Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-02-13

Bound hand and foot and struggling
fercely, Kitsmiller was led until dug
out was brought from Lie Fosdick's
cabin, on the river bank, mile and a
half away, and he was lifted into this
From there he was carried to the
point where the mountain path starts
from the river across Panther knob.
He was then half dragged, half led, up
4 the steep path across the mountain,
and so taken to his cabin on Elk river.
4 1t was a gloomy party of men that
led the demented hunter into the home
which he had left in good health and
spirits only two days before.
Mrs. Kitsmiller had expected the
truth, and beyond few groans she
only silently watched the men tie her
husband down to bed. Kitsmiller
did not recognize her, and when she
approached him grew SO fierce it was
thought better to have her kept away.
A physician was brought to the cabin,
but beyond administering some opiates
he could do nothing, and he acknowl-
edged it. He stated that the case re-
sembled one he had met with once be-
fore, and which was incurable. 1t was
that of n woman who had been crazed
by waking up at night and discovering
rattlesnakc in her bed. She had lain
in mortal terror all the night, with the
reptile coiled near her head, afraid to
move. In the morning the snake glided
through a chink in the logs near the
bed, from where it had come, but the
woman lost her reason and never re-
gained it. Her case, the doctor said,
and that of Kitsmiller were strangely
similar.
Occasionally Kitsmiller appeared to
have lucid moments, and during these
Hardrick would stand at the bed and
ask him: ..a. s.a# u.....E.
Tell us what yer seed in the cave,
Hanse, and mebbe it will help yer. Tell
us what yer seed. Yer know we is all
yer friends"
Once he looked about him as if try
ing to recollect and half muttered:
81 hev ben in the h hole itself.
Their was place full Nv rattlers, an I
tried ter keep 'em Off"
This was all that could be gotten
from him, for the recollection of this
|
and he had fits of terrible madness, dur
ing which he almost broke from the
| bed.
| Several reasons are given for the pc
culiar effect of the cave on persons en-.
tering it. One of these is that the
madness is caused by the presence of
| thousands of rattlesnakes which the
mountaineers claim at this time of the
year enter It to spend the winter. 1t is
| thought that the terror inspired by
their presence in such great numbers
drives person crazy, or perhaps it is
the smell of the reptiles. More than
once blush sort of vapor has been
seen coming from the mouth of the
cave, and mountaineers happening to
pass up Gauley river in dugouts at such
times. have been made deathly sick by
it. ..... .., .H
A scientist from Washington, some
years ago in Webster, advanced the
theory that the cavern contained
poisonous gas, emanating from the bed
of some mineral, which was response
bic for the effect. He had too mucn re-
spect, however, for the stories told him
of the place by the natives to go into
it, and so the real reason has never been
explained.
About seven years ago party of rev.
enue officers, on the hunt for moon.
shine" distilleries, came to Webster.
In some manner they were led to be-
lieve that the cave was the resort of
"pine-top chaps" and two of them
made an inspection, much to the delight
of the mountaineers, whose hatred OF
"revenoo" is worse than that of a rat
tlesnake. The two officers went inside,
and only one ever returned. He was
raving mad, and it was supposed he and
the other, in their madness, had at
tackled one another, and the one who
had disappeared had been killed.
The cave stands from the Gauley
river about $50 feet. 1t enters the al
most perpendicular mountain side,
which rises several hundred feet to the
top, on a level with the river bank. The
entrance is somewhat choked with
stones. This is from the fact that years
ago mountaineers went on top of the
ridge, as close to the edge above the
cave as they dared, and pushed the
rocks over with the hope of filling the
entrance, but the attempt was not sue
cessful. The mouth of the cave is hid
den by these rocks, which lie in front of
it. 1t is about ten feet in height, and
! is probably six or seven in width. A
short distance in the cave makes u
sharp turn, and it is a well-known fact
that when anybody has once passed
this he or she has never returned in
sound mind.
What was Hanse Kitsmiller's expert
cnce during his journey through the
/, mountain from the Big Buck Beds to
the mouth of "Ole Looney cave" only he
could tell, and he is not competent. It's
secrets, if he realized them, will not be
divulged by him, and will remain safe
). for the next, as they have for the past,
century or centuries. That his stay in
the cave was horrible in the extreme
. cannot be doubted, from the look of
terror which has never gone out of his