The morning call., 1891-09-20
ALADDIN'S CAVE
IN MISSOURI.
A Very Remarkable Discovery Of Pre-
Historic Treasures.
Strange Story About What Was Unearthed
Near Paradise, in the Iron State, as
Told by Correspondent.

3Olu w q correspondent
The discovery of a remarkable cave in the
vicinity of Paradise is thus described by
Dexter (Mo.) correspondent OF the GLOBE
Democrat:
Some three months ago Mr.. Frisbee as
cended the hill to get view OF the sur
rounding country. On his way down he
slipped and fell, and as he fell his hand IAN
into hole underneath an overhanging rock
and he was much surprised to feel that In
side there was a large opening. He dug
some of the soft earth away with his hands.
and feeling satisfied that there was
cavern of some kind there he returned to
the mill and secured the services of his son,
i. r. Frisbee, and his foreman, Mr.. Nc
Intosh.
They provided themselves with some
shovels, a crowbar, long piece of rope and
lantern, and not having been seen by any
one at the mill, returned to The spot where
MI Frisbe made his discovery. After re-
moving some of the earth from around the
rock, judge their establishment when the
top OF perfectly cut arch was disclosed cut
in the solid rock, and showing great skill
and careful workmanship. 1t did not take
long 10 remove enough earth to make an
opening that they could enter. and alter
lighting their lantern they crept III one
after another and found themselves in tun-
mel. the sides of which were about feet
apart, and the arched roof about II feet
above their heads. The sides of the tunnel
or passageway were covered with immense
figures cut out in bold relief. showing
men engaged in the chase armed with
spears, hatchets. bows and arrows
and some unknown implements that
the explorers took for sings The lew
women pictured there were en-
gagged in domestic occupations cooking.
cleaning hides pegged out on the ground
after the manner of the Indians of to- day,
and in one or two instances were cleaning
fish. The sculptures were remarkably dis
finished them. The figures were all at
least ten feet in height and remarkably
well proportional. The men went along
the passage about hundred feet, where 1t
turned sharply to the right, and, after fol-
lowing this short distance, entered
room so large that the feeble rays of their
lantern could not penetrate the darkness
that hung over the end of the room farthest
from the entrance. AS II was nearly night
when they started upon their explorations
they withdrew to wait until the next day
before going farther into the cavern.
CoNTINU ING THE SEARCH.
They returned in the morning provided,
in addition to their tools on the previous
day, with two large torches, and upon re-
gaining the room lit them and found them
selves in room or cave 100 feet long by 90
wide ard 20 high. Around the sides of
this room were large blocks of stone, all
pointing toward the center. AS one OF the
men happened to hit one Of the blocks it
gave forth hollow sound, and upon fur
Their examination they discovered a joint
near the top. which led them to believe that
the block was hollow and might contain
something OF interest. After great deal of
trouble they got the lid off the chest, as it
proved to be. 1t took all the strength of
these three strong men 10 raise the ponder
Gus piece of stone. Alter lifting up the
large slab they flashed the light of their
torches into the box and saw an i'm
mense human skeleton at least ten feet
in length. After waiting for their nerves
to settle they made closer examination OF
their discovery. and found deposited in the
coffin with the remains OF the once gigantic
| man an AK about the size and shape Of a
modern brOad-ax, except thai instead of
! square head it had long spike-lil1e projec-
ton which tapered to point. There was
| also a large spear and arrow-heads, all made
| out of some substance that the explorers did
not at that time recognize, but has been
since determined to DC tempered cop
per. They would hold an edge equal to the
| finest steel, and were far superior to it in
| one respect-it would not rust. The art of
tempering copper has long been one of the
| lost arts.
There were nearly forty of these stone
| appearance of lying with the head toward
| the center of the room, toward which the
men made their way. Upon approaching
| what they bad mistaken to be another coffin
in the middle OF the room they were sur
prised to discover that it was an altar, and
| around it were scattered dishes that had evil
| IDENTITY been used in the ceremonies there.
! On picking up one OF the dishes TO examine
| it they were surprised to see how heavy it
was, and scratching 1t with knife to find
hos,
| nearly pure gold; so pure, in fact, that it
| could easily be bent and twisted by the fin
| gers. There was large number of these
| dishes, and the reader can easily imagine
the surprise of the men when they found
that they had stumbled on TO fortune in
that hole.
IN DARK CORNERS.
After wandering far into the dark corners.
Mr.. Mcintosh being in the lead, was nearly
| thrown into deep well-like hole in the
| floor that had been covered with large fiat
rock. Calling Mr. Frisbee to bring the rope,
they sounded the hole to find its depth, and
| after determining that it was not very deep,
descended They found themselves in
room similar TO the one above. only smaller,
and the stone collins being Ornamented with
| figures and pictures smaller than the ones
| OH the walls. On approaching the altar
they were asreeably surprised to find that
| it was either 4 solid mass of gold or it was
| so Tricky coated with 1t that they could
not cut through it. This room. it appears,
was the burying place of the head men of
| the tribe or race to which they belonged,
and that the other larger room was for the
| common warriors.
That night the men returned with sacks,
and having secured all the gold dishes they
| could carry, went to the mill, where they
| had a stave saw boxed up to send away for
| repairs, tore it open and put their treasure
inside. The next day they shipped the box
that contained the saw and their gold to
Indianapolis, Ind. but Mr.. Frisbee followed
the box and changed its destination at Cairo.
fown 'y ~ ;a iS n4e at %
was unpacked and sold to parties in New
York City for between $4,000 to $4,000
The discovery has been kept secret by the
lucky finders and has inst laak ad nnt