HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY                      617

course of the trial, were referred to and designated as the first and the
second contract. There were several witnesses in the case, but only one
who was present and heard the transactions. He was William Calvert,
brother of the plaintiff. For some reason, best known to himself, the
position in which he was placed, was a very delicate and embarrassing
one, from which he would have been very glad for the privilege of
buying a release. The parties to the suit, in giving their evidence, both
said that he was present and heard both contracts, which he admitted
when called to the stand. But so studiously evasive and procrastinated
were his answers to questions involving the vital points desired to be
brought out that the progress of the trial became monotonous and tedious
tQ all parties. When for the second or third time probed up by the
court with the view of driving him to answer, the witness said: “I didn’t
pay any attention to what they said and I don’t know anything at all
about the first contract.” “Then,” said the attorney, “we’ll proceed to
ask you about the second contract, and you are to answer promptly and
not consume the time of the court by delay. Now, sir, go at it, and tell
what you know about the second contract.” But the witness hesitated
as before, and when again urged and probed for about the third time,
he said: “Well, gentlemen, I’ll tell you what’s a fact; I know less about
the second contract than about the first.”

                        The Alum Cave.
    In the extreme southwest part of Lewis township and of the county,
immediately alongside the Sullivan county line, in the rugged cliffs of
Rocky Fork, a branch of Busseron creek, is a recess, or cove, which has
long been known as “The Alum Cave,” or “The Cave,” for short. It
was given this name for the reason, as observed by early settlers, that
from its walls trickled water having the astringent quality of alum,
which crystallized by exposure and adhered to the surface of the rock.
Near this point, just a little distance southward, a quarter of a century
ago, was kept a country store, by Milton C. Dell, who had for a number
of years previous been a teacher in the public schools of Lewis township.
A postoffice was established at this point in the year 1884, which, from
the natural curiosity near by, was named “Alum Cave,” and Milton C.
Dell appointed postmaster.
    When the plant of the Pittsburg Coal and Coke works was estab-
lished just across the line in Sullivan county the postoffice was moved
over. There was no town founded here on the Clay county side, but
for a time a store and a saloon were conducted by Church Puckett and
John Sigley, respectively. As this was the only Alum Cave known to
the geography and postal system of the country, since its discontinuance
the name no longer appears in the terminology of the states.
    On the site of the town proper, on the Sullivan county side, was a
deep boring, or well, which flowed water bubbling with gas that could
be ignited by the use of a match, and burned with a brilliant flame. The
time of the life of this phenomenon was in the early ‘90s.
Antipatris and Bessemer.
    Among the lost and forgotten towns of Clay county was Antipatris,
on the south side of Eel river, at the point known as the Rhodes Bluff,
or immediately contiguous thereto, laid out and placed on parchment in
the year 1837, but by whom the records do not show, It is said, how-
ever, by surviving pioneers, that John Luther was the founder of the