El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-04-11

would venture with them into its I'M
certain and chilling depths
Through the small opening they
forced their bodies. then down a lad
chamber of the grinning skeleton, a
room eight or 10 feet square Above
hung suspended in q most threatening
maner immense bOulders. while. since
its first discovery a rock tons in weight
has fallen, totally closing the exits TO
the other passageways, as though to
forever keep the secret of their con-
tents from man.
Into Space Eternal.
: In the northeast corner. surrounded by
rocks. was an opening. just large
enough to permit their descent. which
seems to be the corridor leading
through space eternal. Down their rope
a clear drop of 80 feet perhaps, a sec
ond landing was reached six or eight
feet in length, and three feet wide. From
this. as over the edge of a cliff. these
adventures dropped many, many feet
to a third landing, which was a sloping
rock. as though left by a landslide.
From under their tread pebbles clat-
tered away on down into space
Eastward high above them spread out
an immense archway upon the white
limerick of which the lights cast ghast-
" shadows The walls of this chamber
slOped so steeply for 100 feet as to
place those al its entrance 80 feet above
the hole in which they continued their
descent
Through another small opening they
crawled, face downward. 40 or more feet
over loose rolling stones. until they
reached the fourth landing. The walls
were rugged the ceiling about IA feet
high. in which was a creyice up through
vi nd
two feet wide The chamber was per-
haps 16x2O feet.
Reach Depth of 500 Feet.
On every side were in evidence the
effects of intense heat in the charred
cinders red dirt, etc. The only de-
scent to the regions below was n hole
in the southwest corner, some three
feet in diameter This was partly
blocked by rocks of various dimen-
the way for further operations. 1t was
discovered that this had been a large
opening, but a boulder had fallen di
rectly over it. leaving a small opening
on either side
They had now reached a depth of
fully 500 feet. and when the rope was
here let down no landing could be
found. Their lights reflected only lin
itless space.
Several hundred feet of cord was at
tached 20 their 500 foot rope and on.
on it dangled in space and darkness A
rock, 100 pounds in weight, was thrown
in. and down il sped, sending back only
the echo of its going. dying out of hear
ing without reaching bottom.
Mystery UnsOlved.
Thus. firmly upon the minds of the
explorers was stamped the conviction
that throughout all time will this pit
Of many fathoms keep the secret of
its contents. into which only magma
ton can carry one.
After taking various views of the diff
ferent landings. they returned to the
surface, glad TO be back once more, yet
sorry not to have been able to snatch
natures secret from her grim grasp.
and yet conjecturing over the mystery
of 1t all. Why the skeleton? Was it
a helpless paleface who sought shell
ter from the toTtuOus death of the cruel
indians, and Imprisoned by them and
left TO die of starvation?
Not far from this spot is the old trail
to the gold fields of California Were
treasures hidden here? Is the grinning
skeleton a CHASTITY relic of a faithIess
companion who betrayed its hiding
place?
This and many others are the ques-
lions to forever remain unanswered