The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-01-08
BATTLE WITH BATS
d hunters Experience IN Cave
along Rockcastls River. Kentucky.

a Hunters Experience IN Cave
along Hockcastle River. Kentucky.
From the Cincinnati Commercial Glzetts.
Eight miles east Of here, near Rockcastls
river, is famous group Of wild. rocky.
pine-covered hills, locally known az Ronnd
Stone-knobs. 4 couple Of days ago DR.. J.
J. Kite, prominent young dentist Of this
place, went with dog and gun into that
LOCALITY IN shoot quail, and for q time he
mad excellent sport. About noon. however
thunder storm came up and he entered a
deep, rocky gorge with the hope OF finding
snetter from the menacing elements. See
ing an aperture in the cliff on his left he
entered 1t, and was SURPRISED 30 find him
self IN a large winding gallery with steep
and craggy walls on either sides. and
with roof that rapidly assembled Co a con-
siderable hight. About % feet from the an
trance was an object which arrested bis at
tention. It was gigantic bowlder. oblonR
IN shape, and weighing hundreds Of tons.
lying in an oblique position on a high. tut
ting ledge, with its huge crest upresred
eWIully into gap in the cavsrn's roof. Ii
looked as though slight shock OF the touch
OF a meddiesome hand might displace it and
cause 1t TO como crashing down. Indeed, il
was one Of those frightful death-traps of
nature, grim and sinister, sometimes found
- - WA SsAcoA RnosdGes Ut upon Jagged
preoipices.
1t is well known that DR.. Kite is of an
adventurous disposition, also that he is a
naturalist aud geologist of no small repute
Inc novelty and excitement felt in penetrat-
ing the unexplored, so fascinating to daring
spirits, allured and emboldened him.
Believing that he should make some inter-
esting discoveries, he advanced resolutely
into the cavern. As he did so his faithful
d0rE md dr. lxra II, 4 a.
and made speedy exit. At the same ia
slant the doctor saw two fiery eyes glaucinR
from a dark corner. Hastily raising his
gun, he took deliberate aim and let go both
barrels simultaneously. He never knew
what the snimal was or what became of ir.
for the Internal din that beloved and re-
beloved through the cavern was followed
by an awful crash, suffocating columns Of
dust and dense darkness, and he was thrown
violently forward aad almost buried be.
meath masses Of falling sand.
He scrambled to his feet again. bleeding
and RraspiDg for breath, Terror struck
and appalled, he realized that the huge
boWlder above had been precipitated into
the passage, completely blocking the CORR
dor and shutting him, like the doors OF &
ponderous tomb, forever from the light
he saw no way to escape. A Plutonian
darkness eveloped him. Moreover,
FdSb tElDe Oh OATS, disturbed
by the defamation of his gun and
the shifting sound, began to swarm along
the passage, numbers of them elighting on
his person. They were of remarkable size
and f1erceness, and seemed disposed TO at
tack him. So vicious did they become that
he was forced 60 fight them off by swift
movements of his hands. They swept for
ward IN enormous flocks as if TO escape, and
that quarter of the cavern was
quickly alive with them. Stunned and
oaly partly aroused from their
stnpor thousands precipitated themselves
against the jutting rocks and fell
upon the floor dead and tapping awkwardly
about in their wounded agony. They
sWarmed on the doctors back end neck
like huge bees. They dashed against his
face and chung to his clothes, his hair aud
his beard, and their whirrlng wings,
bellows-iike, whirled the dry dust OF cent
uries about in clouds, grievoasly ir-
ritating the hunters already exhausted
lungs.
Threatened with suffocation, he increased
the activity Of his movements. He struck
savagely, and hurled hundreds of the
sQueaking harpies upon the earth and
trampled them under his fest The cavern's
rocky bottom became SO slippery with the
blood and scattered entrails OF maugled
bats that he could scarcely keep his foot
ing. That he should preserve his equ0-
nimity under such torture is wonderful, but
that he did is manifest from what now
transpired.
Shaking of his force tormentcrs for a
moment be pulled Off his coat, and pouring
over it the combustible conte1ts of a
whisky bottle which he carried in his hip
pocket, he ignited it with a match, and as
1t biazed up, he began to whirl it, circle Of
flame and pungent smoke about his head.
The effect Yves magical. The bats, unable
to bear the light and fumes, spread their
wings and began s precipitate flight to
other parts OF the cave.
Surrounded by panic stricken birds, even
under the spectral light Of the torca, Kite
presented the appearance Of something iu>
human, ghoulisb, demoniacaL Issuing from
the pockets OF his burning coat could be
heard the sound Of bursting shells, which
mingled strangely with his unesrthly cries.
Yelling ana rushing from side to side OF the
cavern, his hair tumbled over his forehead in
tangled masses. and his face distorted with
fury and despair, he whiSked the fiery brand
about soaring, scorching, and burning many
alive, until the vast army OF horrid creatures
had been driven back into further recesses
of the underground chamber. Nearly ex-
hausted, his clothes and body wet with
sweat and blood, he began to consider the
possibility of escape from his prison house.
II any avenue of escape over tae stipend
GUS bowlder still existed, which was I'M
certain, it would have been madness to at
tempt to scale it in tie deep, reigning dark
ness. He, therefore. abandoned such a
hopeless idea, and sought to find some vul-
nerable point at the side Of the seemingly
impassable stone barrier.
By the light Of sickly blaze which
played over the smoking remnant OF his still
burning vestment, he picked up his gun
aud thrust the barrel into the crumbltng
earth and stone 81 one side Of the hugh
rock. The mass yielded by piecemeale to
his exertion, and with the energy of man
entombed alive and desperate for liberty,
he worked heroically, digging up the earth
and pricing away great fragments OF rock.
Hope never forsook him, and after seven
hours Of incessant labor, during which the
work of Titan was performed, he sue
ceeded in making an opening large enough
for his body, and through this hole he
squeezed himself. In his bleeding and bis
tered hands he held the twisted and battered
remains OF gun, and just as the cold but
friendly moon arose behind the tall pines on
an opposite Cliff, ne passed out, pale, bag
gard and grimy, into the chilly night.
The Result of Merit.