Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1898-11-03

must 60 back to your friend, and Will
write you when we are all safe, if you
give me an address"
Vainly Lieut.. Stocking pleaded with
her. On this point she was firm. The
guard took them two or three miles up
the Mississippi and there the party
crossed the river the lieutenant ac-
companying them two or three miles
into the interior, until he believed
they were safe from pursuit, when he
bade them farewell and returned.
The journey had consumed a day, and
when he reached the eastern shore of
the Mississippi he encountered the
pickets of a government force, was
promptly arrested and taken to the
camp about a mile from the Laran
portal, where he found two regiments
of troops. 1t was not difficult for him
to establish his identity, as he found
several acquaintances among the Off
GERS, and to them he told the whole
story of his capture and ndincarceration
1t was an incredible and startling rev.
elation, and led the commanding Off
Ger at once to move his camp to a new
elevation at some distance from the
Laran and to take every precaution
against an attack in the rear. On the
morning of the third day Stocking set
out with picked guard and several of
the officers to inspect the entrance of
the cave.
1t was not difficult to find the por-
tai, for to their astonishment the
whole of the iron lift was discovered
lying on the ruins of the sanitarium
adjacent to the uncovered shaft, from
which issued wavering thin blue
smoke
Suspecting some kindhof treachery
Stocking proposed to go down alone,
and after some delay in getting ropes
he was lowered into the hole. Ending
everything enveloped in darkness and
silence at the bottom of the shaft, he
had to come back for assistance and
lanterns, and thus provided and ac-
companied by an officer he rede-
scended with the growing conviction
that Hendricks had withdrawn all his
forces from the cave and abandoned it.
The moment he arrived at the
mouth of the arena passage and held
up the lantern he perceived that some
thing extraordinary had taken place.
On either side of the entrance to the
shaft were the bodies of men-two OF
them had apparently been hurled
against the wall of the arena with ter.
rife force, for their bodies were dislo'
Gated and their skulls fractured, and
they were covered with blue mould
that made their faces indistinguish-
able. A few seconds later the condi
ton of the arena disclosed the destruc
tion that had taken place. The resi-
dences on the western wall were shat
tered and in ruins. The machinery Of
the great dynamo stood O''t gaunt anC
awry like the bones of ? corpse from
which the flesh had (Aun suddenly
torn away. Not a sound was heard
Here and there bodies lay exposed
upon the floor of the arena with the
clothes torn from them.
Word was immediately sent above
for men and lights, and a strong recon
noitcring force was with difficulty
lowered into the cave.
Then the full extent of the appalling
disaster was investigated. Stocking
forced his way with some difficulty intC
the rooms where he had spent so many
hours, and there with the lanterns o
the men held high and throwing a dis
NAL effulgence ON the scene he saw in
eXtricably mingled with the debris o
the place the members of the group t
whom Calicot had communicated tn,
last words. All wore the same hOr
rible mask of blue mold Hendrick
himself was sitting in chair, but hi
neck was dislocated and his head hunl
down upon the side of his body. Cali
cots body was in the corridor. l
alone had escaped the blast of disfgur
ing color; his face wore a grim smil
and in his hand was a pad coveret
with writing.
Stocking wrenched it from the dea,
fingers and held it to the lantern. Il
a distorted hand was written: "Al
particulars on my person. / have save
you and the country. 1t was my duty
I am happy"
Shocked beyond all power of speech
Stocking silently secured the papers
and went with the party through tn
coal passage to the mouth Of the re
tunda and there the most stupendou
feature of this unprecedented TRACED
was revealed.
The whole of that great space was COY
/ cred with blue corpses, in every eOnceiv
able attitude of sudden death, a blu
stratum of smoke lying above ther
and still depositing its sulphur an
carbon upon their forms.
Death reigned. 1t had come like
/ lightning stroke. It had spared notl
I ING. The end of the dismantled eleC
trio engine, hurled from the trestl,
rested upon the floor of the rotund
with its tender hanging to the iro
benches. Against the eastern wa
hundreds of men had been hurled in
mass, and there commingled in sicl
/ ening pulp, from which stared the blu
and hideous faces and polSed the IN
! wroughtlimbs. Ha #Fr
\ AS. Stocking slowly realized what hI
friend had done a sense OF. his heroisl
I overcame everything else. He opene
/ the papers and read the hastily write
memorandum, from which this accour
/ has been compiled.
Il got" it said, "tho dynamit
cartridge from Laport's worlroon
and also the fuse. let II down Oh