St. Paul daily globe., 1888-06-24

; b the narrator, II am
not prepared to say it
is not true, as more than half the peo-
pie in that town saw the hero of the
story"
Two miles from Mariana, prosperous
town in Jackson county, Florida. is a
cavern, or rather number of under
ground chambers and passages known
as the Limestone Cave" Many square
miles of territory adjacent are under
laid with cretdciouS stratum which
has been honeycombed by subterranean
streams. How many miles underground
the ramificatjonS of Limestone Cave eX-
tend is not knOWn.aS because of singu-
lar obstacle it has never been explored
more than half mile from the OPEN
ing.
April 1, 1874, party of explorers,
consisting of two gentlemen and five
ladies, visited the cave. They followed
the path that led to point known as
1.-The Spring." where cold spring of
cold, clear water guShed forth from the
rock and flowed in a rivulet for some
fifty feet and disappeared under mass
OF detached fragments of limestone.
When the party reached the point where
the riVulet was lost, and were admiring
the myriad reflections of their torches
from the crystal drops of water upon
the mica shales which gemmed the
walls and roof of the passage, one of the
gentlemen in the party with his cane
detached a jutting rock particularly
brilliant with mica spangle from what
appeared the solid wall of rock. A
large mass of loosened rock followed
the fragment, with crash which re-
verbeated hundreds of times through
out the cavernOuS depths. Then it was
an astounding sight met the eyes of the
party, which at first rendered them mo-
tionless with horror and fright. A hith
ertO unknown chamber was seen
through the aperture, and but few
feet away, apparently as motionleSS as
the stone floor on which it lay. was the
body of man, clad in the habiliments
of a soldier, with his muSket beside
him.
One of the gentlemen recovered his
presence of mind and entered the
chamber. Although no outward sign
OF respiration could be noted the body
did not have the appearance of being
dead. The man undertook to lift the
body. when he noticed that the rigidity
of death was lacking. On being moved
all the clothing and equinm2entfel from
the body. The gentleman wrapped the
body in his waterproof, dragged it
through the newly made aperture and
left it in the passage beside the spring.
The party then hurriedly left the cave.
The ladies were sent to town by the
vehicle which brought them to the cave.
The two men then secured the ser
vices of two stout negroes and re-
entered the cavern. To their astoniSh-
ment they found that the man supposed
to be dead was lying with half-open
eyes, breathing stertOrOuSly, while a
faint color tinged his cheek. EXamina-
ton disclosed rapid but distinct pulsa-
ton. The Mortified men carried the
phenomenon to the open air outside the
cave as quickly as the burden would
allow. They poured brandy down his
throat and carried him to a neighboring
cabin. Here they left him and hurried
to town.
Here the news of the discovery had
preceded them, and in a little while
every physician in the village and half
hundred curiOsity-seellers were on the
way to the cabin. The doctors on ar
irving administered Stimulants. Under
their effect in little while the man
opened his eyes and began moving. Di-
rectly he recovered his strength suffi-
ciently to talk. but the doctors allowed
no questions to be asked until the fol-
lowing day, when he told his story. He
said that in 1887 he was sent from Pen
sacola to Fort Dade with important
military papers. When near MariaDna
he was followed by band of Choctaws,
who had gone on the warpath in SYM
pathy with their Seminole brethren.
Being hard pressed, he abandoned his
horse and finding hole in the ground
he squeezed into it, and, fearing the
Indians would discover his trail, went
some distance into the cave, when he
suddenly felt difficulty in respiration;
Il feeling of drOwSineSS Overcame him
and he remembered no further.
1t was hard to make the soldier be-
lieve that thirty-seven years had passed
while he lay in coma, and that the fields
of rice. Sugar-cane and cotton which
dotted the landscape were in the same
wilderness through which he had been
chased by the Indians. He seemed to
be of retiring disposition, and did not
care to pose as an object of curiosity;
and when his strength fully returned
disappeared and was never afterWard
heard of.
Some of the good people at Marianne
seemed to be skeptical and dubious of
their own senses and suspected big
hoax. Their doubts were soon dis
PEELED III an effective manner. One of
the ladies of the party which discovered
the sleeping soldier lost her pet dog,
and three weeks afterward remembered
that he was with the party in the cav
ern. Another party visited the cavern,
and in the same chamber where the
soldier was discovered, they found the
dog. apparently dead. When taken to
the open air he recovered. and in few
minutes was as frisky as ever.
That satisfied everybody. To this
day the chamber has never been rs
visited, and the secret of the cavern
has remained mystery. The people
of Mariana, ever jealous of their repu-
tation for truthfulness, are very
cautious about telling the story to stran-
gers.