
rocks. could see smoke from the
top, but | could not hear the rumb-
ling. climbed up and around the
mountain. / got on a high point,
from which there was a commanding
view below. The rumbling from this
point was terrible and unaccountable.
Just there | saw q sight that astonish-
cd me more than if the earth had
yawned at my feet. / saw a wagon,
with four mules, driven furiously
around the side Of the mountain. 1t
had on it an old-fashiOned wagOn-bed,
and, from the noise, there was a few
loose rocks in it. How the thing
held together, bouncing about over the
rocks, is unaccountable. 1t went q
few hundred yards, and turned round.
1t stopped about ten minutes as if to
rest the mules, then, here it came
again. The road IF it could be called
road) was about one hundred yards
long. 1t would turn and rest the
mules at each end. ! saw it make
several trips. Then | took a drink
from my flask, and scrambled down
to this Devils turnpike. Iplaced NY
self by the side of the road, TO wait
for the wagon. IL a few minutes
here it came. The driver did not see
me until he was within fifty steps Of
me. lie appeared astonishei, stood
up in his stirrups, Che was riding one
of the mules, and tried to bluff me
by yelling out:
Get out of the way, you'd fool! y
/ As soon as he spoke ] knew him,
! 1t was George Skies. He used TO live
over in Buncomhe when Madison WAS
part of Buncombe. l picked up a
couple Of rocks and placed myself in
the middle Of the road. Then he
stopped and | went for him. Said |,
George, if YOU don't want 10 be lift
ed from that mule with enc of these
dornicks, talk fast"
Talk what?' said he.
/ "Nolcano" said |.
! "Now look here, Sawboncs," Che al,
ways called me SawhoneS, You know
that / am poor man. | am paid by
the editors to 90 this.
"But how about the smoke and fire.
Here George laughed outright.
He said the natives, were very skitti>h
when they heard the rumblmg, but
when 'the blow out came, they in
continentlv toddled. He had buried
a key of powder about eight feet deep,
inserted a tin tube in the key, tramp
ed in the dirt!
"They say they hear this rumbling
to Old Fort"
90, yes! They hear it there! They
will hear it in New York soon; the
news is spreading mighty fast! Saw
bones, for Gods sake give ne all the
tobacco you have about you-go
home to your family and keep your
mouth shut"
| did come home 30 my family.
( The old quilt saw NE coming and ran
( to meet me. The first word was "vOl-
cano!" told her the volcano was all
right, but the cusscdncss Of human
nature was breaking my heart, and
that if she didn't get in the house and
make me strong cup of coffte, there
would he a volcano right there. She
wcnt-not being strong-minded
crusader, she Consequently docs what
| ask her to do.
fyou are in the volcano bust
ness you can suppress this. don't
want to injure any mans; and this
volcano-earthquake news is mighty
cN.,itin1r rnnGincr