The Newtown bee., 1909-02-26
The NeWtoWn Bee.
OLD RACC0ON DEN
Newtown. Friday, February 90, 1909,
Or Devils Den"


 is situated on Bagburn hill near the
 middle eastern portion of the farm
 formerly owned by Timothy Solmon
 Wells. a respected citizen and one of
 the large land holders of former days
 and grandfather of the writer, of whom
 we have but the faintest recollection.
 There was once large saw mill at
 this spot on what is known as the Boy's
 Halfway River and large pond of
 water extending southward was pro-
 perty then hisown but now owned by people of foreign extraction. have
 faint recollection of my father com
 ing home one morning after an exceed ingly heavy rainfall and saying that
 the saw mill dam and the old mill had all washed away and gone toward the
 Housatonic river. Some of the parts
 of the old mill were strewn along the
 stream where they remained for many years.
 He once operated lime kiln at this
 place which was located on the east side of the stream, large hollow place resembling a cellar marking the spot at this time.
 The lime stone was taken from the hill on the west side of the stream at this celebrated "hole in the side hill." There was a small rivulet of water farther up the hill to the west which he turned to this spot and utilized it in washing the dirt from the stone The hill being mostly of limestone was subject to small Assures or cavities which are common to limestone forma. tions.
 This old den for time immemorial has been a noted rendezvous for animals common to this portion of the country, as raccoons, foxes, skunks and wood- chucks. Hence it's former long known name, Raccoon Den. ' In later years some spirit named it Devils Den. Presume he saw himself A so accurately reflected he thought surely he must be at home. This hole in the rocks has always been the subject of more or less specu- lative curiosity, many thinking and :. some believing that within the sur- Il rounding hills there was huge cavern y Among them was a man named Orville ! Morse of Derby, a man of some scen- !. tifc ability and relative of the Cur !, tis family of Bagburn hill, who being j. quite possessed with that idea, and that U was probably where and how MT :. Plumb got his inspiration. being at one time of that family.
 In our schooldays we we'll remember r some of our Devil'f Den exploring ex- Il petitions when with lantern and can- d d!es we worked and tugged like bea 5 vers to clean out the rubbish, old bits q of rails and stones the boys had thrown II down into the hole, and finally succeed ' ed in opening a place sufficiently large P to admit man to go down some 25 feet Il and move around quite comfortably, II or for two persons to pass each other Il in crounching posture. It is under s' stood that these explorations were long " before MT Plumo became the owner of s' this property, but in many cases he t was the inspiration. He would get up a party of boys then hurrah for the den.
 On one of these occasions I remem- Der we marked our way down to the bottom of the hole as far as we could o+ get, when we discovered rnnning north r a small hole under an oven-shaped rock r sufficiently large to admit a small boy n which by clearing out under it we made r large enongh for man to crawl into. Then MT Plumb, loaded to the muzzle n, with enthusiasm, and candle in hand, .. started in turtle-fashion to explore the q. unknown beyond. The rock was like 7" a small arch, as in other places found T.. later, and led along to somewhat ,, larger space and Mir Plumb thought he ,,, m had made the great discovery of the age. We had tied rope to his hind leg" 4s by which we pulled him out pretty well nussed up. .(You will understand that o. silk hats and white brooches were not there.) We took him up above and hung him to dry while we proceeded to open the place some larg- CT when your humble servant picked up courage to crawl in to see what he - could find. This cavity led along to somewhat larger arched space a few feet beyond large enough to admit of sitting up nearly straight. Through ca this flowed a small stream of water very clear and cold over bed of light sand,
 While sitting beside this little rivu- q' ct we noticed a small dark object on he sand about the size of small egg,