Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1881-05-26

tlement for provisions and such materials a.
would be needed in the execution of the mex
plan of assault which it was decided to pur
sue The rest remained as guard ovel
the now imprisoned robbers Building 6
large fire near the entrance Of the cave, they
watched and slept by turns until morning.
At daylight the recruiting party returned
bringing more men, provisions for man and
horse, and materials for the further prosecu'
tion of the assaultupon the cave.
After eating hasty meal and feeding their
horses, the assailants collected large quan.
tity of wood, green and dry, and then, be-
ginning as far inwardly in the entrance to
the cave as they could venture to 60, they,
piled it up in successive layers, interspers,
ing dried tobacco stalks and leaves, and sui
phur in great abundance, among the wood,
until small space only was left between the
top of the pile and the roof Of the passage.
The outer end of the heap was then set on
fire. A strong wind, still blowing directly
into the mouth Of the cave, spread the flames
rapidly through the pile, and drove the
smoke, in dense column, into the cave, the
narrow avenue between the wood and the
roof serving as Aue to conduct it to the in
terror.
No voice or sound came from the cave or,
if any was uttered, it was lost in the roar of
the fire, which blazed, and cracked, and
famed in the narrow passage until it glowed
and shot forth sparks and smoke like the
crater of volcano during an eruption. For
several hours the fire ragged with unabated
violence, fresh fuel being constantly supplied
from the adjacent wood. The smoke, having
filled the cave, streamed out in dense masses
and foated off in the direction Of the wind
to the upper heights of the mountain.
At length the fire was permitted to burn
down. A stream of. water issuing close by,
from the side of the mountain, furnished the
ready means for cooling the rocks and extin'
guished the smouldering embers. But it
was not until late hour in the evening that
the smoke had escaped from the cave sufti.
ciently to permit an entrance to be made.
With lighted torches, and armed with
guns and pistols, the crowd crept cautiously
into the gloomy cavern. The passage which
led to it, widening rapidly as they advanced,
spread out into spacious room. Into this
ante chamber several small lateral assures or
apartments opened. The cave, though pro-
duced by some convulsions of nature, pos
sessed the regularity and the proportions al
most of work of art. The floor, the sides
and the roof were all of solid rock. The
torch:light, reddening the smoke, and re-
fected feebly from the rocky surface, lit up
the gloom with an obscure radiance, which
increased the horror Of the place. The
crowd, advancing and dispensing with appfe.
hensive looks and cautious steps, looked amid
the smoke and the sullen light, like phan-
tom host returning to their covert in the
mountain from the glare of the outer day.
In the large room, casks, boxes and bar
rels were found, filled with meat, -four and
eatables of various kinds. In the lateral
assures, beds, guns, ammunition, cooking
utensils, table furniture, and, in short, al
most everything necessary to the rude COM
fort and convenience Of subterranean dwell
ing, were arranged in something like house.
hold order. The dead bodies of five men,
of an old woman, and of boy, apparently
fifteen or sixteen years old, lay scattered
through the several apartments, livid and
discolored in the face, and most hideous to
look upon.
After making a full exploration Of the
cave, and removing from it every article Of
value, the crowd withdrew, leaving the bodies
of the robbers as they found them, unburied
and unrecognized. The cave, which had been
their abode, thus became their sepulchre, and
to this day the tradition of the assault upon
the robbers den lives in the memory of the
neonle in that section of the Old Domin-
ion.