The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-06-09
A woaasEgaI ssery Of . Wonserral Maa..

+ Wednesday afternoon, thero has been
stopping at the Grand Windsor hotel
. Temarksble man. There. Is nothing
particular eteiking or, that is very pecu-
liar either iT bis appearance or manner,
yet no one aees hiIc without looking az
him second time aud being directly iua-
pressed with the idea that there is some
j thing mysterious about him. He is we'll
dressed, though Ia fashion somewhat
quaint, shd he Is as pleasant, SIS polite
and as j0vial as o gentleman could well
be. He is not obtrusive, neither is he
retiring or unduly retieent. He is we'll
Informed on all subjects but tho current
evetta Of the past years la our country.
but of quick intelligence, he has managed
tS s>ickup smattering knowledge of
oven these. What frat interested our
reporter in him, although he had looked
&C him time and again, and though
there was something strange about the
man, waa q remark he made Yesterday
that he bad not heard of tha civil war
between the States until that morning,
This was rather starter. The man
showed no symptoms Of insanity, aud
was Q long way from being an idiot; he
has ample funds and loves o toddy as
we'll as the next one, and is lavish in or
dering them. To make O long story short
as the gentleman made himself 60 pleas
ant our reporter determined TO interview
him and find out if possible who he
was and what he had to say for hillself,
If anything. When approached ON the
subject. he smiled sadly and O far
away look entered his eyes and he
stopped as if in reverie. After few mo-
ments he said "Well, might as we'll
tel! you my story as not. II is strange
and interesting one; so strange, 90 mar
velcus that I doubt il any scarcely will
believe is. ! shall only give you brief
outline, for Lhave got all my adventures,
9 perfect diary of every event of my life
first of October, 1860, and will publish
where MY friends and family live, who,
while they cannot vouch of their own
knowledge for the history of my life since
I saw them, can vouch for enough to
make my story believed" Here he be-
came client for few moments, and seem.
i1giy lost 70 thought, but arousinR
himaelf, he said: "It Is meet Ghd proper
I1thipk that I should make atleast nar.
tial statement of who and what am and
whence came here in Dallas, as Dallas
county is the first point On outer crust of
the earth that have eeen or visited since
the faitsof 1860, over twenty years, ago."
This was starter, and our reporter
to SEQ If there was good way of retreat
in case the lunatic should become violent.
But summoning up courage he ventured
to the questions "What do you mean :?
! don't understand you. Do YOU mean
to say that you have been off the earth for
twenty jyears?
"Esee you are incredulous." the stranger
replied, "but you need not be wonder
stricken. It is not an impossible Or un-
reasonable story that /. will tell you,
when tell 1t all, but the people, in their
ignorance of the real facts, will think
am q crazy enthusiast, u lupy scientist,
put they age mistaken and they Wil! know
it ere long. ! mean TO say that have
not been on the surface of the earth for
O little over twenty years. have not
been out in space, in the spirit world, up
among the stars, or anything Of the kind,
bntimply in the bowels Of the earth, and
=, 4Ybas I ssy. TO yon now, aud for pu6lica.
tion in the Herald in the morning, is q
voice from mid-earth, is the solemn truth
and the enlightened masses of the world
will know it ipside'of year. But let me
tell you my story.
My name is William B. AmsdelI, aud
I am O native of New York city. When
boy L had great fancy to go sea, aud
secured q posision as cabin boy ona Liver
pool vessel. worked my way up from
position to position, until 1860. at the
age of fofty vas as good q seaman as
ever walked the quarter deck ofany ship.
had served in seceral' subordinate posi-
tions in the merchant marine up to the
place of frat mate of Liverpool mail
steamer. In 1860, you know Capt.
Charles Frances Hall atartoa on un ez-
pedi;ion in search OF the remains of Sir
John franklin. He obtained passage
on whaler commanded by Capt. Bud
dington, and went with him. The
whaler, after we reached the artic region,
became blocked up In the ice, and Capt.
Hall and I went off to live with the
Esqnimaux. Capt. Hall remained with
these kindly people two years, and We
went on many exploring expeditions.
On one of these 1 was lost; and after o
: long search in vain, Hall and his Esqni-
< and returned to his headquarters. From
the day last saw Capt. Hall and his
Esquimaux friends in October, 1860, until
= "Wednesday laat, the 80th OF March, 1881
did not lay my eyes on the face of any
iuhabitant of the outer surface of The
earth. Tho day I was lost ] pursued
whito bear far out on doe Office, and q
. section of which suddenly became de-
tached, floated out on it in q strong cur.
rent directly to the Northward. On and
on my foe went at an increasing rate oi
speed, until, after what / supposed to be
n eight or ten hours, it seemed to mo sai
though I was going down an inclined
plane, and knew that I was going Mt 3
. Fearful rate OF speed. After few hours
locked up and could see the North star
aho=e mo s=li'e sid .h tle stars il the clouds
but they seemed 20 be 80 far away and
there appeared Ground aad about me 6
: wall of waters as though / was in vor-
tex, but of immense, incalculable di'
ameter. Directly it began to grow warm.
er and my ice floor began to melt. The
speed ct which / was travelling grew
slower and slower, too, until in q little
2 while ssw q beautiful land before ne
tho trees all green, and every evidence o
# civilization around, for there we're neai
houses In sight aud growing fields, but the
stranRes. looking people ever saw
Soon: my Zoe struck the shore, only aboul
half the sizeit was when we started, nnG
l. went out on the land. Tho people
greeted me kindly and by signs showed
ne that they were glad TO meet me. IL
little while / met several people like
,avraif from fff, hnkar tvynrl1 and frnfI