Show thrilling experience of jim kennelly Z A manvel california correspondent of the los angeles times gives the following account of a thrilling experience which recently befell james kennelly the veteran ve terai salt lake miner and his two sons james kennelly of salt lake and his sons james arthur and edward all experienced miners had a startling and even terrible experience while exploring an immense cave that lies in one of the most desolate spots of the great american desert to enter the cavern they lowered a rope feet in length with a ladder attached to it the ladder swung clear in the dark abyss until when at the length of the foot rope it apparently touched bottom one of the sons descended the rope hand over hand a feat that in would dizzy the brain of a sailor he found the ladder rested on a narrow ledge below still yawned dawned the abyss but across the narrow space ewas was an opening that led into the rock kennelly the father and his other two sons also descended after wandering about in an immense cavern that they discovered that scintillated and shone resplendent from the glare of their torches the party prepared to return carrying specimens when they reached the spot where the rope hung they looked up at the dizzy height the rays of the sun could be seen overhead and like one who peers up from a deep well they could see the stars faintly arthur the strongest of the men prepared to climb the rope first then for the first time their awful predicament became bedaine apparent to climb up a narrow rope feet is all but an impossible task and each of the sons failed in the attempt the hours began to pass and finally james kennelly the eldest of the hardy and fearless sons resolved to make one more more last effort to ascend the rope for an hour he rested he made the attempt struggled fought and succeeded he helped pull up the other sons finally kennelly the father prepared for the dangerous ascent As he stood oi oa o i the I 1 ladder adder preparatory to being pulled up he heard a straining crackling sound instinctively he grasped the rope over his head the ladder broke and fell into the abyss it made no sound kennelly did not hear it strike any bottom the old man was pulled up clinging to the rope such was the story told by the Ken nellys when they reached camp hours later that night their terrible experience occurred two weeks ago the cave lies in the potosi mountain lincoln county nev mr kennelly is one of the pioneer miners of the desert and is well known from salt lake to san bernardino he and his sons are working on their double up claim which is about nine miles east from the potes lead mine and about fifteen miles northeast from good mr kennelly had been reading of tte the discovery cf a large cave along the line of di the new salt lake railroad and having known for years of a cave near the potosi mine determined to explore it and see ifft if it would not prove to be the biggest cavern in the country kennelly and his sons are noted for their fearlessness and the old man has had some wonderful wona erful experiences the party secured a foot half inch rope at the potosi mining camp and reached the mouth of the cave about noon the rope was lowered the full length with a timber on the end but failed to reach the bottom A rude ten foot ladder was constructed and attached to the end when this was lowered it apparently rested on the bottom arthur the second son but the strongest was the first to descend when he arrived at the bottom he found the foot of the ladder merely rested on a narrow ledge beneath him the cavern continued to an unknown depth this distance across the abyss was about four feet by swinging the rope from side to side arthur managed to secure a foothold at another point which enabled him to get to the side and from thence into a horizontal drift that opened up into an immense chamber when the weight was released from the rope the others on the surface understood that arthur had secured a foothold and they descended in safety the party spent four hours in exploring ring the various chambers and collecting beautiful specimens of stala stalactites cites and stalagmite mites 5 As the cave is in the heart of a lead copper and silver district and some of the crystal formations in the leal carbonates of the potosi mine are very beautiful one 1 expect larger and better specimens at a greater depth in a cave mr Ien kennelly nelly reports the beauty qi th tha he was amazed at formations the copper stains gave rich colorings in green and blue the silver carbonates were red and white DOlica delicate tek flower like rosettes pillars draperies and grotesque shapes greeted the eye at every turn immense rooms opened out in different directions chasms yawned dawned at their tb feet in some narrow passages the candle were blown out by the fierce drafts which from the tern occasionally swept upward depts below progress was slow and the time passed pas rapidly it was late in the afternoon before they reluctantly returned to their ladder with their explorations hardly begun no one had thought of the ascent being extremely difficult but as soon as the attempt wis was made they all ail discovered how foolish they had been not to leave one or more ol of the party at the surface one after another vainly tried to climb the rope and all had narrow escapes from falling into the frightful abyss of unknown depth immediately below minutes lengthened into hours thiral and hunger bunger began to add to their weakness until leven even the old man had to acknowledge it was the most ser serious ous predicament he was eve riJn finally james the eldest son realizing that it was possibly his last effort managed to reach the top after another long rest james jamea assisted the youngest son edward to th tha 6 surface the father was climbing up the ladder when he felt something giving way reaching upward to his extreme limit he managed to grasp the end of the rope by one hand as the ladder fell and left lefe him hanging in space As it was if none of them had been able to climb the foot rope they would all have perished in the cave and no one would have ever been any wiser the cave is in one of the wildest and least frequented almast in the center of the great am american rican desert and is about the last place even friends of the Ken nellys would have searched for them the correspondent was within a mile of this cave june 22 but as it had never been explored before its size and beauties were unknown the Ken nellys were so exhausted that they akere were unable to bring out their specimens but they will return for them later on GARNER CURRAN |