Louisiana capitolian., 1880-09-21
SINNERS LAST LETTER.


home and friends, is no less than it was
, few short weeks ago in leaving them.
A large portion Of country between
Washington and Cincinnati is of course,
mountainous and not thickly settled, tho
Allegllauy Mountains being crossed III the
route. The landscape scenery in many
places is quito rare and beautiful. Pro-
jecting this road was u mighty under
taking and required u masterpiece OF
civil engineering. Two large mountain
engines were required to take us up the
ascent and our speed on the down grade
was in so,nc places at the rate of sixty
miles an hour. Soon VIC reached Louis
vile, y neat little city of 10000 i"labi-
tauts, which while it has 10 parks and
but few points of special interest, is
clean, well kept and in fine condition
financially and otherwise. The cc'nctc-
ry here contains many costly and Gle
unnt monuments and is an ornament to
the city.
Arriving at Cane City few miles be-
low Louisville We found the whole
neivhboIhood in a great statcof excite
nleDt and terror over the rcccnIbold and
daring highway robbery committed by
two ruitians, between that city and Manf.
mott, Cave. Two stages werc attacked
from one of which they only obtained a
small amount ofbooty, having oycrtakcn
the other containing one fciualc atltl
seven male passengers, they were com
manded to "stand and deliver The
young lady WITS permitted to remain in
the hack, but suffered the loss OF her
diamond ring and spnrc 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 nj some future
day. The rutiians represented them
selves as ,noonsl,incrs, driven by nccrs-
sity to commit 30 horrible u crimc, and
insisted they were not professional rob
bets. They were laxative and jovia|
and on learning the young lady address,
sent kindcst regards to their young laly
friends in her nrigbborl,oml. The watch
nnd money of one gentleman was saved
by slipping them under the scat The
whole amount lost was 81 $50, watch
and chain and $3.50 in cash being the
heaviest loss sustained by one person.
1t so happened that no one present. was
provided with even n pocket knife or
tic affair would have ended differently.
In daring aml boI,inrss this assault is
certainly unsurpassed and leads to the
reasonable presumption that it might
m tho work of the James Brothers.
Had not my plans been frustrated il
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 ono
has said: "rhc devil takes care Of his
own.'
One of the most pleasant features OF
my whole trip was the yisitto Mammoth
Cave zone of the seven wonders of the
WORLDLY
Echo river being very high we conid
only go u distance Of four and u half or
five miles in tho Cave, crossing the river
Styx and going only Il short distance on
Echo river At every step was struck
with awe, wonder and amazcmcni.
Among the most attractive points wore
tho Grand Walk, Giants Coffin, Cork
Screw, Star Chamber and Gorin's Dome.
In addition to these, were q hundred
avenues, measuring many miles in
length. The height and width varied
from places barely pass;lhlc and acccss-
bic to those forty feet wide and two hun
drel feet high. In places the appear
anco was that Of n large and elegant
room with beautifully ircscocd wall and
ceiling.
Remains of the Saltpctrc mines and
the old machinery for manufacturing it,
were to b. seen. These mines were Opc-
rated in 1872 and the Saltpctrc was ear
rcd 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 dismal, dcathIy appearance
while the atmosphere is warm, opprcs-
sivc and snIlcating.
On the mholc we thought it the great.
eat curiosity yet seen and justly entitled
to the position as one of The seven
wonders. Much of the pleasure in visit
ing the Cave is duo to the peculiar and
excellent company had on this occasion,
consisting of fresh EngIishuan, u full
b|oo'lcd Irislnnan, u Yankee and u negro