The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1892-03-15
FAITHFUL IN DEATH.


Away up in the mountainous regions
of Pennsylvania relic of revolution
airy times has recently been found,
which bears out the old saying that
truth is stranger than fiction. The
story seems almost incredible, but Mr..
Potts, superintendent of one of the ex-
tensive granite quarries there, vouches
for its authenticity. and he is repre-
sented as man of undoubted veracity
While opening a new quarry at falls
of French creek. in a very wild section
of country, a cave was discovered, and
in it the exploring party came across
skeleton. Thinking that murder had
been committed in some place near by,
the men began to look around for evil
dences of the crime, but instead of the
weapons of death they expected to
find, they discovered close by the
ghastly skeleton green glass bottle,
that had evidently fallen from the
bony fingers after they had grown
cold and lifeless- Mr.. Potts carried
the bottle home with him that
evening, and when he opened it
he found paper. faded and discolored
with time. The writing upon the yell
low paper was still quite legible, and
was addressed to Miss Virginia Ran
dolph, of Richmond, Va The name
signed at the close Of the letter was
Arthur L. Darlington, of the same
place. From what was written Mr.
Potts learned that the young man had
been with Washington at Valley Forge
In IT'S, and that he had been one of a
party sent out upon a foraging expedi-
ton to the neighborhood of falls of
French creek. In some way the British
had cut him off from the army, and
while his men took refuge with friends
he had tried to conceal himself in the
cave, where he had often hidden be-
fore. The entrances to the cave had once
been marked by huge rock right over
the opening-a rock so ponderous that
it could never have been removed by
hand. The fleeing patriot took shelter
inside, and had scarcely done so when
the enemy came rushing by and fred
several shots after his retreating men.
The conclusion must have destroyed
the balance of the stone above
the entrance, for it fell and held
the writer a prisoner for life. A
single ray of sunlight streamed
through the opening at the top
OF the stone, and this was all that
frightened the poor fellows prison.
The writer goes on to say that many
weary hours passed away before he
fully realized that his prison must be
his grave With the fever burning In
his veins, and with reason almost de-
throned, he wrote the letter that he
hoped would in some way reach its
destination, and give to the world the
knowledge of his sad fate. In this let
ter he spoke most pathetically of the
sorrow in store for his brother, and
ends up in this way; God is good and
merciful to let you seem to be near me
at this hour. / feel that you are pray
ing for me now at this very moment
know it is so, my beloved Virginia
cannot say farewell-it is not farewell
Ito love like ours This agony will
soon be over, and l will be free.
will be waiting for you in the land be-
yond-a land where there are no sepa-
rations. Virginia, my best beloved, l
am almost there, and something tells
me that l will not have to wait long
for your coming" The paper is dated
May 90. 177s.
Impressed with the strange discovery,
Mr.. Potts wrote to a friend in Rich
mond asking if she knew anything
about the circumstance. In reply the
lady informed him that her own grand
mothers maiden name had been Ran
dolph. and that in the old burying-
ground, near her house, was monu-
ment with this inscription: "Died, from
a broken heart, on the 1st of March,
1850, Virginia Randolph, aged twenty
one years and nine days Faithful I'M
til death.
This friend also sent Mr.. Potts two
old letters written one hundred and
twelve years ago to Alice Peyton by
Rachel Randolph, sister of Virginia's,
in which reference is made to young
Carrington's mysterious disappearance.
and to her sisters great disappoint-
ment and approaching death.
The bones OF Darlington we're placed
in neat coffin, and forwarded to Rich
mond, where after so many, many
years they found a resting place by the
side of the mound that a century be-
fore had been made over the loved
form of his dear Virginia. Virginia
Miller. in Christian Mt Work.