The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-02-18

At the Bottom of the Twelve Foot Cavity is
Found Foot of Debris Which Gave Out
Stream When Exposed to the Air
Doc Kelley Declares That the Drill has
Struck a Chimney of Hades and Wants
Work Stopped Immediately-He VIII
Appear Before the Council and Ask
That Work be Discontinued.
Wichita's prospect well comes 10 the
front again with something out of the
usual. The find was not exactly the
objects for which the bonds were vot-
ed by the taxpayers, but it was never
theless something which will give sci
entists and biologists something TO
think about
Twenty-Five years ago a minister Is
said 10 have slandered Wichita by de-
claring from his pulpit that hell was
not ten miles from the Peerless Princes
of the Plains That minister has
gone to the great beyond, but yester-
day Contractor Austin and Head Drill
| Madison were led to believe that the
only mistake made by the late divine
was as to the distance from Wichita
What startled these good men, who
had the day before ceased their labOrs
and attended church not in their mud
'besmeared clothes, but new, neat fit
ting suits and clean boiled shirts, was
the peculiar action of the drill.
Contractor Austin was lowering the
drill to the scene of combat with the
rocks below when by a slip of the brake
he let it down unusually hard and in
stead of standing still it began whirl-
mig around like a Dutch girl in a beer
garden. Austin grew pale and called
to Madison 10 come and see the thing
| waltz
Let it down." said Madison, you
have it suspended in the air. IF you
let it touch the bottom it Will stop its
spinning
See the rope" said Austin, as he
pointed to the place where a dirty rag
marked the depth of the well when the
drill was hoisted from the mysterious
hole in the ground. That shows that
the bottom has fallen out or something
has gone wrong. Take hold of the
| screw handles and see whether it is on
bottom. l will raise it up and let it
down easy"
This was done and Professor Madi-
son took hold of the handles and told
him to let her down easy. This was
done and down in the hole went the
dirty rag. while the two men who had
SO sacredly kept the holy Sabbath
turned pale.
Down, down went the drill, and in
establishment Madison looked up with
a sickly smile on his face and in the
language of Mark Twain called out:
mo bottom
I'VE have struck a caveI' said the
men in a chorus, and Committeeman
Maxwell was summoned from the en-
CINE room to try and fathom the mys-
terry.
Did you smell ft?" said the council
man from the Sixth ward, who was
present when the oil was first struck,
and gave it out that the drill had not
only reached Germany, but that it had
dropped into the very center of a linn
burger cheese factory, hence the cOun-
Gilman believed in the efficacies of
smelling.
eve have not" said the men.
'"Then Austin, your nose is the long
est, SMELL" said the councilman.
ut appears to me that 1 smell steam"
said Austin, Withdrawing his probosis
from the inside of the tubing.
let US let the drill down until it
strikes the bottom" suggested Madi-
son, as he Yainly tried to hold the waltz
ing drill.
This was done and two feet further
the dirty rag descended in the earth
when the cry was made:
Hold, she is Waiting in mush!'
Up came the drill and down went the
crane-like sand buckets 10 see what
kind Of substance the mush was COM
posed of. The sand bucket was churn-
ed around for awhile and then brought
up. Long before the bucket reached
the top, the men say, white steam be-
gan TO oOze from the top of the curb
ing and when it was deposited in the
dissecting room the white blue smoke
began to rise in volumes and the men
stood gazing at the strange spectacle
| before their eyes.
What is it?" What can it be?' and
five hundred other questions were be-
ing agitated when Doc Kelly drove up
with his wagon and peeped over the
fence.
wat youens got dar?" said Doc.
"Come in" said the men and Doc
was told all about the cave and began
| leaning up against the drill house while
the blood left his lips as the men pro-
ceeded. Doc was noticed by the kind
hearted councilman and asked him If
he was sick.
Hush man, youens can't peculate
wat goes frew dis mind as l call back
de wuds of Brudder Simpson who held
de vival meetins at Cow Creek vars
ago. I hud him say dot hell was up
right agin Wichita. and hyar it is sure
Doc, what makes you talk that way,
because we have taken up something
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