Work of Fiction Offers Real-Life Insights
Caves, dark and mysterious, have often provided the perfect setting for writers of fiction. In the U.S., the most well-known example is perhaps that of Simm’s Cave, called that in the 1840s in Hannibal Missouri.
Mark Twain re-named it “McDougal’s Cave,” and used it for a tense, climactic search leading to the rescue of Tom and Becky in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It’s now Mark Twain’s Cave and open to the public as a tourist attraction.
LOCAL CAVES FEATURED
Lesser known is Ball’s Cave overlooking the Village of Schoharie, which according to the 1845 History of Schoharie County and Border Wars, was used as a setting for a romantic novel of the 19th Century, entitled Greyceclear.
The book’s author is recalled only as “Hoffman.” The gods of Google have no record of the publication.
Ball’s Cave, discovered in September 1831, enjoyed a few years of popular interest and attracted many adventurers. The novelist renamed it “Wenonda.”
Which gets us to Howe’s Cave. Open to the public in its wild state since its discovery in 1842, there are many first-hand accounts of the day-long cave tour that appeared in widely-circulated newspapers and popular magazines. These accounts, even several decades apart, are remarkably similar.
To those very real reports, we can draw new details from a very accurate account in a work of fiction, His Prison Bars and the way of Escape by Alphonso. A. Hopkins. Described as “A Temperance Story,” it was published in 1874 by Rural Home Publishing Co., of Rochester.
The author’s attempts to mask fact as fiction are frankly ludicrous and lazy. Albany, for example, is rearranged to become “Baylan,” Howe’s Cave becomes “Coble’s Cave.” There are many more examples throughout the novel.
The characters of His Prison Bars and the dialogue are both insufferable. A sample, as the group arrives at the small train depot that serves the cave:
“Leaving the cars where neither platform nor depot offered accommodation, they saw, off at their right, twenty rods up the hillside, a long, rambling hotel, and Hull Latimer called out, — “Where on earth does Mr. Coble keep his cave, I wonder?”
“Change your preposition, Hull,” said John. “Nobody ever saw a cave on earth, did they?”
“Don’t imply that they are running this cave business into the ground,” was Hull’s answer.”
Groan.
We won’t go over the truly nauseating storyline here. Chapter XXIV, “Coble’s Cave,” is all we need to make our point, that while the book is a work of fiction, His Prison Bars contains a valid description of the Howe’s Cave experience in the 1870s – and a new one at that.
As the party of young men and women are led through the cave with their unnamed guide, they remark on numerous points of interest that are factually accurate. The author makes no attempt to create fictional names for the cave’s features. The group is ferried across an underground lake, they climb the Rocky Mountains into Josephat’s Valley, squeeze through the Winding Way, and rest far from daylight in the Rotunda.
One passage, in particular, rings true and adds new color to the more factual descriptions of cave tour of that era.
After a moment of silence in complete darkness in the Rotunda, the exploring party started their way back. Author Hopkins describes a unique, and very likely, event drawn from real-life occurrences. He wrote:
“On the Rocky Mountains the guide stopped. “Go ahead twenty or thirty rods [300 to 400 feet] without me,” he said, “and wait there.” They filed along down the rough descent and paused, as directed.
“By the guide’s torch they could just discern him perched on the rocky height. An instant later he had fired a quantity of red light, and the illumination was wildly, weirdly beautiful. A red, unearthly glow shot far up towards the ceiling above and threw its ray along the entire passage to where they stood. Beyond the burning altar, as it seemed, the guide’s figure stood out in bold relief, a presence spectral indeed. When the red light had burned dim, the guide discharged some Roman candles, and their white fireballs, glancing hither and thither through the dark spaces, seemed like meteors shooting through an unknown sky.
“Isn’t it magnificent!” exclaimed Geraldine Faythe. Her expression found numerous echoes, for none of the party had ever beheld anything equal to it in singular beauty of effect. Midway of the Lake another illumination was had, more beautiful still, and more striking. Every stalactite was thrown out in clear relief by the strong light, the clear, unrippled water acting as a reflector; and the party looked on in bewildered amazement until the scene was over.”
What makes this fictional account ring true: It is well-known that Lester Howe used fireworks underground on numerous occasions, just not at the location author Hoffman describes. Howe and his guides sent Roman candles up into the Rotunda to demonstrate its highest reaches, and bridal parties in the cave were treated to brilliant fireworks displays. To Hopkins credit, he has likely and accurately captured the reactions and amazement that 19th Century visitors had to the wonders of Howe’s Cave.
The full text of His Prison Bars and the Way of Escape by Alphonso. A. Hopkins is available to download as a PDF through the Library of Congress at LOC: His Prison Bars and The Way of Escape.
