A miraculous escape from starvation.
--
A Man Three Days in a Stump.--The Memphis
Argus publishes the following interesting article in relation to the disappearance for three days of a man who was afterwards found in the stump of a tree, and rescued from his uncomfortable imprisonment:
We have just learned of a miraculous escape from starvation, of a young gentleman residing in
Lauderdale county, Tenn., near
Hale's Point.
The facts are these:
‘
Last week he was out hunting in a large bottom in the neighborhood, and he observed a wild goose fly out of a large cypress stump, which was some twenty feet high.
His knowledge of the habits of these geese led him to believe that the goose had a nest in the stump.
On the outside of the stump were a number of vines, which he pulled up to peep in and get possession of the eggs.
After he had succeeded in gaining the top of the stump, he discovered a large number of eggs some six or eight feet down inside.
The nest, he supposed, was on a firm foundation, and he accordingly let himself down inside; but when he struck the substance on which the nest was built, he discovered that the nest had no foundation, and soon found himself sinking to the bottom of the tree.
The inside of the tree was rotten, and would not bear his weight.
Now, he was in a dilemma; five miles from any habitation, inside of a stump twenty feet high, with no prospect of assistance, with nothing to subsist on but the goose eggs, he screamed and yelled until he was nearly exhausted, no one coming within hearing distance.
On the third day after his incarceration, two gentlemen were out hunting and came within hearing distance.
They were very much frightened at hearing a man groaning inside of the stump, and for some time they could not reconcile themselves to what it meant; but, having learned that the gentleman had been missing from home for several days, they were soon satisfied that it was no ghost inside the tree.
They procured axes, and soon the prisoner was liberated.
He swears he will never attempt to rob a goose nest situated as that one was again.
’
