Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-10-12

4 Proppeotor with . Petrsned Glare
Tells this Tale Of Petrffactfon.
A prominent citizen Of Jerome, Ariz.,
related a most strange and weird tale
to The Hustler man yesterday, and
vouches for the truth Of the story. He
claims to have received his information
from the prospector who discovered
the strange phenomenon. He Is going
out with the prospector next week to
make further explorations and to stake
out the mining claim to hold the prop
erty. The tale of the petriied mine is
as follows:
While out prospecting for copper
properties on grubstake layout last
month "Jim" Plecute wandered far
| into the recesses Of dark canyon, 40
miles east of Jerome. and pitched camp
for the night. The next morning he
went out prospecting, and while wan
dering around suddenly came upon a
log cabin. Entering 1t he noticed two
miners seated at table. seemingly In
the act Of eating breakfast. He ad-
dressed them, but received no response.
| Thinking something was wrong, he
walked up to them, and yeas Mortified
| to find that they were stone dead-pet-
rified. The tin plates from which they
ate, the frying pan and the coffee pot
were petrified also. Judging from APP
pearances they were transferred from
human beings to the state In which
Plecute found them In jiffy, for one
of the stone images held ! fork In his
stony grasp, with small piece of ven
ison on Ii as he had cut 1t to put 1t In
his mouth. The fork and venison were
turned to stone just as the man had
opened his mouth to receive the food.
Everything within the cabin was pet
rified; the flames were turned to stone
as they leaped up in the old-fashioned
fire place, and stood up red and bril-
liant, but cold as ice. A petrified cat
lay on the floor, while eveV article
within the cabin was in the same con-
dition. Upon closer inspection Jim dis
covered that the very logs in the house
were stone.
Leaving the place, the prospector
passed on up an old trail and had only
gone short distance when he discov-
cred signs of ore. There was huge
iron dyke extending up the mountain.
and where he stood was break in IT,
Copper. stained fragments Of rock
were lying about as though they had
been put there by some one, but no
signs of tunnel or shaft were visible.
Plecute concluded to sink shaft
where the break in the dyke was, so
he went back after his burro and
outfit
Three weeks of steady labor had
been put in on the prospect without
striking ore, and "Jim" was on the
point of quitting when most peculiar
thing happened. He had put in three
shots, two wedges and litter, fired
them and let himself down on rope
into the shaft, when, to his horror, he
found that he had shot the bottom out
of the shaft Holding his candle in
one hand while he grasped the rope
with the other to balance himself on
the slight rim over which he gained a
meagre footing. he discovered ladder
suspended down the seemingly bot
tomless shaft AS the latter was Sc
curely fastened, he cautiously descend
ed 1t. When he had gone down about
one hundred feet he came to a tunnel
or drift. Following that a short dis
lance, he came suddenly upon three
miners in the breast of the drift. AL
though he heard no sound, they seemed
to be intently engaged in drilling; one
sat holding drill, while the other two
held their hammers suspended In the
air. He addressed them. but received
no response. Then the horrible truth
broke upon him-they were also petri-
fed. Close inspection proved that the
three men were certainly in the same
condition as the occupants of the
cabin.
Jim" Plecute examined the sur
roundings and found that the ham
mers and drills were all turned to
stone. A watch in one of the miners |
pockets had also been petrified. The
time was shown by the watch to have |
been 7:45. Whether morning or even
ing, of course, he could not tell A tick |
was petrified in the watch. while the I
hands were in the same condition.
Thoroughly frightened at the specta- |
Gle before his eyes, "Jim" hurriedly !
left the uncanny place. and as he
climbed the ladder he heard petri- |
fed bird on n petrified limb singing n
petrified song.