Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1884-09-23
-oIr oF THE SEPULCHRE
...,, to the Ancient Tombs
h OF Damascus.
,-.-o1pd Cavities that Were Once
Ne Tombs Of the Great

~ n.nocrat SAYS in letter from
!. Holy Land: seldom have l oeen
y 80 ...,ed 10 an antiquity as | was
- aoor Of this royal cemetery. To
~ "a n this hole was a groove, IN
monster block of granite,
ike a milestone, fitted quite
one man from below could
w. ~. etone over the portal, If he
,a,tiated; but 100 could not move
s,,ssv knew not the art. A low.
rassare. scarcely large enough to
man. led to this ancient but
.,,ous door. and was the only ave-
i which il could be opened prior
~ excavations of our own times.
y. nonth Of this secret passage was
.,ly closed with a trap door, placed
ne very brink of a pit. Only those
A,,saehly acquainted with the place
ali ever have detected the methods
.,rance. Evidently grave ghouls
-..s feared in those days and here, as
,a,b Is now in your own land.
yow can understand how the
..,s was "rolled away" from the
,,r Of the Lords sepulcherl Now |
!, understand why that other disci-
\" stopped down and looked into the
Vnb
W. entered the hole with lighted
ssdIss. and prowled around to our
ssrts' content in the magnificent
,artments of rock beyond. The
,bsel marks on the walls were as fresh
af they had been made yesterday,
uye where tourists, yearning after
6eap Immortality, have used candle
hncs to smoke their names upon the
Zone There appeared to be four
hrge chambers, with numerous apses
lspn out for the reception of one, two
three bodies. OF course the sar-
mhaai and most of the doors have
bag since yielded to the onslaughts of
tme and Christian vandals. One mar
be sarcophagus is still exhibited at the
Louvre, believe.
Mr. Floyd told mo of touching
lngely which occurred some twenty
years ago in these tombs. A party
p to joking as to the amount of
courage it would require to visit the
bombs at dead of night, alone, without
light A wager of one pound was
BE result. and one supposedly brave
pan agreed to come that night and
hck his knife into a log of wood
shcA was deposited there for this
purpose Night came. The party &C
mpanIed the man to grove near by
FiA lanterns, examined his knife, and
ben waited while he made the de-
cent Ten, fifteen, twenty minutes
asset but the man did not return.
me others then became alarmed and
Tent IN search for him. They found
I'M IN the appointed vault, lying over
log in question --deadl
An investigation developed the fact
NY 'he knife was still sticking in the
Y out mad passed through one of the
aas coat tails 1t was pitchy dark,
~ doubtless the man had become
sa'ened almost to distraction as he
q'to the log. In this excited con-
4oa u Is supposed that he stuck the
-'e through his garment. Then
a'a he arose. and was suddenly
Ale back, it is hardly a wonder that
Afe departed out of him from
seF terror.
Vaa0aotedly these subterranean
'as were once the tombs of great
= out scholars differ as to the an
IV which they represent. Some
0@ them back to the time If David
y others maintain that they are
~0'e ancient than the Herodian
= ne'r as | can learn. the ma
y thinkers incline to the belief
ue tomos were constructed for
- sae widowed Queen of Mono
A'ag Of Adiabane. during the
N@e famine predicted by Agabua
aays Of Claudius Cesar.