The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-06-06


SPARTANBUR0, 6. c., May 26.
A week ego the people of the Unitee
States-irOm Maine to California-wsr,
startled by the appearance of the follow
ing piece of Information, which was dis
tTibuted broadcast over the land through
the medium Of the Associated Press dis
patches:
"AsHEvILLE, N. c., May 2o.-Twe
years ago residents of this section of The
famous Bald Mountain were thrown int
great CONSERVATION by continual rumb,
lings and. inexplicable noises heard in
the bowels of the immense mountain
The phenomena attracted the attention
of scientific fnensin all parts of the
country. The rumblings lasted for about
two weeks and then ceased. They had
the effect of rendering the real estate Ia
the neighborhood, that had been yslun.
bic, almost worthless, and the inhabitants
hastened to move fepm the neighborhood
of the mysterious mountain. Last Fri.
day night the noises began again: the
mountain shook as, in the: thToes of an
eaT:ii;a5.ss,:. sii5t : tzpe5 and rucfl
were hurled down the mountain side,
and sounds like intermittent thunder
were heard during the night. This
morning those who yentured. near saw
that the mountain had bsen literally
split in twain, leaving q chasm of three
hundred feet in length and from eight %
ten feet in width. 80 fa- as has been
ascertained the chasm Is botton,less
abyss. AS yet no smoke or lava has been
throwniir from the crater, but early in the
morning theEeFwas strong smell of sui.
phur about the place -.
The strange tidings were received by
some with alarm, by others with curiosity,
and by. Others yet with positive incredu..
lity. The latter class, being perhaps by
Tar the largest, felt strong enough to in
sinuate openly that the strongest smell
about the Whole matter bore O. suspicious
resemblance to the aallegorical odor of q
rat, and o very large rat at that. The
Columbias corEespo1dens 9f the Ne,os and
Courier read the foregoing item yFednes-
day morning at 10 O'Clock, feeling bnt
languld interest, at most, iG O matter
which SO little concerned him. A few
minutes later, however, d telegram was
handed him bearing the peremptory
command "Go and interview Bald
Mountain for the News and Cbarier p'
and by II o'clock he was miles away
from Columbia on the Greenville Rail-
road, en- route to the presence of his
latest, largest and most distinguished
victim.
Speaking in the first person, 1 arrived
at Sparta' burg Wednesday night, on NV
way 10 the mountains, with no better
idea of its whereabouts than that it was
s. spur of the Blue Ridge, and lay within
the limits Of North, Carolina. Diligent
inquiry IN Spartanburg, Ecweyer, soon
discovered the facts that it was fifty
miles to the :no,thRard that it was ut
terly inaccessible f.om any point of the
unfinished railroad beyond the town, and
that there was no way to reach it except
to travel across the country by private
conveyance eveT gnngh s,euntsin rcad
For my further encouragement / was re-
liably informed that the Whole story of
the eruption was hoax, and in support
OF this stafenenS was referred to q noun
taineer just arrived from the disturbed
district, who confirmed the assertion b.
declaring that he had s1eft the mounting
oasy 5 a=y or Eea before, and he hadn't
never hearn tell of no crack anywheres
in It," This seemed enough but I had
started for the purpose Of seeing "the
crack,'. or the place where it was not,
and l had no alternative but to go; so t
must.
afr. R. L. Taylor, of Spartanburg,
kindly consented to accompany mo for
the purpose of showing the road with
which no was familiar. Mr.. Carrier
furnished q double buggy with two
handsome bays to draw it. Mr. Byrd
supplied US. with creature comforts in
approved. form: to sustain us on the route,
and Col. Farrow and other friends gave
us benediction and God-speed as We
drove Cd. BY 8 o'clock Thursday morn
ing Spartanhnrg was g league behind ms,
and we were fairly on our way to con
front the awful unknown dangers of. the
newly discovered original and only VOL
cano in all the United States and Terri.
torieS,
ofNhe days ride it is not necessary is
speak Ut length. II was mountain
road, and though / am not profane
man, there are chords which mountain
road Is we'll calculated to jar, which acre
Jared quite frequently. and which I can
now afford to let rest for n yeas c= cs= two to
come. The aky was overcast, the air Waa
cred as by o mantle of cloth-of-gold, with
brilliant yellow hue; hundreds of birds
landscape was varied By srccsssion I Of Of
green wheat fields, hundreds OF acres in
extent, aud through it all the rough road
RAM line the path of duty throt3eh che
Garden of Paradise, and along tIlis road
wc passed, stumbling incessantly, in our
poor human fashion, until night came
and fell upon the scene, aI.d ended our
tro1blone, .baltinE, Journey.
Dlring ITiis 1sy we caught occasional