People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1893-08-11
MYSTERY OF THE CAVE.


Outcropping Of delicately-tinted lime
stone, which presents the appearance,
at a little distance, Of a vivid pink
ish red The country is very rug-
ged, broken into valleys, sometimes
long and narrow, sometimes round
and cup-shaped. shut in by noun
tains and cliffs OF the familiar "red
rock" as it is called by the natives.
Small villages, oftentimes of less
than fifty inhabitants each, are
scattered along these valleys, and
occasionally the cabin of a mount
aineer peeps through the dark pines
OF some lonely hillside.
1t was in the spring of 1860 that
! first visited this part OF Northern
Tennessee in the interest of land
and lumber company which had Just
been formed in Philadelphia. My
commission was to examine the tim
Der lands of that section and also
its agricultural resources with view
to possible large Investments there
by the company. | made my head
quarters while exploring the vicin-
ity at AlilmOnt, one of the larger
mountain villages, which boosted
hotel, public hall and three saloons.
While | was at MilmOnt travel
ing revivahst-One Of the most pc
culiar individuals Ievermet arrived
in town and began to hold open air
meetings, as there was no church in
the place and the fee for the use Of
the public hall (S5 a night was far
beyond his slender resources. Any
thing in the way OF excitement was a
perfect gOdsend to these secluded
mountaineers, and they thronged TO
the revivalist's meetings every
evening, much IS they would have
done to the performances Of dane
ing bear Or the straightforward per-
fOrmances OF travelling peddler.
And for my own part was not long
In discovering that there was quite
as much Of the charlatan about this
shaggy reviyalist as there could have
been in any wandering trickotcr. His
methods were such as. believe and
hope. were never before practiced by
any reviyalist in creation, and could
have been effective only with the
most ignorant, supcrstitiOus aud
gullible people. The chief agent
which he employed in producing con-
versions was "entriloquism. This
art he used with great skill, so that
the results to one unacluaiUted with
the phenomenon OF voice carrying
must have appeared truly miracu-
lOuS After raising his hearers to a
high pitch of mental excitement by
his wild eXhOrtatiOns and deuuncia-
tiOns, he would suddenly assume a
tragic attitude and eXclaim: ''iiark!
the gates Of heaven aud he'll arc
Openingm Then would follow cries
issuing from the ground as Of devils;
blOod-curdling summons to Onc0n-
ycrted individuals in the crowd ia
come and be toasted upon subterra-
mean griddles. or perhaps the mys-
teri0us voices seemed to come from
above, uttering tender and pleading
invitations to accept the mercy of the
Lord and be saved before it was toe
late.
The effect Of these apparently
miraculous manifestations upon the
superstitiOus and impossible noun
taineers was tremendous. Some of
them went temporarily insane
through fear and excitement Nine
out of every ten women became hys-
terical The children had fits and
even the babies went into commissions.
But one and all were as eager to get
over the threshold of heaven and be
saved from the terrors that threat.
ened them as q crowd is to get in.
doors when a mad dog is running
down the street.
| watched the unholy excitement
for three or four days, and then nay
Indignation got the better of my
curiosity and | drew aside big Lem
Wissell, the landlord of the hote,
and one OF the revivalist's most bad
~ frightened converts.
LEM" | said. did you know that
that fellow is fooling you?"
LENS great steel gray eye:
opened as wide as saucers.
HE is fOOllng you" repeated
Every penny that goes into his hat
goes to an impOstor. The sounds
that you seem to hear coming out o.
the ground and the air are made by
his own mouth. They are produce:
by au art called ventriloluism. which
enables a man TO throw his voice t
any point he chooses and make 1t ap
pear to others to come from there
If you don't believe me, get a man tt
clasp his hand over the rascal.
mouth next time the devils begin L
below for somebody to roast and see
if they don't shut up as suddenly a,
his windpipe."
Lem Wissell looked at me search
ingly for a full minute. Then hi
big hand closed over mine. "Yor
look squaY,'" he said, "and believe
you talk squar I'll see some of the
boys. Be at the meetin' tonight
Mebbe thar'll be fun"
| was promptly and prominently
present when the villagers began t
gather for their usual religious dis
sipation that evening. The revivalist
however, did not put in an appear
anaa until nearly tWentv minnta,