The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1877-08-31
The Skeleton in the Shaft.

Ihe Skeleton IN the OnaIC'
One of the saddest mysteries brought
to light for yesrs was almost literally
unearthed in Crawford county, Michigan,
few days ago, and in tho most singular
manner possible. VIII H. French, a
Pittsburg dry goods clerk, and Fair
weather Martin, of Chicago, old
schoolmates, were hunting and exploring
through that part of the state and taking
a summer vacation. On the evening of
the 7th of July French shot at a turkey
which came near their camp. The bird
was wounded and could not fly away,
but half flew and half run along ON the
ground before him. He had not followed
it over two hundred feet from the camp
when he suddenly found himself going
down into the bowels of the earth. In
the uncertain light of evening he had
fallen into an old shaft or pi& having a
mouth only three or four feet across, and
ana beng, as Vas lSIUei ssSe.s
by tape-line measurement, twenty-seycn
feet deep. When French went down he
bumped from side to side, and landed
all in a heap at the bottom, elbows
skinned, knees battered and the rest of
his body pretty well shaken up The
bottom of the pit was much larger than
the mouth, being almost ten feet from
side to side. It had been dug out, as if
men had sunk shaft down that far and
then started out to dig drifts. The soil
was very hard, and in some places the
shaft had been cut through rock.
1t may be imagined that the clerk
was not long in raising the alarm, but
the depth of the pit so muzzled his voice
that his companion had a long search to
locate him. While this hunt was going
on French discovered that he had com
pany down there. It wasso dark that he
could see nothing, and he was prevented
from knowing the size of the pit. After
finding that he had no broken bones he
felt about him a little and laid his hand
on what he soon knew TO be a human
skeleton, and a musty odor at once filed
his nostrils. His yells for assistance were
no doubt considerably increased by this
discovery, and when assisted out Of the
pit by means of a stout line carried with
the camp equipage ne was in no mood
for joking. 1t was decided to make az
examination of the place by dayligh
and when morning came Martin wa
lowered down the shaft. The bush9.
were cut away from around the mou
to give him light, and enough flteL
down to enable him to see everything
There was a skeleton there, 5!
enough, and a sight it must have pi
sented in the gloom down there. TFs
figure ola man sat with his back to tb I
wall, one knee drawn up and the othr
leg extended The hands rested on te
ground on either side, and the head hd
fallen over on the lsSAsboulder It VS.
not a corpse, not a tSeleton, but a
mummy. Most of the hair had f%ln
off the skull, and txsP clothing saa
mouldered until sesth would blown .
to dust. There was boot on the rigt
foot only, the other one lying on t.
ground some distance away. The sol
could be torn off as easily as one tearsi
blotting- pad. The flesh on the
and limbs had greatly decayed, lea
knees, elbows and other joints emit
bare, but where any flesh remain5tN
had shriveled down and turned
color of sheet-iron. Martin and3
friend were of course, considerablHa1 -
cited over the discovery, but theyfde
all pains and precautions to find I.
to the mystery. On the ground wss
small heap of dust which bad once m
a hat. Against the wall, within reaof
the mummy, was a~bundle of cloIp
While Martin was making these =
coveries below, French was scc.'aa
around the mouth of the g MA. c5sl q.
almost at the edge of it we. Ae@ ~
barrel of a rifle and ths heaS Y b eeeoal
ak. The stock had rotted frc 'e11e sae
and the handle had decayed fcf Ame
while the metal itself was ! a.n a,n p; p
with rust. When the .I<l
hunter or explorer fell iiss1 nenpt
doubtless did, he might hssg--Gs1 -
ing these articles in his hane .-=s's
sudden stumble might have di-Tseettl n
them from his pack, or, still furtbSpus93 y
might have '.ung to the bushess sse,e ~
edge of the PIT for a few seconds
falling, and sought to tighten his y
There was no evidence of cans hi 9sshi
near by, though tbs lone man ItrosV
have had one there.
Feeling quite certain that clue /
| the mystery would be found In the mad