A WOMAN IN ICE.

Colonist, Volume XXX, Issue 5017, 28 September 1887, Page 3

A WOMAN IN ICE.

" A strange story," says ' Sunlight,' " comes from America, bearing evidence of the wonderful magnifying power of ice. It appears tbat a party of friends recently went to the coal banks, located about 20 miles from Trout Lake, Washington Territory. The third night out they camped near the famous ice caves in that vicinity, and not being pressed for time, the party resolved to explore them. A half milt distant from the caves ia a large fissure through the basalt. Oqo of the party, named Kennedy, said he had visited the spot last summer, at which time the fissure was in places filled with ice, and in others open to an unfathomable depth. Now comes an nlmost incredible phase of the party's exploration. 'Early in the succeeding, morning,' to relate the adventure in the language of a member ofthe cparty, ' Kennedy and I found the fissure so elaborately described by him the preceding evening, it being completely filled with ice of singular clearness, presenting a surface of gentle undulations, appearing much as if the Pacific Ocean near Panama had been, instantaneously frozen over. We travelled several hundred yards along the edge of the fissure, admiring the prismatic rays reflected from its surface, when r was startled by a sudden cry from Kennedy, who was intensely excited. I approached him, impressed with the idea that he had become insane. He had dropped on his hands and knees, and, With an; abnormal expression depicted upon his face, his eyes were* intently, staring into the crystalline depths. Following his wild gaze, I beheld at an apparent depth of 20ft. the head and shoulders .<Sf a gigantic woman, with eyes wide open, and a beautiful complexion. Tho lace, as far as I could judge, was well proportioned, the nose somewhat retrousse. Her gown, of what we could see of it about the neck and shoulders, was constructed of a rich material. The rest of the body was indistinct, owing to some flaw in the ico. The face seemed about 6ft. in length, tho features appearing strangely familiar. Nothing was said of this discovery til! the nexc morning, when we all visited the enormous fissure, taking with us a crude mining outfit, and resolved to dig the woman out. of the ice. The first day we reached a depth ot lift., but were determined to recover the huge, well preserved corpse. That night we pondered upon how the woman got there, and when. Did she belong to a prehistoric race ? But then her attire was so much like that of the present day. i owever, who knows but what she was contemporaneous with the. mastodon, whose bones tell ns of their prehistoric existence in the north-west ? We all tried to sleep, but in vain, so excited were we ; and we sat smoking about the camp fire all that blessed night, speculating as to what the next day's research might bring forth. -At the first streak of daylight labor was resumed, but we had to work cautiously as the fine ice had obucured the body from view. By noon a depth of 21ft was attianed, and Fulton relieved me taking his turn in the ice shaft.. About 3 o'clock Kennedy, who had been remarkably quiet; while \k% work, requested to be hauled cp. When he V.yr j£i*>'% ■".' *- ''w&S'.S&'-^y"' *- *--' ■* - cf.'Hj^^

reached the surface he placed a piece of ice, a foot square, at my feet, „th%n he threw himself on the ground, rolling over and over in the most alarming and hysterical manner. In reply to lay anxious appeal to him for an explanation of his strange conduct he only pointed to the chunk of ice he.brought up. Examining it T saw a piqeeof cardboard embedded in it, which proved on one side to be an, advertising oard with the picture of a beautiful woman on it, and bearing at the bottom some words of advice as to the use of a certain saponaceous manufacture. How did it get there ? Perhaps thrown in last summer by some tourists, covered by the winter's ice, and costing five men two days' work to recover, simply because the ice, by its varying density and peculiar shape, had magnified the picture a hundredfold, ard lent it a natural appearance;"