This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: HARFE, NATHAN, LAUGHERY, SUTTON, BOND, COBO, EMRIE Classification: Death Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Sh.2ADI/1935 Message Board Post: The Mail Hagerstown, Washington Co, Maryland Friday, August 16, 1872 Discovery of Another Mammoth Cave Skeletons Found in It - The NATHAN Murderer Aurora, Indiana - July 16 - The people of this city are laboring under intense excitement occasioned by the discovery of a large cave and the remains of three persons, two miles below this city, on the Kentucky shore. The locality known as Split Rock, familiar to old river men as Kirby's Rocks, two miles below here, in Boone County, Kentucky, is a wild, romantic place, consisting of a high cleft of rocks, tossed and tumbled about promiscuously, as if by some mighty convulsion of nature in ages past. A dense growth of foliage borders the north side of this rocky prominence. Early this morning three boys crossed over into Kentucky for the purposes of gathering blackberries. At ten o'clock they returned in an excited state, and reported that they had found a cave at Split Rock heretofore unknown. They and their parents, with several others, out of curiosity, started for the place. Two or three small caverns beneath some of the rocks had been known there for years, and nothing beyond something like this was expected by the party. Arriving at the edge of the rocks, the boys made their way through the dense thicket of vines and bushes, followed by the men. A tree had been uprooted by the storm, which recently passed over this neighborhood, tearing up the earth and disclosing the entrance of the cave. Lamps were procured at a farm house nearby, and the party commenced the exploration. In the meantime some of the company returned to Aurora, and some scores of people were hurrying to the place. A skin, containing Dr. SUTTON and BOND, O. P. COBO, Mayo EMRIE, and the writer, was among the earliest at the place, and the party proceeded to make a thorough examination of the premises. The party who had first gone in returned, giving a wonderful report of the dimensions of the cave, and startling the little company by the report of the discovery of the remains of three human beings, one of which, from pretty good evidence, seemed to be THE MURDERER OF BENJAMIN NATHAN ! The entrance of the cave faces directly west, and is about one-fourth of a mile from the river shore. It is about four feet high and perhaps as wide. Two lime stone rocks form the sides of the entrance, and the roof is of a heavy shale of the same material. Both sides and roof are rough and irregular in form, sharp-pointed, jutting out in all directions. About twenty feet from the mouth, the floor drops abruptly down for two or three feet. The party had proceeded thus far when they fell back aghast as the pale light of the lamps disclosed the skeleton of a human being, covering which were the clothes it had worn when alive. The garments consisted of a black frock woolen coat, a mixed-gray pair of pants, and a vest of apparently the same material, and a dark hat. The physicians gave it as their opinion that the body had lain there for a year probably. In one of the pockets was found a penknife, and in another a copy of a New York paper dated May 3, 1870, on the margin! of which was written in pencil, almost illegibly, the following CONFESSION I have found a hiding place from man, but God's eye follows me even here. I murdered Benjamin NATHAN, and am dying now. God forgive me, and have mercy on my soul! I die by my own hand. - Antonio HARFE In another place was found written the words, "Oh, my mother". Can this be the murderer of Benjamin Nathan? Some believe it is, while others are inclined to think it is but the freak of a crazy man. Nearly two years ago there is remembered to have been seen in the locality of the cave, an unknown apparently crazy man, whose dress corresponded with that found on the skeleton. After a time he suddenly disappeared. Many believe that unknown man and skeleton are identical, which is quite probable. The room in which the skeleton was found gradually widens and increases in height, and the lights of half a dozen lamps do show the end. Near the mouth, the floor or bottom seemed to be of black earth, but it is of solid rock. Frequent examinations failed to discover any variety of stone or rock comprising the sides of the cave to be other than lime, except here and there a deposit of iron ore. The floor dips and rises at intervals in the form of huge waves. At different points the roof is scooped and hollowed out corresponding with the wave like formation of the floor, and at others it is even and regular. We pick our way into this new subterranean wonder with caution, ever on the lookout for chasms and pits, of which, however, we found but one of any dimension. Numerous side caverns lead off at intervals, but so far as explored none extend beyond a distance of a dozen paces. At a distance of perhaps two hundred feet from the entrance, the cave forms an angle with it! self, turning abruptly to the left. Thus far we have been leading directly down the river, but this turn takes us directly from the river and into the hills which be back of this point. Beyond this, rocks, forming the sides, draw gradually together, narrowing the cave as it proceeds. About 75 feet from the turning point, the room is harrowed down until a man's body is only admitted comfortably. At this point the roof is about 25 feet above our hands. This continues about 30 feet, and the hall again becomes suddenly wider. Twenty feet from the terminus of the narrow passage, the room is at least 40 feet wide, and half as high. In this room, which is estimated to be 100 FEET in LENGTH, we hear the murmur of running water. A short search in the uncertan light discovers a little stream no larger than a man's finger winding in serpentine curves along the left of the room. We trace it up and find its source. It bursts out of the wall about three feet from the floor, and running down in a sheet over the side, insinuates itself into a well-worn channel and hurries on for perhaps the distance of 89 feet where it disappears in a small crevice in the rock. The bed, through which this little steam runs, is chiselled out and polished, smooth as glass. At places it is worn down about a foot, while at others, it is only two inches. This rooom is not excelled in grandeur by any in the great Mammoth Cave of Edmonson County. The sides are rough and jagged and are covered with a dark-colored incrustation of iron and manganese. Interpersed with this are shining crystals of gypsum, and the effect is grand and beautiful. The ceiling, which is rather concave, is pictu! red in the same fastastic manner, and we gaze upon it in wonder and admiration. Hanging pendent from the ceiling and from protruding rocks in the walls, are beautiful stalactites that have doubtless been ages in forming. Here we found pillars reaching the floor to the ceiling, a distance of fifteen feet. Mammoth Cave has them thirty feet in heights. By the light of our flickering lamps, we continue our examination, meeting with natures's greatest handiwork at every turn. RELICS OF PAST AGES are scattered here and there, showing that the cave was known by earlier races. It was doubtless a resort for the Indians, as numerous arrowheads and stones bearing the crude carving of the red men have been picked up. A kind of tomahawk, carved out of the solid rock, was found near the entrance of the cave by Dr. G. SUTTON. It is a curiously modelled affair, and has rude characters scratched upon the side. The party continued its explorations, ever meeting with something that filled them with awe and wonder. No actual measurement has yet been made, but it is believed the cave is two miles in length. It abounds in immense chambers, and has nine side caverns starting out at different points. The pit discovered is about midway in, and at the top, is perhaps eight feet in diameter. Its sides, so far as seen, are rough and irregular. Water can be heard within it. A paper lighted and thrown down was extinguished about twenty feet from the top. A stone dropped down gave! back hollow and repulchral sounds, and it was thought to have dropped at least forty feet before striking the bottom. In one of the small caverns were found two of the skeletons above spoken of. How came they there? Many are the conjectures indulged in. The general belief is that they are the remains of the SURVIVORS OF THE LAUGHERY MASSACRE who, wounded and pursued by the Indians, secreted themselves and perished. This memorable massacre took place in the year 1781. A company of Virginia soldiers, under the command of Col. Septimus LAUGHERY were passing down in a boat to join a command at Louisville, when they were decoyed ashore here by Indians and all were killed by the treacherous savages. At this time a stream of excited people are passing in and out of this newly discovered realm of darkness, and further discoveries will doubtless be made. ==================== - Dorinda Shepley [email protected] Early Frederick County, Maryland http://midmdroots.freewebspace.com