The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-09

From the St Louis GlObe-DemoCrat
Addison, Webster County, W Va.-If a
stranger should visit Hanse Kitsmiller's
cabin now strange story would be heard.
and the victim of the startling tale would
doubtless be pointed out Hanse Kits
miller, the head of the family which oc-
cupies the little cabin on the bank Of the
Elk river is the victim. Until last Mon
Jay he was considered one of the most
powerful men in Webster, and was
strong, iron-nerved, hardy mountaineer.
capable Of holding up his end with the
best, at a log-raising or elsewhere. or of
enduring any amount of fatigue. At
present Kitsmiller lies in the cabin. at
| times so weak child could hold him, and
at others so terrible in the manicaI
paroxysms which seize him at intervals
that it takes four or five men to subdue
| him.
'Hev yo' hearn tell NV how Hanse Kits
miller wuz in Ole Looney Cave?" is the
one question which a Websterite pro-
pounds to another now at meeting, and
it is not strange. "Ole Looney Cave" has
again claimed a victim, and by its mystic
rious spell, as certain as mysterious, has
destroyed a mans reason and has wreck
ed happy mountain home.
"Ole Looney CAGE" is a natural tunnel
| extending under a mountain, which, when
entered by human beings, has never fail
ed to affiict them with the strangest form
| of insanity. What it holds in its yawn-
! ing depths has never yet been explained.
| since every one who has ventured to ex-
plore them has returned to the outer air
/ lunatlc, with reason entirely olsen
| throned, and an expression as il a sight
| OF unspeakable horror had been wit
messed
understanding as we'll as he did the GER
| tain affiiction which was to overtake him
! II ne yenJured in the cavern, it is surpris-
ing that kitsmiller should have been
drawn into it., but it was purely an acct
dent. He started from home early Mon
day morning with Abe Hardrick his
! brother-in-law, to bring home same veni-
son. He did not return until late We'd
nesday evening, when he was brought
struggling violently in spite of his arms
being tied behind him, raving maniac.
He was discovered the same day about
noon wandering along the Gauley river
banks, not far from the mouth of "Ole
| Looney cave" by Hardrick and others,
who had spent Monday and Tuesday
| nights at the kitsmiller cabin. The days
| they passed in vainly trying to discover
the missing man.
The story of how Iitsmiller wandered in
to the cave is told by Hardrick who, if
he had been less careful, might now be
in the same condition as his brother-in-
law. There had been slight fall of
count of this that Hardrick and Kitsmii-
| Ter had some on the deer hunt Ktsmii-
! ler's cabin is near the mouth of Sugar
| Run, where IL empties into the Elk river
| in the Little Bear Cub district The Elk
river at this point, which is about twelve
miles from Addison in the upper part of
| the county, flows at the foot of the Pan
| Their Knob. On the other side of the knob
| is the Gauley river, which drains all the
country on that side. The entrance to
| the "Looney cave" is near the Gauley
!
Cherry river.
| The two hunters started out Monday
| morning, crossed the Elk in a dugout be-
| longing to Kitsmiler, and followed the
| foot of the Panther Knob some distance
up the stream. About O'Clock, Hardrick
| says, they ran across the track of a buck
/ in the snow. The buck had been feeding
| during the night in a laurel bed and had
| gone from it into thicket of haw bushes.
| 1t was supposed that the buck was in the
clump, and while one of the hunters wait
| ed with cooked rifle, the other threw
| stones in to scare out the deer. These
| had no effect, and drawing his hunting
| knife, Kitsmil1er started in to see If he
could not meet with better success in
finding the game. He was gone some time
and kendrick began to get a little anx-
ious, when he heard Kitsmiller call and
| started to him. When he reached him he
found kitsmiller standing at the entrance
| to a cave in the moutain side and lead
ing into this were the tracks Of the deer.
| The mouth of the cavern was not more
than four feet high, and was as if it had
The two stopped, debating some time
what to do, when Kitsmiller proposed
that they should both go inside and get
very far away and Hardrick states he
| positively refused to do this, especially as
| he saw sign at one side of the entrance
| traced on the fiat surface of the rocks
/ 1t was evidently an Indian token, repre-
! senting a rattlesnake with two heads
The entrance to "Ole LoOney Cave had
| this sign with others, and Hardrick AYERS
idea struck frht ko
| another entrance to the cave He told
| his companion this, but Kitsmiller
| thought it was impossible, and declared
/ his determination of going inside a short
! distance. 1t has long been a tradition that
me l1ooney cave has an opening on the
/ Elk river side of the mountain Calling
| this to Kitsmillers mind. Hardrick en-
| the cave.
| But Kitsmiller's blood was up. and he
| started in. He tried to make the dog fol-
/ low him, but it ran away whining and
! seemed frightened.
| As Kitsmiller started in that was the last
| Hardrick saw of him until he and the 9th
! ers found him Wednesday afternoon on
/ the Gauley side of the mountain in his
/ changed condition. Hardrick waited and
/ waited Tor k1tsmiiler to come out, but
| there were no signs of his companion
/ lie even mustered enough courage to start
| IN the cave a few feet. In describing his
! sensations experienced in there he said
Along erbout twenty feet or more the
/ cave switched off sudden to the right and
/ WuZ digger. L follered 1t, when 1 began
/ to feel sumhin' jest like ez if il wuz teiiin
me to come erlong. My head growed diz-
| ~ and l got so sick [ could hardly see
/ Their wuz hissin' sound, like ez if there
| were a million rattlers all rattlin at
| wunst. 1 turned aroun' with what
1 strength wuz left, and stumbled out. /
/ Wuz sick for an hour"
/ Hardrick waited until nightfall, and
/ then returned to the Kitsmller cabin
4 where he reported the affair to Mrs Kits
miller, who was greatly worried. Early
| the next morning Hardrick with Eph
| Cojar Dave Dulng, and Pete Swadley.
visited the big buck beds and the entrance
! to the cave. The snow plainly showed
that Kitsmiller had not come out, and
/ two waited all day, while Duling and Co
/ jar crossed the mountain and went to
/ the entrance of "Ole Looney Cave" it
! self, but there We're no footsteps leading
/ out of It, and they returned to the Big
/ Buck beds. Not one of them could be in
! duccd after the experience of Hardrick
to go inside the mouth of the cave, and
/ that night they all returned to the Kits
miller cabin wher by this time the family
/ had become terribly alarmed. Mrs. Kits
miller grew hysterical, and it was with
! difficulty that she was restrained from
going out and trying 10 find her hus-
/ band.