The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1883-03-15
Western Imagination.


If Jules Verne wishes an enduring
renown as an imaginative writer he
should come to this country and sit at
the feet OF the Western miner and hunt
er- They can. in the vernacular, give
him points. In seeing visions and in
dreaming dreams they have fertility
OF resource which remains unparal ed.
Not long since we were told of West
ern m ner who crawled into cave in
some lonely mountain. Now most men
would have simply lied about the size
OF the cave, its stalactites and subter-
ranean lake. But the imag nation of
the Western brother SCARED above such
haekneyed themes. He electrified his
gaping friends with tale of marvel
Gus image seated in the cave, the figure
OF man, composed of gold, silver and
copper, wear ng helmet. Nor was
this sufficiently mystic and wonderful
He went on to tell of bright fame
issuing from the mouth of the image.
Then he probably remarked that he
would "take his straight and ex-
pressed his ability to "knock out any
other liar in one round.
But the golden gas .et has been ex-
tinguished by the appearance OF u
''cli l-dweller' in New Mexico. 1t ap-
pears that some three weeks ago several
men were hunting in the vicinity of the
ancient cave dwellings near Espanola,
N. M. They saw fit to enter one OF
these caves for the purpose of eatin Q
lunch. The local chronicler, whose ac-
count is nearly as remarkable as the an-
PARTON, states that they drank both
beer and champagne. Now had they
remained faithful to the usual whisky of
the West they would have encountered
nothing worse than snakes. But their
unhallowed mixture of beverages led
to an appalling result ''At the en-
tran to the cave stood wild, weird,
unearthly looking being.' Now comes
his description. "Our informant,
cool-headed, self-poised man, and
mountaineer OF two scores of years
standing, AYERS that he was not a whit
under eight feet in height. His head,
which was bare, was elongated and rose
eone-like to at least ten inches above
the hair.line." This would appear TO
be an account of a mountain with no
pay slreaks above timber line. but it
isn't. Ellis eyes were preternaturally
large and shone with light whose
vividness sent queer thrill to
every startled hunter of the
little group who looked into their
flamc-lt depths. Now, that we
cons,d der really affecting, especially the
"queer thrilr' and 1.-THE fame-lit
depths" " :" His hands and feet were
also enormors, The upper part OF his
body was clothed in short wraps, con
ssting OF skins dressed by some art now
unknown. H. carried a club OF enor-
nous size; the smaller end, sharpened.
seemed iron tipped. But Just as our
interest rises to the boiling point, we
ale told that "he bounded away up the
almost perpendicular face OF the noun
tain and disappeared Then the writ.
er gravely oes on to remark that this
appearance is incomprehensible unless
somewhere in impossible mountain
fastnesses the remnants of the preh s.
toric clitl-dwellers exist" II is stated
that the "irst impulse of one of tho
hunters was to shoot the ilf-dwel er.
but he re 'rained, and his self-denial
can not be too highly extol,ed.'
II is evident that the progress of civil
izat on has not proved an unmixed good
10 the West. The replacing of ''tangle-
FOOT with beer and champagne and the
introduction of Jules Vernes works
must be held responsible for these re-
marka5le apparitions. II is a cold dav
when the inno ent brother from the
Far West is unable to produce a tale of
craven images, wild eli f-dwellers, bliz-
yards, or meal ulably rich mines. N
]. IriLaRe.