The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-02-06
A BATTLE WITH BATS.
rhe Thrilling Experience of IA Hunter In
Kentucky Cave.

Eight miles east of here, near Rncle-
castle river, is a famous group of wild,
rocky, pinc-covcred hills, locally known
as Round Stone knobs, says a Mount
Vernon Ky.) correspondent. Some
time ago DIR. Kite, prominent young
dentist of this place, went with dog and
gun into that locality to shoot quail,
and for time he had excellent sport
About noon, however, a thunderstorm
came up and he entered deep, rocky
gorge with the hope of finding shelter
from the menacing clements Seeing
an aperture in the cliff on his left, he
entered it, and was surprised to find
himself in large, winding gallery with
steep and craggy walls on either side,
and with a roof that rapidly assembled
to n considerable height. About twen-
ty-five feet from the entrance was an
object which arrested his attention. 1t
was n gigantic bowlder, oblong in
shape, and weighing hundreds Of TONS
lying in an oblique position on . high,
jutting ledge, with its huge crest up
reared awfully into gap in the cav
ern's roof. 1t looked as though slight
shock or the touch OF q meddlesomo
hand might displace it and cause it to
come crashing down. Indeed, it was
one of those frightful death traps of
nature, grim and sinister, sometimes
found in subterranean passages or upon
Jagged precipices
1t is well known that DR.. Kite is of
an adventurous disposition also that he
is naturalist and geologist of no small
repute. The novelty and excitement
felt in penetrating the unexplored, so
fascinating to daring spirits, allured and
emboldened him. Believing that he
should make some interesting discov-
cries, he advanced resolutely into the
cavern. AS he did so his faithful dog
suddenly curled it's tail between it's legs
and made speedy exit. At the same
instant the doctor saw two fiery eyes
glancing from dark corner Hastily
raising his gun, he took deliberate aim
and let go both barrels simultaneously.
He never knew what the animal was or
what became of it, for the internal din
that beloved and rebellowed through
the cavern was followed by an awful
crash, suffocating columns of dust and
dense darkness, and he was thrown
violently forward and almost buried be-
meath masses of falling sand
He scram bled to his feet again, bleed.
ing and gasping for breath. Terror.
struck and appalled, he realized that the
huge bowlder above had been precipi.
tated into the passage, completely block.
ing the corridor and shutting him, like
the doors of a ponderous tomb, forever
from the light. He saw no way to es.
cape. A Plutonian darkness enveloped
him. Moreover, vast tribe of bats,
disturbed by the detonation Of his gun
and the shifting sound, began to swarm
along the passage, numbers of them
alighting on his person. They were OF
remarkable size and fcrceness, and
seemed disposed to attack him. Sc
forced to fight them off by swift move,
ments 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
only partly aroused from their stupor,
thousands precipitated themselves
against the iutting rocks and fell upon
the floor dead and tapping awl1wardly
about in their wounded agony. They
swarmed on the doctors back and neck
like huge bees. They dashed against
his face and clung to his clothes, his
hair, and his beard, and their whirring
wings, bellows-lille, whirled the dry
dust of centuries about in clouds, griev-
ously irritating the hunters already
exhausted lungs
Threatened with suffocation, he in
creased the activity of his movements.
He struck savagely, and hurled hun
dreds of the squeaking harpies upon
the earth and trampled them under his
feet. The caverns rocky bottom be-
came so slippery with the blood and
scattered entrails of mangled bats that
he could scarcely keep his footing.
That he should preserve his equanimity
under such torture is wonderful, but
that he did is manifest from what now
transpired.
Shaking off his fierce tormentors for
moment he pulled off his coat, and,
pouring over it tho combustible con-
tents of whisky bottle which he car
ried in his hip pocket, he ignited it with
a match, and as it blazed up he began
to whirl it, a circle of kissing fame and
pungent smoke, about his head. The
effect was magical The bats, unable
to bear the light and the fumes spread
their wings and began precipitate
fight to other parts of the cave.
Surrounded by panic-stricken birds,
even under the spectral light of the
torch, Kite presented the appearance
of something inhuman, ghoulish, demo-
niacal. Issuing from the pockets of his
burning coat could be heard the sound
of bursting shells, which mingled
strangely with his unearthly cries.
Yelling and 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, un-
til the vast army of horrid creatures had
been driven back into further recesses
of the underground chamber. Nearly
exhausted, his clothes and body wet
with sweat and blood, he began to con-
slider the possibility of escape from his
prison house If any avenue of escape
over the stupendous bowlder still exist
ed, which was uncertain, it would have
been madness to have attempted to scalo
it in the deep, reigning darkness. He,
therefore, abandoned such a hopeless
idea, and sought to find some vulnera-
BILE point at the side of the seemingly
impossible stone barrier.
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