Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-08-13
THE CAVE or BuDDAHATCHIE.
A Tough Yarn by a Nashville CONNER
cial Traveller.


From tie S,sssuflei 1 s.ssicaa.
TUPELo, MISS. Aug. An coming 10
BsmiitoU, the shiretowuO OF Marion county,
Ala, the other day, was reliably in
formed and greatly Interested in won
derlul discovery recently made by one
Of the citizens Of the county, Dir. j. W.
MADDEN.
A few days since, while out hunting,
Mr.. MADDEN saw in a cluster of bushes a
snow white fawn, which he stealthily APP
preached, hoping 10 capture a prize. The
iawn almost allowed him to pick il up.
when Il suddenly ran of a short distance
and again stopped MADDEN again ap-
preached, when the fawn again retreated.
This course was pursued nv Hadden and
the lawn until they reached Il high bluff
overlooking the Buddahatchio river, some
four miles east of Pearce's mills, when
the fawn suddenly disappeared over the
bluff. Upon coming up Hsdden peered
over the bluff. when. 70 MS astonishment,
he saw the tawn standing On q narrow
bench, hundreds Of feet below, near the
root of a large spruce pine recently blown
up. Atter much difficulty he succeeded
in reaching the spot where the fawn was
last seen, but the fawn WAS not within
range u his vision. Upon looking around
he discovered that the pine in being up
rooted disclosed To view n circular Ori!ice
in the blum some three feet in diameter.
Prompted by curiosity and a desire to
catch the f8Wn, he provided himself with
"a torch and entered the cavern and made
a discovery which will not only imm0r-
taiize himself and be source Of fabulous
wealth, but will be Of immense value and
interest TO the scientific mon and Bibli-
cal scholars OF the world. Stretched out
at fun length upon the caves rocky floor
Law the petrihpd bodies OF three human
beings-two males aud one female--an OBJ
long box of curious aud antique design,
, feet long, Is inches wide ana IS inches
deep, besides many other curiosities Of
smaller dimensions. Surprised and terror
stricken. Hadden withdrew from the cav
ern and returned 10 his home.
The next day Eadden returned with a
trusted friend to the scene of his discove-
ries and removed the petrfied bodies and
other articles from the cave. The box,
also petrifed. was carefully removed
from its resting place and broken open,
and found to contain small earthern
jar, large roll of parchment and a brass
rod.
Now, the mystery is, to what race of
people did these bodies belong, and how
came they there? The parchment manu-
scripts are undoubtedly written in the
Hebrew language. Many theories have
been advanced by our people, but the
most plausible one that have heard is
that the bodies are Of Hebrew origin, that
the box is the long-lost ark of the cove
nant. the rod the ve1tablo Aaron's, the
jar the pot OF mama, aud the parchment
manuscripts the seven lost books of the
Old Testament.
The scene Of this wonderful discovery
is one OF sublime and picturesque gran
deur. Hundreds of feet above, huge
masses of rock lit their hOary heads
high in the air, while tar beneath are the
limpid waters of Buddahatchie on their
way TO the gulf, ''gurgling kisses to the
pebbled shore"
Mr.. Hadden has carefully boxed his
treasures and will start Immediately
for Washington, d. c., where he will
deposit them in the Smithsonian In
sti;ute.