The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-30
WORSE THAN THE DEATH CHAIR.
a stone That Stays n by Lightning
All Who TnwIttinEly Approach Ia.


ground in an almost inaccessible noun
tain pass some nifty or sixty miles north
OF The Needles. in Arizona In pursu-
ing a conscientious investigation into a
subject Of this kind one finds it necessary
to call into reQuisition such an immense
number of grains of salt that the real
truth of the matter becomes frequently
lost in a briny deep. as it were. but in
spite Of this the existence Of the electri-
cal stone has been proved beyond the pos
sibility Of doubt.
In multitude of witnesses there is safe
~. and it apears that the natives were
for years acquainted with the stone and
its peculiar properties long before its
discovery by a party OF hunters few
days ago. Among the Indians the stone
goes by the name Of the Death Trap"
and the peak wherein 1t is located is
called Death Trap Mountain. They say
that their fathers and grandfathers be-
fore them knew of the stone, and It is
only old and experienced guide who
will venture to take party in the neigh
borhoOd of it, lest by some unluckg
chance, a too daring hunter will lose his
life by suddenly coming upon it in an UNI
guarded moment
The stone itself is described as being
rough, jagged, outcropping, bursting up
| through the shale of its surroundings,
reaching up the mountain side to the hight
of about seven feet. when a sharp proJec-
ton shelves over again, making a three
sided tunnel, perhaps nine feet long and
five feet wide. Ordinarily the rock is of
blue metallic lustre. and shows traces OF
volcanic action, being scanned and ribbed
] "A / Y me Cd of
day, when the sun shines squarely upon
il, the stone assumes a faded pale blue
hue, at which times the Indians declare it
to be perfectly harmless. AS the sun
leaves the gorge, however, the stone be
gins gradually to deepen in color and when
night comes and there is no moon it
glows with all the brilliancy of a molten
mass. This Elimination may be distinctly
seen for a great distance when there are
no intervening mountains TO obstruct the
view.
Now, as to the peculiar death-giying
power of the stone. 1t is said that moth
ing great or small can set foot upon II
and live. SO powerful are the volts which
/ it gives out at even the slightest contact
/ that II Is impossible for even the largest
animals to Withstand their strength.
Recently the party of hunters referred
to ventured without a guide into some of
| the more dangerous mountain passes in
.
way into narrow gorge. having come in
hot pursuit after a little feet-limbed
mountain goat which they managed to
start from the rocks below. Suddenly,
| while they were all some seventy or eighty
| feet away, they were astonished beyond
measure to see the goat fall dead in his
/ tracks, although not shot had been hred.
They were making ready to climb up the
/ ledge and secure the little creature, when
/ an old Indian high up on the cliff behind
/ called to them to stop. So frantic was his
\ manner and so persistent his admonitions
/ that they waited till he scrambled down
to them, and then for the first time came
to light the story of the electrical Won
der. 4a
The goat had fallen within the death
/ trap, the Indian explained and had the
| hunters followed after hihthey too, would
| have Shared his fate. There was ample
! evidence at hand to prove to the hunters
the truth of the old mans statement, for
| the little gorge surrounding the stone has
been turned into a perfect charnal house
! full of the whitening bones Of its victims.
| And If this were not enough to convince
| the more skeptical, while they stood with
in thirty feet of the stone big rattlesnake
crawled up the preeipice and out upon the
stone. only to coil and writhe and finally
die in the intensest agony.
The hunters expressed the deepest graft
tude to the old Indian for saving their lives
but regretted no little the loss of the goat,
whose species is almost extinct now,
whereupon the old man unwound a RATA
from his waist and flung it up under the
rocks. His aim was unerring, and present
" the goat was dragged down into place
of safety, whence the hunters removed
him. This was an old trick among expe-
rienced hunters the Indian explained, and
said he himself had reaped a pretty rich
harvest of peltry by snatching fresh vic
tins from the grasp of the death trap.
The sun was almost down, and had quite
! left the gorge, so at the request of the In
dian the hunters accompanied him to his
mountain-perched cabin, and from there
! beheld the lighting up of the stone when
the moon was gone. As they all sat about
| the fire watching the phenomenon, their
/ old host told them many marvellous stories
of the wonder, among others the legend OF
! its discovery by the tribe hundreds Of
| years ago. The legend runs about as Iol-
! lows:
Once upon a time there came into the
midst of the tribe asking food and shelter
a stranger, with marvellously beautiful
face. His body was little and mean and
\ puny and his back was bumped, but his
face was fair beyond all description and
strangely beautiful. His eyes were large
and luminous like twin stars, and al
though he seemed to know nothing Of
herbs or their properties, he possessed
the marvellous faculty of healing the sick
by laying his hands upon them, or even by
looking fxedly at them with his great
eyes.
Even dumb animals would flock around
him If he chose to have them do SO, and the
chief held him in such reverence that by
and by he adopted the stranger in the
tribe and made him a medicine man.
Many years passed, during which the
stranger still fingered, and in the mean
time the chiefs son had grown TO ma 4
hood. and it became time for him to take
a wife. The comeliest maiden Of the tribe
was selected as his bride, and prepara-
lions were made for the nuptials. When
the wedding day arrived, however, the
maiden was missing, and an old woman
declared that the medicine man had spir-
tied her away. A diligent search failed to
discover her whereabouts, and the chief
reluctantly consented to believe the friend
of his adoption guilty.
| 'company Of twelve of the
bravest warriors were ordered TO drive the
medicine man out of the tribe, for no one
would consent to see him killed outright.
so great was the love Of the people for