Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1892-02-27
A CAVE In THE WOODS.
4 NEATLY CONSTRUCTED DWELLING
WITHOUT A TENANT.

Cave That Was Probably the Haunt
Of . Sneak Thief- Evia-aess THAT shew
the Balidsr % Have Bees skilifai
Meehsate--ccat~ass % the nas.
Saxton's swamp has its head in the
woods between islip aud Brentwood.
Whortleberries replentiful In the vicin-
ity. George L. Benjamin and Alexan-
der Combs were roaming careiessly
about in the vicinity aud made eiiscov-
cry that interested the town not little
They saw smoke curling up az II ont Of
the ground and began an investigation
They found a fire aud kettle over ID In
which beans. potatoes and chicken were
simmering There was no one visible in
the vicinity
The boys went 10 Bay Shore and spread
the news. and score or more OF men
went to the woods 10 see the surprising
sighseT Thsy conclaelasa in advance that
the swamp wss.a thieves den. and some
of the men carried guns, others revolvers
and fsw hayforks They found the
simniering pot and the fire almost ont
For the fnn OF the thing the men began
playing robber, and several shots were
fired ~ part of the pantomime. They had
reason 10 conclude later that this was
mistake, for IL served as a signal to the
occupant Of a cave in the woods TO make
himself scarce. A man with pitch
fork kept jabbing 1t into the earth and
detected a hollow spot.
A little digging threw large sheet
iron tray mp from under the leaves and
left exposed a hole about two feet square
1t had wooden sides leveled so that the
tray set in snugly Over the tray were
leaves, grass and brush, ia keeping with
the surroundings Through a hole tn
the tray WAS run a piece Of telegraph
wire, and At each end of the wire was
fastened nicely rounded stick which
served as n handle to.lift mp the tray on
the outside and pull it down ON the in
side. The hole in the earth was four
feet deep aud eight feet long under the
ground. forming an alleyway
CONTENTS or THE CAVE.
The earth had been carefully cut out
and must have been carted away, as no
evidence of it could be found in the
vicinity. There could not have been less
than several wagon loads Of 1t. At the
end Of the alleyway there was depres-
sion OF two feet, running a distance Of
six feet and being five feet wide. The
roof was sin feet high. This was the
bedroom. 1t had a bunk ON each side
filled with leaves and grass and both had
been slept in. The walls were lined with
logs. and tine ceiling, so to speak, was
covered with mnslin.
There were two closets and several
brackets and a fireplace at one end, with
q capped pipe running up to the top,
which could be raised for use and lower
ed at viii. to prevent detection. Five
tin gutter pipes were so arranged as to
admit light and AIR and enable the oc-
cupant 10 observe what was going ON
about him in the woods. On one side OF
the passage post was driven down and
into IL a staple had been bolted, TO which
WAS attached trace Chain. 1t was q
mystery what use could have been made
of this. and the belief Is that Ii was used
60 keep some person n prisoner at some
time.
The cavern had undoubtedly been in.
habited up to within few hours, and II
the men who went out tosee sight had
not made fools of themselves instead Of
watching the hole in the ground they
would undoubtedly have discovered the
tenant of the qneer abode and perhaps
made an important discovery.
A tub in the farthest west corner Of
the cavern contained salt pork, and sliced
chicken meat had been put into the brine
10 pickle. A silver spoon was found
marked .'The Anstralr II was prob
ably stolen from the Austral hotel, 1T
Brentwood. Among other things were n
muslin shirt, flannel shirt and pair
OF lawn tennis shoes. which are supposed
TO be the ones stolen from Mr.. William
81. Van Anden's house.
EVIDENCES OF ROBBERY.
No evidence was. found that the cave
dweller committed the robbery in the
house of Mr.. Glib A copy Of the Bay
Shore Journal was pinned up against the
wall with a mark drawn around an ad-
vertisement offering $3.50 reward for the
arrest Of the butcher who killed John II.
Wallis cow and carried away part Of
the meat Fastened 10 the paper was q
slip giving an account of the robbery in
Mr.. Van Anden's house, Copies of city
papers were strewn about The cave. it
could be seen, had been occupied for u
considerable time II was constructed
by good mechanic
1t may be interesting to state that soon
after Mr.. Walls cow had been killed by .
thief, who was In need of meat, a hog
was killed in pom on the premises of Mr..
Marvin and the hams carried away. A
few nights later dozen chickens were
stolen from Justice Clock The thief cut
their heads off and threw them on the
Justices back stoop.
A coiored man known rs Long Steve"
otherwise Stephen Green. was arrested
for stealing Mr.. Marvin's hog and Incl
dentally he was suspected Of coInmittin
the other crimes. Theproof against him
did not positively establish his guilt, al
though boy WHO lived with him accused
hin. but he had 80 bad reputation that
Justice Clock came to the conclusion that
the public welfare required him to be in
carcerated. and he was committed TO the
county jail at Riyerheaii
Notwithstanding there have been no
robberies since Green wsts deprived Of
his liberty-a circumstance which was
thought pretty clearly to establish his
guiIt--fhe people are now wondering
whether. after all, the dweller in the cave
was not the real oulprit. He was not
Green, that is certain. Brooklyn Eagle.
: An.s0.N.R