CRAWL TO SAFETY

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 13, 15 July 1936, Page 16

CRAWL TO SAFETY

TRAPPED MEN ESCAPE

ORDEAL IN GOLD MINE

Dr. D. E. Robertson and Mr, Alfred Scadding, who were rescued on April 24 from a gold mine in which they had been entombed for ten days, were expected to make a complete recovery, telegraphed the special correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph" from Moose River, Nova Scotia. The men were entombed while inspecting the mine. They were reported to be sleeping soundly in hospital. Everyone is aston-l ished at the magnificent endurance and courage which enablem them to withstand the hardships of their flooded prison. Probably the t most trying part of their experience was at the end, when for several hours, with safety almost assured, their rescuers were still unable to extricate them. They knew that there was grave danger of a fresh fall.of rock —dashing their hopes at the- last moment. It was at 11.44 p.m. that the rescue, the most dramatic and heroic in Canadian mining history, was completed. Then the. last barrier to the chamber in which Dr. Robertson and his surviving companion, Mr. Scadding, had been entombed for 242 hours 45 minutes, was broken through. Hymn singing, led by a Salvation Army woman, and thunderous cheering by the crowds at the shaft-head, greeted their rescue after days of herculean labour by 300 miners. The rescuers got within sight of the imprisoned men at 12.30 p.m. As the afternoon wore on the hole leading from the shaft to the gallery in which they were trapped was enlarged with infinite care to avoid a further collapse, which might destroy all hopes of rescue. Shortly after 4 p.m. Dr. Davis, Nova Scotian Minister of Health, and Mr. Michael Dwyer, Minister of Mines, descended the shaft, and word was passed back to the pithead that they had succeeded in handing Dr. Robertson a hypodermic needle with which it was hoped he could relieve his and his companion's pain. The two doctors who had descended the mine were surprised to find them in such comparatively good physical condition. -Dr. Robertson is 53 and Mr. Scadding 40. As George Morrell, one of the rescuers, tore away the last obstructions of rock, steel, and timber blocking the passage. Dr. Robertson cried, "By Jove! I am glad to see you." Mr. Scadding said, "You are the best sight I have ever saen." Morrell replied, "It is great to see you." Two other rescuers, Jack Simpson and Trueman Hirschfield, removed Mr. Scadding's boots. He was suffering from trench foot. The two men also ripped the shirts off their own backs to make bandages. Dr. Robertson's and Mr. -Scadding's clothes were so grimy and wet that it had been impossible to dress Mr. Scadding's feet previously. ASCENT TO SURFACE. Morrell afterwards -described how he and the two other rescuers found Dr. Robertson and Mr. Scadding. '.'They were," he said, "sitting on the . wet ground and behind them the body of Magill lay about eight feet away, * ter greeting us, Dr. Robertson and Mr. Scadding began the long ascent to the surface. "Dr. Robertson crawled unaided most of the way, but Mr. Scadding was a little weaker and needed more assistance. No one mentioned Magill. Both men were apparently calm and showed; little emotion. Their control amazed us." It took approximately twenty minutes to get them to the surface. The passage was in many places so narrow that they had to be dragged through, and so steep in other places that the rescuers were scarcely able to pull them up. Dr. Robertson remarked, "It looks like a rabbit, burrow." Mrs. Robertson was at the pit-head when her husband and his companion emerged. Blinking in the cameramen's flashlights and unable to make themselves heard above the cheers, 'they just smiled. Dr. Robertson was by that time so weak that he could scarcely stand. When the cheers died down he called out, "Here comes Captain Bligh"—referring to the rescue of the master of the Bounty. Mr. Scadding, when asked how he felt, said, "Fresh all over, a little weak about the feet, and pretty sore from the ankles downwards, but give me seven hours' sleep and I will walk again." HURRIED TO HOSPITAL. The two men were then made to lie on stretchers and were hurried to the emergency hospital, where they were bathed and put to bed. After the two survivors had emerged the miners returned once more to the 140ft level, where lay the body of Mr. Herman R. Magill, the young Toronto lawyer and owner with Dr. Robertson [ of the mine hi which he lost his life. Wearied rescuers wrapped the body > in blankets and began the long, twisfc- ' ing ascent. ! Mr. Magill died from exposure and ' starvation, which so nearly claimed [ the lives of his two companions. His > body was taken to Toronto to be ; buried. i Dr. Robertson described how Mr. E. Magill died on the fifth day of their imprisonment. He and Mr. Scadding held him in their arms in an effort to give him enough warmth to keep him alive, but it was unavailing. Dr. Robertson . also told how they 1 kindled little pieces of dry wood which t caused the smoke which was seen ; issuing from the shaft and led to th<>.i being located. . i Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor-General ; of Canada, sent a message to the c Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia at f Halifax, saying: "Please convey my j j warmest congratulations to everyone . concerned in the rescue of the two en--2 tombed men."