The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1877-07-27


A letter from Rockford. Ill, to the
Springfield (Mass.) Republican contains
the following:
In this vicinity, we learned. was a very
singular character by the name Of Hern-
don. He is 80 wears Of age, and has a
wife and two sons Of 20 and 20. About
three years 2 Herndon received a Wis
itation from the spirits. He was sitting
at his table with his pencil in his hand,
when he felt an unseen power guiding
his pencil over the paper which lay be-
fore him. When the power had ceased
acting upon him he read upon the paper
"A command to 90 into "A secluded wood
and 10 make an excavation, and he
should find something which should be
of great value to him. Impressed so
strongly with what he had felt and wit
messed, he went TO the spot in the wood
which had been indicated. and found a
hole about ID feet deep and eight feet in
diameter, which evidently had been
caused by the action of water, and here
he commenced to dig. All one winter
he lived and dug in his hole, before any
one knew any thing about II. When at
last ii became known, and numbers
fiocked from the country around 10 see
I" Hcrndon's Hole, 'as il is known about
here. he was not laughed out of his idea,
but, purchasing the land in which his
hole existed, the next winter he and his
two sons labored together, sinking it
deeper and deeper. The winters only
are devoted to the work, a small plot Of
ground being titled for the winters sup
ply Of food. 1t was no with the *
pcrtation Of finding him At his work
that we made our way through the woods
in the direction which had been indicated
to US. On our way. we overlook a
young man, and asked him il he could
direct u 70 Herndon's Hole" He
said he was going there himself,
and would show rs. We then made
bold to ask him if he knew this lierndon
or any thing about his hole. He startled
W. ~ answering that Herndon was his
father, but he was not offended with my
inquiries and said he had worked with
hi- father in his search. and they con.
tcmplated commencing again as soon
cold weather SET I'M. They were
already within 80 feet of the spot. where
his father had been told the treasure
was hid. The nature OF the rock through
they had dug. and the general
revelations Of the work had been in per-
accord with the writings which had
been revealed 10 them. We now came
~ the spot in a small clearing in the
wood. A rude windlaSs. 4 pile Of rocks
and dirt. and a wooden curbing over d
hole in the ground revealed itself. We
over and gazed into the darkness
and the Young man looked in
with Us. An excavation had been made
about eight feet square and 50 feet deep.
The young man pointed 20 some stone
leading of into 4 creyice in the
rock, and said they had excayated 20
feet further in that direction. making a
Of 20 feet in all. s.Whaf do YOU
q find?'' we asked. The question
was answered e~vasiycly, and We saw
our inquisitiyeness had betrayed Us, and
we turned 10 90, not until, however. we
had written our name in a small diary
which the young man produced, and
received an invitation when winter set
IN 10 come aud descend into the hole and
view the work and the discovery which
would undoubtedly be made At that
lime. On returning from our "trip we
learned that the discovery which was
expected would be Of d religious
,haracter, and would be either written
IN metal or stone, and would throw
light on the creation Of the world
md Of man, and If many subjects on
which people according % Herndon are
because Of Insufficient light.