The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1877-10-10

4 N old Man who has lived in a
Gave AWenIy-fOur Xear~-Ehe
Strange R1aIiucin aGiOns un-
der " hich lac H.abors
From the westviIIe lMo.l Bazoo.l


preached him and asked him what he
wanted, he said, ''for you to get out of
my sunshine" But every one, we pre-
sumo, has hot heard Of Montgomery
county's hermit, George Botfman, who,
for twenty four years, has lived solitary
life in his lonely cave in Montgomery
county. \ few days since, it was our
pleasure to visit this hermit at his cave,
which is located two miles south of Dan
vile. We left the Mineral Springs on
horseback, having learned that the cave
was one mile east of there, and, for an
hour, we wandered up the creek, follow
ing an old beat, until We reached point
where the road ended in sharp angle
between two fences. We thought, like
Xantippe of old, "nihil desperandum, =
so we laid down one of the fences, and
concluded to make our way to where we
heard the Growing of cock, far to the
north. If you have ever read how DR..
Livingstone used to struggle i'll the BRAN
bles of Africa, you can form some idea
of our difficulties with the Underground"
as We squeezed our way through that corn
field. But when we finally struck day
light on the other side, to our great de
light we were in seeing distance of Major
Bofman's Locumquo. The opening was
a little lot of an acre or so, which the
hermit tills with his hoe. We passed
through this, and found Botfman sitting
up on the side of the bluff at the entrance
of his cave. In his mouth was a dirty,
half burnt pipe, and from the color of the
effiuvia which he was ejecting from his
mouth, we suppose he also had quid of
tobacco in it. At his feet lay an old
fashioned Spanish cur, while few feet
from him, were a dozen or more cats,
playing under the overhanging rocks.
A glance at the hermit shows that he
cares but little for fashion. On his feet
were pair of shoes of his own make,
which were nothing more than old boot
tops tackled to a board which were
trimmed in a shape to suit his feet. His
cap was of Turko Russian style, and
his pants and shirt were much worn and
looked as if they had never felt the
gentle touch of the washerwOman. He
IS tall and slender, of a copper color,
| with black hair and weak beard, which is
| beginning to whiten. From his looks,
water has not shown him its solvent
| power for many weeks. The next thing
was to see the sights inside of his cave.
He walked in and took the only seat he
had-a box-that he had, and invited
| us to s'come in" As we stood at the en-
| trance Of his dark and dismal den, all
| the hideous stories that we ever read of
caves, ghosts and haunts flashed over
! our mind, causing us to halt for mo-
ment, but then the valor OF kings and
heroes of which the Had abounds,
passed before us in their panoramic
| splendor, telling that it were base COW
| arlice to shrink at this time. The first
Thought that struck us when inside the
cave was, how could human being live
twenty-four years in such a filthy den?
The cave is about Skis, with a fireplace
and chimney at one end. 1t has fear
| full smell, caused by large pile OF SKINS
half rotten tobacco, aud rubbish gen
erallv, together with the dirt that would
naturally accumulate in twentyfour
wears. In one corner were some pam
used for cooking, a cup and saucer, coffee
not. ETC., while on the fire was tea
kettle and skillet. His bed is narrow
dirty looking mattress placed on plank
in one side of the cave. At one side l
a hand mill on which he does his grind
ING. We noticed four guns, thre
trunks, several boxes and some newspa
pers in the further end of the cave
There is no window, or any way of ma
king light save when the door Is open.
Mr.. Boffman seemed sociable and vii
+ ing to answer the many questions W
, asked him. He professed to have bee
. greatly outraged by this government. H
say.that in 1854 he was driven from hi
farm in Illinois, and then came to tn
State when he purchased farm in Chal
. iton County, which he still owns. ii
r. story is that seventy five or hundre
Z wears ago the French buried many mi
, lions Of dollars in gold in the bluff
| where he is digging, and failing to estaf
= lish their Government here, the dePoSi
have since been left to agents of whom /
I Is the last. At the mouth of his cave
! has made a we'll thirty feet deep throug
! solid rock. At the bottom of this we
! he says there is large copper kettle tn
=, of gold-sO close that he can hear tn
e kettle ring when he strikes with the drill
f, A short distance from this he has done
is vast amount Of digging, seemingly tt
# work of ten men for the time, and
q. each digging he says he is within day
N work of ten gallon kettle of gold. III
money he says belongs to the trenc
and he's simply their agent, and that
has written time and again for Fren'
soldiers to come over to guard the mon'
while he takes it out His latest accou
from France is that the proper authorl
with an army of soldiers will be here t
Is last of this month to assist him. Ii tn
er deceive him this time he is then going
e let England send her soldiers and ia
II the money Upon any subject exec
re money, Mr.. Boffman talks intelligent
n but touch the subject Of gold and y
a will at once say he is a monomanla
r. Those who have known him since
Ia came here in "a say that he was on
X way to California and stopped at
re Springs when one of his oxen stray
r. and in hunting for him he discovered
"a cave where he had been at work in scar
et of gold ever since. Visitors go to
ne him almost every Sunday, and we adv
III all who come near the Springs to 60 a
ar see this curiosity-this crazy gold seek
sr who, Notwithstanding the fair forms II
he have so often visited him in twenty yes
10 and the flowers that nod and bloom
lis their coquettish glee around him, IS
I a stranger to true civilization; to enlg
oy eminent and religion.
be
it The waste of time is a more serl
to loss than the extravaganza against wh
| Io1D