Year: 1870

The Story of Vest Firgtnia PIOrman-


He Breaks Through the Crust of the EartA


Falls into !SaLterramean Rieer-I Sic


Niles IN Forty EIighs Hours.


When We were publishing a paper in Lew
isburg, West Virginiu, several years ago, a
very singular accident befel young man
there, which we narrated briefly at the time.
in Muskegan, and he narrated his adventure
at our request. 1t occurred on the farm of
General a W. G.. Davis, in Greenbrier coun-
ty, in 1856. We give his story in his own
words, as near as 1--WE can recollect them.


II was plowing on Gen. Davis farm in
1885," said he, "unsuspicious of being on in
secure ground, when suddenly the earth
seemed to fall beneath me. saw the horses
descending, but was.too frightened to let go
the plow handles. The pitch of the horses
with the earth gave my fall au impetus, and
somehow caught the name of one of them
in my fall, and SO held ou instinctively-
What thought when falling | can hardly
tell. At any rate. did some rapid thinking.
When landed fell on the horse whose
mane had hold of, aud d.although the horse
was instantly killed, | was merely stunned
and confused. On recovering myself looked
up. and the hole through which had fallen
looked SO small | concluded | must have
fallen full one hundred and fifty feet. My
first thought was to call for aid, but iustaut
ly recalled the fact that was ut least mile
from General Davis house, and that there
was not the remotest probability that any ono
had seen my descent into the earth.


1T Ras then early morning aud as I had
hrn1,yht Dut my 6innar IN mo M ODa would
miss me before nighttall. While going over
these facts in my own mind, heard the rush
of water near at hand, and it occurred to me
that must have fallen upon the bed of Sink
ing creek, which, as you know. falls into the
earth above Frankfort, and does not come out
but once till it reaches the banks of the
Greenbrier river. To say where | was. or to
attempt to follow the subterraueau passage,
was the next question. l sometimes took the
team to NY own tenant stables, and therefore
might not be missed for days, so l deter
mined to follow the stream. l waded in it,
aud, judging of its depth of from one to three
feet, / concluded it must be the identical
Sinking creek spoken Of Leaving my dead
companion behind me, followed the stream.
For the most part [ had pretty easy work Of
it. but sometimes | came to o daep place
where I was forced to swim for a considera-
bless distance; again was often preciptated
headlong into deep water by the precipitous
nature of the rocky bed of the stream.


"Talk about the darkness of the. grave =
The grave itself could not have been more
impalpably dark than. the passage was fol-
lowing. The occasional ripping of the wa
ters was an mex pressibly dear sound to my
ears. Day and night were the same to me.
At last wearied with my efforts, laid down
on a comparatively dry rock to rest, and must
have slept for hours.is;W When L awoke again
l took to the water,5 carefully ascertaining
which way it ran, so as not TO lose my labor
by retracing my steps. 1t seemed to me that
the farther [ went the more difficult progress
became. When l had gone perhaps mile,
l came to place where the archway nar-
rowed so much that 1 had to crawl on my
hands aud knees in the;water.


Here was n dilemma | had not looked for.
l tried either bank of the river, but found no
passage. | could swim under water Tor a con-
siderable distance, but the distance before me
was unknown, and halted long before maxi ing
the dangerous venture. At last concluded
that my fate was equally doubtful in returning
as in proceeding and plunged boldly into the
current, and soon found that it was so swift
in its confined passage that only needed to
hold my breath to go through. In the course
of twenty or thirty feet | again got my head
above water, and took long breathing spell
Again the archHay seemed to enlarge and the
bed of the stream became more even. ] sped
along comparatively rapid, keeping my hands
outstretchcd to prevent my running against
the jagged rocks. Wearied out. | again laid
down and slept soundly in my wet clothes.


"On awakening, l pursued my course down
the suDterraneau stream, and at last in the
very bright in the darkness l was then shut
in. Nearing this. l found that it did not in
crease in brightness. and when / had gone
perhaps mile, | came to another place where
my path narrowed to the very tunnel filed by
the water. Ny case was now become more
desperate. l could not possibly retrace my
steps, so l submitted myself to the current,
and was immeasurably overjoyed to find my
self rapidly swept into daylight Exhausted
and half drowned. crept out upon the land,
and was not long in recognizing the objects
about me. l had come out into the Green
brier river as | knew from the familiar look
of General Davis mill on the bank. On
reaching home | found that had been over
forty eight hours in making my perilOus jour
ney. of six miles underground"


The hole where this man went through is
now fenced round. On listening one can
plainly hear the rush of water below. and
stone thrown down will sometimes be heard
to splash in the stream.


BANK CHECK STAMPs.-The commits
sioner of Internal Revenue approved the new