New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-07-30

the CRYPT. Do no. venture into the cave
| beyond where it is walled. You hight be
| lost.
| Jesoelin descended the stair, his uncle
closed the trap and left him IN horrible
! darkness. He found the lamp, however.
| lighted it, and then, supplying himself with
| q torch, resolutely set out to explore 1he
| cavern. After passing through several
! chambers that haG evidently been shaped
| out by the hand of man, Josceln came tc
! the narrower part tina, seemed like q mere
| series of assures IN the chalk, cleft by other
assures at right angles, all descending at a
sharp angle, SO that the young nan wished
| fol staff 70 aid his stepe. Suddenly, by &
| deep hollow Murmer overhead. he teit sure
that he wac passing under the sea. hut as
| the path was still plain. dry and easy. lie
| continued to descend until fatigue made
| him stop for rect. By !Els time he Lad
| Travelled several Mlies, and the cavern. OF
series OF caverns no longer descended. but
Kept level. or pretty EeA- 20 l., pene:rst-
| ing the chalk e d NUN oer Il C.recHons N
! chambers q. issIers OF Irregular height.
These were al perfectly cry, and the air
WAS pure.
| Jusetln returned toward the tower, as
| cerGed tie steps. and found ina. his uncle
| had already Deen .bere ana lett him Prov
S,ons, viae and oil for several Gays, with a
| no.e saying be wac closely watched, and
must &c. cone down again Cncil the esrlOn-
! age Was ce leased
| Josctln carried NE stores below. san1
| then, as lie thought, It ILust be night. Ee
sought the dry straw bed be uncle mad tcld
| h,m ut and went 70 eleep. He was
awakened by dense. sufooa-ing smoke,
that os.me on him ir volumes from ABOVE,
and the hoises ne had heard left no doubt
in his Mid that the chateau vss on fire
| This, indeed, Was tine TACT: the tower was
| burned by ne troops after jules had been
| carried Of to prison IN Arras. Sure that
| his retreat would now be detected, and op-
| pressed by the smoke, Joscelln hastily
| seized his stores and means CT illumination
| aud sought the receeses OF the cave. He
| hurried inward for several hours, and At
| last, with iueXpresslble CONSERVATION. dis
covered that he was lest.
How lorg he wandered now he never
could tell, but he knew that finally, alter
exploring no end Of blind passages that led
to owheIe, and a. last losing his light. and
stumbling on for long while il :he dark,
much more rnan half mad, lie heard voices,
faint and unified. On the other side Of 8
wall Of chalk. He knocked AID cried. but
there was no response. A. last. in despair,
he drew his cO2ttcuu dc chase and cut hin
self a passage through into semi-dsyligh.,
and tainted.
This, Mr.. fleetwood Head eaid, was the
family legend concerning the discovery OF
the tunnel JGscelin de Gericault mad cut
himself through in.o smuggler's cave On
the coast OF Kent, not five miles from Dover.
This cave was chiefly the property Of
Farmer Head, prudent and close mau,
who st first was irclined TO shoot the
stranger, out finding hun iIsenslble, and
percelviEg there was some mystery about
the Youths presence there. thought better
Of II, ard took the young man to his house,
al tive G1ia Htrro tty GGr
cault was wei. enough 10 tell his story.
Head married him 20 his daughter, and
built famous beer cellar OF his OWE, with
a secret passage INTO the cave. which lie and
GeFicault explored thoroughly.
As soon as possible, communication was
had with France. Sieur Jules was dead
from grief and rage. Armand had the ruins
OF the tower as his own possession, but Was
ignorant of the cave and OF his son'e fate.
At Heald's suggestion, the tower was re-
built. and by degrees the Irm of Glvn. Jan
sen, Gericault IL Head was established.
The business was that OF smuggling iace5
silks, brandy. tobacco, etc. Gym bought
and sold in London: Jansen bought and
sold III Arras and Lille, in Client and
Antwerp: Head and Gericault were the
sole depositaries of the secret of the sub
marine passage. and they did the snug
Cling. AS the operation Was perfectly safe,
il Was immensely profitable.
The secret, its custody always restricted
to the eldest OF each house. was we'll kept.
The Heads always lived quietly in their
apparent rank in Ire. but frequently inter-
married with the Gerlcaul-s. who, from
being provincial mobiles, fell at the time Of
the revolution into the order OF the COM
monalty.
The transit of the tunnel was made
usually in two days and night, and the
goods were transported IL packs on the
backs Of the contemporary Gericaulr and
Head. They Only made twenty or thirty
trips a year at first, but about the begin
ming of this century, when smuggling was
unusually profitable, they became more
greedy, took several of the young men into
the secret, and added some 6onkeys to
their transportation service. In this way
the firm grew rapidly ricE. But, at the
same Time, the secret was nearly lost. The
tunnel had never been used for any but
smuggling purposes, but one of the younger
Gericaults, al ardent royalist, Eendear,
and particularly hostile to Napoleon. On
one occasion took French officer through
it from England to France. Head did not
know this persons name, but shortly after
his transit, the word came TO the Heads
that the tunnel was suspected, and the
Gericaults had closed their end. The
Heads thereupon theirs and the business
was not resumed until 1915. 1t was then
carried on again with more or less activity
until the present narrator, Fleetwood
Head, who had some time been member
of the banking firm, succeeded by seniority
10 the secret.
His first anG immediate &C: was to destroy
the Dover entrance to the tunnel by blow
ing the chalk into it with gunpowder, at
the same time notifying the Gericaults that
it must no more be used. Mr.. Head, how.
ever, said that 1t would Oe easy to open the
tunnel again. He gave the secretary chart
and profile of it, and explained all the
courses and bearings.
have myself seen a small sketch of the
profile. which resembles somewhat those of
the grcttO of Adelsberg. A geOlOgist who
has been consulted on the subject, and has
taken extreme interest in it, seems to think
it probable that in that early period when
Dover was still united to Calais, these
caves through the chalk were occupied by
cave bears, and perhaps by men also. and
were probably of much greater extent than
at present. He believes that the assures in
the chalk will be found to reach on the
English side OF the channel far beyond the
Isle OF Wight and inland many miles,
while On the French coast they should be
traced as far as the mouth of the Somme.
He thinks there may be found more than
one hssure leading nearly if not quite un.
der the straits from shore to shore If this
be 80 the construction of the submarine
railway, thus shown to be feasible, will be
comparatively cheap. In the profile the
estimated variations of level aggregate
some 900 feet, and are in some places al
most abrupt. Doubtless the Gericaults
and Heads had much work to do to make
the route practicable to their doakeys. The
widest part Of the tunnel is said to be over
hundred feet horizontally, and nearly as
much in height Its narrowest is about
twelve feet.
When the facts which / have outlined
were communicated to the French ministry,
they were anxious to know if Head coujd