Fair play., 1893-05-20
SINKING LAKES
a Curious Legend OF Ons- IN
Tennessee.
Anything Thrown into the waters Of
stone lake becomes Petri'ird-A
Negro Fisherman's Eemarka-
BILE fate. ga

4 a
The inhabitants of that part Of west
Tennessee known as sthe searth uake
belt are considera;,it .Terciecd over
the gradual sinking of the lakes formed
by the earthquake Of ISL. The water
level is descending without any arpar-
ent cause. although ti!e streams that
empty into some of the lakes are not
| affected THIS is taken hy The Pits
burgh Dispatch to bc evidence that the
soil at the bottom of these sheets Of
water is becoming seany fron seislnic
action beneath, t'.Us allowing the
water TO escape into unknown haNiTs
below The effects of the unexplained
phenomenon are most apparent IN
Stone lake. beautiful body OF water
situated il. Iauderdale county. The lake
is about mile long and half a mile
wide and has an average depth OF wen
~ feet, but 50 clear is it that the small
est objects can be seen on the bottom.
4 more inviting place for the angler
could not he found aHy7S here, hut.
strange to say, while the other vc:ers
in shat regions are alive with fish. no
living ti.ing has ever been seen in
Stone lake, and III" people of the ricin-
itv contend that the water IS certain
death to any creature that drinks 1t.
The wild fowls avoid il. though they
swarm III the adjoining ponds and bay
ous another peculiarly of the I'M
caunv water Is that anything east into
1t quickly rctriiics; hence the name it
bears And thereby hangs q tale. which.
incredible as i, may sound. is nercrthe-
less devoutly believed by the simple III
hahiiants of the locality. 1t goes back
to seventy years ago, when the country
yvas G;st settled by eInigrants from
North Carolina.
Tradition goes that on Il no: GUNNER
day, after his task was finished. an u:a
and trusted slave nf one of the pioneers
got leave to go fishing. and taking hih
tackle and bait set out for the lake.
which he had remarked rs likely
pldca ~ bass. Arriving there he
walked ont on ic;t that projected from
the BAN, and east his hait. When night
came on he had not rctlIrf.G home.
arb his absence at roll call was noted.
The master, however, paid but httlo
attention TO the circumstance. thinking
that old lsom had probably gone on a
lark to some ncighboriug farm. hut
when Ison failed to show up next
morning old Capt. Bullard became un-
easy and went out in search of him.
lie could learn nothing OF TIE missing
slave from the ncighhOrs. Then he
organized party and beat the woods
to find him. Strange to say, he had not
remembered giving lsom leave to 60
fishing Toward sundown Il fox hound
with the party struck trail and fol-
lowed it to the Ianl, Of the lake. The
hunters went after. and arriving al the
lake saw Isom sitting on the log with
pole extended and apparently fishing,
in deep meditation. He proved deaf to
the vocifcrous calls of his master. The
hound sprang on the log and ran mp to
the motionlcsS form. shifted at it and
flew back to the bank, howling with
fright Then the old captain dismount-
ed and charged on the log. whip i'll
hand, TO chastiSe the truant. lie
brought his whip down on the motion
less figure with 4 rcsoundirg whack.
Still lsom 50. still The old captain
caught him by the shoulder He
gra>pcd not flesh and blood, but stone.
The fisherman, his line and pole were
petrificdl The log on which he sat was
also solid. When the captain and his
followers had recovered from their
fright they made their way home and
told their story. Next day large party
of the neighhors went out and found 1t
to be true. They discovered by dropping
things into the lake the marvellous CT
feet of the water The stone log was
once giant hickory. Nuts that had
fallen from it were petrified on the bot
tom 1t was thought that Isom must
have Slipped and fallen into the lake
with his pole, and the water on his
clothes and tackles took effect when he
regainedhis perch and began fishing.
The extraordinary tigureis still intact
ard there is a movement on foot to
transport it, with section OF the log
to the worlds fair.