Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1886-09-10
ROBBERS CAVE.
The Wondrous Cavern Discovered
In the Vicinity Of San Antonio.
Magistrato In Search OF q Victim of the
Notorious Pitts-BrAnnon Gang OF MUIR
derers Finds n Cave Astounding
In Marvellous stalaetItes.
rsnn Antonio trsr., sn.cl,I.1


In Marvellous staIactItes.
lsan Antonio CTex.) speclaI.l
While officers have been preparing 70 ex.
plore Harris tomb, Justice Bosrner, Of thu
Helotes precinct, has been carrying on q
private investigation on his own account
He has kept his own counsel and gone
ahead steadily with his work. To-day b
showed up at the court house looking mys.
teriously important, and Carrying under
bis arm a bulky package done up in wrap
ping pepper. The officers gathered around
him, and, like n peddler with his pack, he
spread out his ghastly wares.
They were bones, and human bones, com
prising portions OF n badly fractured sk ull
broken ribs, etc, being most OF the missing
links in the dead Harris personality. Near
the skeleton was found q heavy quirt, or
riding whip, with lead weighted handle.
II may have been tho property OF the d ad
man, or may have been used in hammering
out his brains. The ribs were doubtless
broken in forcing the body down the mar
row chute, which, from an unsuJpicious
hole at the top, bends twenty feet down
ward into a subterranesn cavity,
which, In addition to the CHASTITY
interest which the Harris death fastenS
upon Ii, and the fact that IL was for years
the refuge Of one Of the most desperate
hands Of criminals Texas has ever known,
Is q marvel Of natural beauty. There was
no light from above, and all the explora-
tion was done by torches. Justice Bocr-
ncr says that be did not see Il al, does
not know how far II extends, or what 9TH
or entrances IL may have. He, however,
went carefully through three chambers.
lost in tho beauties overhead ami around
him, and splashiny In the pools OF icy
water at his feet. IL is ono Of tho grand.
est formations Of nature ever discovered
by man. The chambers are connec. ed by
chiselled arches, as though a legion Of
workmen had fashioned tn IN. The CELL
incs are Of great he ght from the q oor,
and the spaces are tremOndous in extent
ain one chamber" says Judge Bocrner,
"you might stand an army OF ton thousand
men. Tho most remarkable fact connect
ell with Il Is its utter seeluSiou. The I'M
prom! sing exterior gives no indication Of
the marvellous beauty hidden within. A
hole In the wall II would be called by any
one CHANGING at IL. One expansion Of tho
passage Is filled with n score or more Of
stalngmites from two to ten OF twelve feet
In height, grouped in so many monuments
OF the dead, the sides and ceiling are OF
exquisite workmanship, n At setting to
the solemn and beautiful scene within,
which leads ono 10 speak in low tones and
tread softly, ms IL on sacred ground. Up
on the walls is suspended some drnpsry in
stone that would be the admiration and
despair Of n sculptor. Double and triple
folds Of s,alac,ite, a quarter Of an inch
In thickness and yard wide, hang thirty
feet, With no support except f. ON Above.
Beyond this Is perhars the most beautiful
grotto Of all. Ceiling, wills and even
6oor, are covered with n fretwork OF
dazzling brightness, which reminds one OF
the finest work Of the silversmith, or the
window work Of the frost king at his best
Here and there ceiling and floor are united
by columns as clear and transparent as
crystal. A candle placed as far within one
Of these groups as the arm could reach
Illuminated won lerful fairy bower.
Shining through ell the rich drapery Of
stone there are tut ular pillars Of immense
height an thickness. Some are perfectly
transparent; others are a cloudy white,
and, under the shifting torches, lighted up
with thousand fires.
In this vicinity also appear quantities OF
limestone, coral formation, great sheet
formations, standing like leaves Of a book
partly open, upright Many stalagmites,
s'alactities, pillars, pedesials and pima.
clos of all lengths and thicknesses, and be-
coming more transparent tho deeper you
fraN low, TI.r, ,1.
sides arrays Of tubular stalactite and
s;alagmi o fo:ma,l-ns, resembling an i'm
menso church organ. found at the dis
tenCe OF many yards the pinnaclss, pedes-
tails, columns, Stalagmitos, stalactitcs,
more numerous and very brilliant IA our
lights were thrown upon them. In this
vicinity tho scene was boy nd description,
as st0lagnities Of the most delicate and
transparent texture were In great album
dance, and Of every conceivable shape.
Even delicate tubes, tho thickness Of lead
pencils, and throe aad four feet In len 9Th,
wien broken OF were full OF alkaline
water, and cutting of pieces Of stalagmites
with ahatehet the sparks began to fiy,
and in which every tone and sound could
lie heard. Many Of the larger spaces there
seen by me would reach from sixty 10
eighty feet In height, aud as much across.
The cnverns Of Lnray, in Virginia, or the
Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky, are not a
circumstance in beauty compared to the
Helotes cave"
There are also large cnverns In the
vicinity whose range and depth are un.
known. There is no doubt that they were
long used ly mOmbors OF the despcrado's
scattered band. They will all be explored.
but there is enough material in "Robbers'
Cave proper TO keep officers busy for
some time to come. II there are other
victims Of the pistol and knife, as there Is
no reason to doubt, lying in its cavernous
recesses they will DO brought TO daylight.
The interests Of this whole section now
centres in Robbers Cave" and the de-
Vcloprionts which may arise from a care
ful survey OF its mysteries. Thorough
AMI careful search will be made. Judge
Bocrner states that he was deferred from
further examination partly from a lack OF
facilities and partly from a nervous dread
which he could not shake of, caused by
the knowledge that he was walking
among the haunts OF dead men OF crime
and OF whose desperate tenn pers he had
Evidence in the whiiened bones bofors
him.
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An Accomplished Young Woman.