Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1890-04-11
A STRANGE DISCOVERY.
BY CHARLES HOWARD sINN

Last sunni cI luc oCuOOut
William Haley, of Galveston, trad
ing among the West Indies, was
becalmed near the Gulf Stream.
The second day the captains
curiosity was aroused by a strange
floating mass, and be ordered the
mate to ia k 9 a b Oat an d
exam ined t. I h m t e
returned towing a log, from
which the men had cut away the
marine growth which had made it
seem at a distance like a a
monster. The captain ord cred it
to be hOisted to the deck, declaring
that in forty years spent at sea he
had never found anything like it.
When laid on the deck it was
seen to be about twenty feet long
and two feet in diameter. 1t was
of some very hard, dark colOred
wood, like palm, charred in places
and worn and broken, cut and torn
as if it had been whlrled through
torrents and mael troms for hun.
dreds of years. The ends were
pointed, and five bands of daId
metel, like bronze, were sunk IN
the wood, and the whole bore evil
deuce of having passed through In
tense heat. On examination the
log was seen to consist oftwO parts
ana tie bands were to bind it to-
ge,her. The captain had the bands
cut, and in the exact centre fitted
into a cavity, was a round stone,
Ielghteen inches III diameter. The
rest Of the wood was solid.
The captain, more disappointed
at this result than he cared to con-
TESS, picked at it's lightness, Ex'
aminiDg it more closely, he remem'
bertd that when a boy on the old
New Hampshire farm he used to
find hollow stones with crystals IN
them-geOdes, as he afterward
heard them called. This was prob
ably a geode placed IN this strange
receptacle for some unknown pur-
pose. He carried it to his cabiO
and put 1t into his chest.
Two months late the old captain
returned to his cottage on Calves
ton Bay and placed among his
curIoslties the gOede he had so
strangely found in the Gulf Stream.
One day he studied 1t again and the
sunlight changed to fall upon a
narrow, irregular line.
81 declare, said the old man. sit
looks like as if this stone had been
patched together y
He struck 1t with a hammer and
it fell apart and proved to be filled
with small pieces of yellowlsh-
brown wood. The shell of the
stone was about an inch thick stud
lded over inside with thousands oil
garnet crystals. 1t had been
broke into three parts and fastened
together again with some sort OF
cement which showed plainly on
the inside.
The old captain poured the
pieces of wood on the table. They
we're perfectly dry and hard. They
seemed almost lik STRIPS of bamboo
and we're numbered and covered
with witlng made by picking marks
with some sharp instrument like
an awl. He found the first piece
OF wood and began to read, for II
was in English. The work of de-
ciphering the tiny dents on the
bits of wood soon became the cap.
tain's chief occupation. He copied
each sentence off in his old log
book as fast as it was made out
Five or SIX sentences were abOu
all his eyes would stand without
rest, so that it was long time be
tore the narrative runs as follows:
HEARTS OF THE ROCKIES,
t About Sspt. II, 1886.
am an American, Thomas Par
e sons, of MachIss, Me. I have n
: living relatives. | write this In
Il vast vaulted chamber, hewn frOr
> the solid granite by some prehl'
is tOric race. l have been for month
. wanderer in these subterranea
= spaces, and now l have coDtriyed
way to send my message out to th
world that | shall probably neve
. see again. If some miner, tunDe
) Ing in The Rockies, comes upon
Yaulted chamber, with heaps {
q bronze, bars OF gold and preciOu
8 stones that no man may numbe
u u let him giYs Christian burial to tt
g Door human bones that lie in th
: horrible treasure house. He wi
:. ind all that Is left Of my mort
frame near the great ever -burnin