Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-02-16
A BEAUTIFUL MERMAID.
A Race OF Amphibious Human Belngs
with Tails and Scales Found
In Kentucky.
A Half woman aalfIIsh Captured other
Great Wonders of Nature Di,cov-
cred In Cavern.


mark0ble discoveries yet made on the
American continent. A yeritable Symmes |
Hole has been unearthed in this vicinity |
Ii Is pcOpled by o race OF human beings |
with tails and scales. They are amphibi- |
Gus, aud subsist ON eyeless fish, bats ard |
mushrooms, which abound In great pro-
fusion In the wonderful cavern in which |
they were discovered yesterday for the |
first time, under the following peculiar |
circumstances;
A ten-year-old son Of Col james Pye OF !
HOpkinsville was out hunting with q num-
Der Of his companions and they succeeded |
In chasing rabbit into ledge Of rocks, |
the aperture OF which was, as subsequent |
ly proved to he, shallow entrance to the |
most wonderful cavern yet discovered in /
the known world. Little Billy Pye was
selected to crawl in after the rabbit as
the aperture was too shallow to admit |
any of the other boys, who were from
three to six years older and consequently
much larger.
UnhesItatingly the little fellow crowded
into the opening, and as the minutes
heightened Into hours and he did not APP
pear and as no response could be heard
to his companions anxious call, the
alarm was quickly given in town and the
citizens turned out en- masse, armed with
crow-bars, picks and torches, for by this
time. night cast its shadows over the
scene.
For four hours the work OF removing
the loose rock was continued, aud then
to the great Joy of all an immense cham
/ Der In the cavern was reached, and over
one thousand men, women and children
cautiously entered 1t was wild, weird.
! impressive, exciting scene, never to be
| forgotten.
! A succession of cheers reverberated
through the many halls and passages OF
this strange handiwork of nature. The
| glare from the torches was reflected back
! from great statues of crystal hue and
transparency thousands of bats, startled
| from scene of repose, dashed
wildly hlther and thither, extin-
gushing many of the lights and
causing great CONSERVATION, especially
among the ladies, as many OF them be-
came entangled In their hair and IL was
almost impossible to eXtricate them.
Several of the ladies' attempted 20 force
their way out of the cave, but this was
simply impossible, as the surgiug crowd
from without was pressing for admission
and the numbers were reinforced by "a
continuous procession from the town, as
the news had spread like wild fire.
Avenues spread out in at least ten direc-
lions, and as to which route the little bov
had taken, of course, no one could CON
lecture, so parties of ten, twenty, or fifty
scattered out through all the avenues
! with candles, lamps, and other improvised
! torches, followed by n multitude in each
: case who had 'no oil in their lamps" or
no lamps or lights of any kind. Down
\ a fh..tr .,l, 4
incline, until after three hours weary
, walking they must have reached level
: several hundred feet beneath the sur
= face. Here they struck subter-
0 ranean river--wide and deep-aud
teeming with life in the shape of a very
peculiar-looking fish, thousands upon
e thousands of which could be plainly seen
:, for at least twenty feet beneath the sur.
face OF these placid crystal waters Some
of the fish were apparently as large as an
ordinarY-slzed man, and upon closer in.
vestigation turned out TO be an hitherto
unknown race of amphibious human be
ings, who can, like Tn alligator and Other
amphibous animals, live both in and GU
:, of water.
Scientists have long since COMMENDED
, that amphibious human beings were en-
t, tirely within the bounds of possibility
& Yet this is the first time in the world
~ history that the fact OF such an existenc,
w has been practically demonstrated.
{. They were terribly frightened at thu
"a approach OF race Of beings SO mucl
~ like themselves, and fed In abiect terror
~ They are web-footed, are slight
~ ly scaly like ordinary fish, an,
"a have two immense fins, or 6appers, at thu
"a um0illcal cord on the lower part of tn
NJ breast This is the great secret OF thei
ar amphtoious propensity. Only one speci
y men was captured 1t is Il female In fac
mermaid, II we may be allowed TO s.
Gull It, Mr.. Dick Holland, proprietor O
the opera-house, captured it. and ha
- taken IL 10 MS home, where thousands O
he curious people are now liocking to Sc
q. 1t. The struggles and cries Of this poo
In captive were indeed terrible. IL too
On four stout men to hold her, viz: job
ey Yonng, Alex, Henderson, Johu Wright
z. and X. II. Anderson. Her hair is rave
ce black and falls In great profusion an
r. righteousness three feet down her back
st her teeth are like mother.of-pearl, an
IS her features too beautiful TO compare I
any above the earth.
She can artlculate, and apparently tai
with great vehemence--like other women
OK Mr., Holland has contracted with Forbe
le Bro, the planning mill men, for an i'm
as mense tank to place her in, in room ur
al der the opera-house, where the publ
te can see her, and where other of her spt
ne cies may be placed as fast as capturec
ne 1t Is feared, however, that she will hare
or ly survive the shock 10 her nervous sy.
nu tenn as she has already gone into hystel
IS les, and tainted rs she fell mt
the arms of Robert Guynn. The IN
OF clement weather and change of condition
a. OF lie generally will, it is feared, haste
DC her deaths so no more of the species wi
'o- De permitted to be removed for the pre-,
ent' until further investigations are mad,
| forgot to mention that these amphibiou
Ire people have long appendages, or tail.
10. closely resembling that of the alligato
sc the tail on the specimen captured mea,
nd uring from tip to tip three feet min
ng inches and weighing, In all, probabl
lrs about fifteen pounds.
yn Several little children OF these ver
ar remarkable people were seen sportiu
err playinlly about the crystal water and a
,as the banks of the river Rut unon N