Louisiana capitolian. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1879-1881, 1880-09-25
SINNERS LAST LETTER.


home and friends, is no less than it wa'
few short weeks ago in leaving them
A large portion Of country between
Washington and Cincinnati is Of course
mountainous and not thickly settled, tn,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS being crossed in thu
route. The landscape scenery in man!
places is quite rare and beautiful. Pro
jccting this road was mighty under
taking and required masterpiece o
civil engineering. Two large mountain
engines were required to take us up the
ascent and our speed Oh the down grade
was in some places at the rate Of sixt!
miles an hour Soon we reached Louis
vile, a neat little city of $50, 900 inlhabl'
tants, which while it has no parks and
but few points of special interest, il
clean, well kept and in fine condition
financially and otherwise. The ccmetc'
ry here contains many costly and elc-
giant monuments and is IN ornament to
the city.
Arriving at Cane City few miles be-
low Louisville we found the whole
ncigbborbood in great state of excite
mcnt and terror over the recent bold and
daring highway robbery committed by
two rutiians, between that city and MINI
moth Cave. Two stages were attacked
from one Of which they only obtained a
small amount ofbooty, having overtakcn
the other containing one female and
seven male passengers, they were com
mandcd to "stand and deliver The
young lady was permitted to remain in
tho hack, but suffered the loss Of her
diamond ring aud spare cash. The
name and address of each passenger were
carefully noted, the object Of which they
were informed, was that they might be
reimbursed for their losses at some future
day. The ruf,ians represented them
selves rs noonshiners, driven by neccs-
sity to commit so horrible crime, and
insisted they were not professional rob
bets. They were talkative and ioyial
and on learning the young lady's address,
sent kin1cst regards to their young lady
friends in her ncighborhood. The watch
and money of one gentleman was saved
by slipping them under the seat. Tho
whole amount lost was 81 $50, u watch
and chain and $3.50 in cash being the
heaviest loss sustained by one person.
II so happened that no one present was
provided with even pocket knife or
the affair would have ended differently.
In daring and boldness this assault is
certainly unsurpassed and leads to the
reasonable presumption that it might
BE- the work of the James Brothers.
Had not my plans been frustrated it
would have been my misfortune to have
formed u part of this unfortunate COM
pany, as that was the day | had selected
on which to visit the Cave Some one
has said "Ihc devil takes care of his
own"
One of the most pleasant features of
my whole trip was the visit to Mammoth
Cave cone of the seven wonders of the
world
Echo river being very high we could
only 80 distance Of four and half or
five miles il the Cave, crossing the river
StyX and going only short distance on
Echo river. At every step | was struck
with awe, wonder and anazement.
Among the most attractive points were
The Grand Walk, Giants Cetiin, Cork
Screw, Star Chamber and Gorin's Dome.
In addition to these, were u hundred
avenues, measuring many miles in
lcngth, The height and width varied
from places barely passahle and acccssi-
bic to those forty feet wide and two hun
dred feet high. In places the appear
ance was that of u large and elegant
room with beautifully trescocd wall and
ceiling.
Remains of the Saltpctrc mines and
the old machinery for manufacturing it,
were to BE- seen These mines were ope-
rated in l-l2 and the Saltpctrc was car
ricd in OK wagons to Washington City.
The atmosphere within the Cave is cool
and bracing, remaining 50 all the year,
On returning to the earth again, every
thing has a dismal, dcathly appearance
while the atmosphere is warm, oppres-
sivc and sutfcating.
On the whole we thought it the great
est curiosity yet seen and Justly entitled
to the position as one of the seven
wonders, Much Of tho pleasure in visit
ing the Cave is due to the peculiar and
excellent company had on this occasion,
consisting of a fresh Englishman, u full
bloodcd lrishman, u Yankee and negro.
The white portion were all young law
NCrS and only knew nnch other 90 WYnn