The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-03-29
/ CAVES OF WILD HONEY.
THE BEES HAVE A REMARKABLE
SroREHousE IN TEXAS.


bees swarm always in clouds so thick
that at distance of three miles it has
the appearance of great signal smoke.
Several years ago hunting party
made up of Kansas City men went
into that country on n trip after big
game, for there is plenty of deer in
there even now and at that time bears
were numerous. When they got up
into tho honey country they began
figuring upon the fortunes to be made
out OF it, and having heard of the
Devils Punch Bowl, locally known as
Devils Sink Hole" they decided to
go in aud see it and il possible devise
some scheme whereby they might OBJ
tain the tons of honey it contained.
DEVILS PUNCH BOWL.
When they reached it, like every
one else seeing it for the first time,
they were amazed at the proportions
of the wonder; u hole forty feet in
diameter yawning open in the middle
of wide valley, with perfect tor
rent OF bees rushing up from it like
dirt blown from some mighty blast
i anu Wll blb Mullb IOuIiuH lOuu Luub
OF great cataract; looking down into
the abyss, for the hole widens imme-
diately below the surface, they saw
the festoons of honey hanging there
which the bees had strung along the
sides of their mammoth hive after
they had filed the hidden grottoes;
and looked i'll through the upward
swarms and saw the CLEANS OF combs
built no doubt many years before.
The sight of all that honey was too
much r.those X. G. gentlemen, and
they decided they would form COM
pany for the express purpose of put
ting it on the market. They calcu-
lated that by thus saving all the
sweetness to the world, they would
not only be doing tho public great
favor, but would enrich themselves to
the extent OF something like 800, 900
apiece. There was one man in the
the party named Ouden, who was
looked upon by the rest as capable of
handling big affairs, and to him was
intrusted the work of managing the
enterprise. As soon as the company
had been formed he was given his
| credentials and went back to Del Rio,
from which place he was to make
trip to the Bowl for the purpose of
getting better understanding of the
work required. He made the trip all
right, but when he came back he re-
ported to his friends that it would be
impossible to do anything with the
honey and that if they wanted to go
any further they had best hire new
manager. SO the company idea was
abandoned and no application was
made to the Texas Legislature for Az
ticles of incorporation or for the pur-
chase of the valley in which the
Bowl" lies.
Then Ouden. who was more OF q
manager than his friends imagined, &,
| slipped ont and bought the land, rugged
up big derrick and, with about forty
| Mexicans and 100 pack mules, started
for the great honey cave. 1t was his
plan to wrap Mexican up in several
hundred yards of mosquito netting,
let him down into the hole by means
of rope ladder suspended from the
| derrick, and let him fill the boxes with
honey, which would be drawn out by
means of pulley. He expected a
good profit on this trial trip, though,
which, derrick, Mexicans and mules
stood him at about $1,000.
When they reached the "Bowl' he
| learned to his sorrow that the legs of
| the derrick were away too short, but
| by letting them out to their fullest
| spread he made them reach across the
mouth of the hole, tied the feet securely
TO stakes driven deep into the ground
and then ordered one of the Mexicans
to wrap himself in the mosquito net.
tang and go down. All this time the
bees had paid no attentian to the in.
truders, but the Mexican was afraid
and refused to obey.
DOWN AMONG THE BEES.
In vain Ouden explained and wheo.
died, the Mexicans didn't "sabe" aud
as the bees began to swarm up a little
they all got away frown the "Bowl -
Finally, when he saw that there was
no other way out of it, he resolved to
make the first descent himself. He
wrapped himself up in the netting and
ordered the Mexicans to attach the
rope ladder to the derrick head. The
one who tried it got stuug in hun
dred places before he got hallway out
to the place where he was to attach
the ladder and came back in hurry,
dropping the ladder into the hole as
he stepped off the derrick. Then, as
there was nothing else to go down on,
Ouden determined to have them let
him down with the pulley rope.
He got started down all right and
then real trouble began, the bees on.
ragged at his movements in the en-.
trance of their home, few ct the Mexi.
cans who were holding the rope SC
that they dropped it and ran like deer
at the same time Ouden was making
much better time into the depths ol
the cavern. Luckily there was kno'
in the rope and this stopped his fall
There he hung, dangling among the
bees like puppet on string. while
his recresnt employees gathered up a
u safe distance and decided to skin
out with the outfit and sell it. Only
one of them kept out of this deal, anc
he accompanied tho others for three
or four miles on the way Then ht
dropped back aud returned to the
"Bowl."