San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1894-07-25

| and the cave becomes very easy TO
travel. The air, while not as pure
| as out doors, is free from any rank
or noXious gases.
THE EXPLORATION.
Louis Heuerman, of San Antonio,
was the first man to go down Cork
screw Alley to the first landing.
He was followed by several others,
among them H. Breusing, who had
prepared himself with blank atfi-
davits to swear the explorers as to
the size of the snakes and fish that
they saw. Torches were lit and
Louis Heuerman, of San Antonio,
with Won Van Raub, Of Van Raub
station, and Paul VOgt, Of Leon
Springs, started off. John l.. MOreau,
the justice of the peace for the
precinct, was several yards in
the lead of the party with
a large torch. Joe Mcmillan and
his twelve-year-old son, Jessie Nc
MILAN, both in cool and unconven-
tial undress of white cotton under
wear, followed them.
On the first gallery sat Mr..
Breusing with his affidavit blanks,
scheming and racking his brains
how to regain the surface of the
earth without again experiencing
the horrors of the "Corkscrew AL
ley" Ira n. Turner, by vigorous
twisting, sliding and crawling,
managed to reach the first gallery,
but when he saw "Fat Mans
Squeeze" he crawled back to the
top of the earth. Mr.. Breusing, by
the aid of rope, soon followed him.
An Express reporter silently squat
ted down on the first gallery and
gazed very intently into the black
and cherries underground hole,
and then returned to the surface
where the drones were getting
away with the lunch and refresh
ments that had been provided for
the explorers. w. Watkins. the
photographer of the expedition,
with his camera and w. A. Polling,
the jolly San Antonio and Arkansas
Pass agent, of Kerrville, also joined
the procession. Otto Praeger, re-
presenting the San Antonio Daily
LIGHT, picked up satchel full of
Photographic plates, flash light
chemicals, tripod and closed up
the rear. After him, Editor Small
wood, of the Kerrville Paper, set
out to explore the cave, but after
going one third Of the way turned
back. Once on the earth's surface,
he got around the corner of little
hill and hung his entire clothing
on shrub, meanwhile doing
sentinel duty around the
tree in Natures full dress uni
form. Geo. F. Lupton courageously
started into the icy channel, but
suddenly remembered that as mas
ter of cere monies his presence on
the dry earth's surface was indis-
pensable.
After a hard struggle Joe Nc
MILAN and son and the LIGHT re-
porter caught up with Torch Bear
er Moreau and his party, who were
sitting in a very resonant cavity,
singing the popular songs of the
day. At the end of the channel
and at the entrance to the dome
the party discovered that they had
no rope. The tireless justice of the
peace, John Moreau, together with
Joe Mcmillan, Jessie Mcmillan
and Louis Heuermann returned to
the surface after a sixty-foot rope,
while w. A. Polling, w. Watkins
and the LIGHT reporter camped
at the entrance to the dome.
In due time Moreau, a young
man named Nogt and a colored
boy, John Bosom, who was prompt
ly rechristened Postum John, ar
rived with a pocket full of wet
crackers, an additional torch and
60 feet of rope. At | o'clock i'm the
afternoon the LIGHT reporter went
down into the fifty.one feet deep
hole by climbing down rope, Pos.
sum John having attempted to de-
sert when told that he had to be
the first one down the hole. Fol-
lowing the LIGHT man came Will
Watkins, the photographer, then
w. A. Polling, of Kerrville, a young
man named Vogt, and last of all
Postum John. .Moreau was pre-
vailed upon to stand by the torches
and lamps above and help hold the
rope, which was tied to a frail
rock. After following up every
opening in 1.-The Dome" I'M
til the cavity ended in a
small hole in the ground, the
partysreturned to the dome proper,
where, perhaps 800 feet under the
surface of the soil, three flash light
pictures of the explorers were