THRILLING ADVENTURE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21296, 24 September 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

THRILLING ADVENTURE

OVER LAKE OF HOT LAVA DANGLING IN 'MID-AIR SEQUEL TO HAWAIIAN TRAGEDY CODIES BROUGHT FROM CRATER I ' • A ■ little man in a wooden . cage was dangling in mid-air over the lako of lava that bubbled and smoked at the bottom

of ii volcanic crater in Hawaii. He was bound for one of the most thrilling and dangerous adventures of recent years.

Sf early 1000 ft. below at the very edge

of the lava, and visible from the rim of the crater lay the object of the man's daring quest. This was the bodv of a 17 year-old ' girl in a bright red jacket. Near by was the body of a young man of 20 ■ Jfhey a were Margaret Enos , and

Sylvester N lines, Hawaiian victims of a youthful crime of passion. The young man lir.d shot the girl, when she refused to in:;fry him, and leaped with her body in!o, the. crater of Halemauinau, Mount K Wiea, n'here Pelc, the fire goddess, dv. ells.

The islands were shocked by the liv.gedy. The families of the young people were grief - stricken. A coroner's inquest •—surely one. of the strangest ever held—w;>s convened on the rim of the crater, where the jurors viewed the bodies through field-glasses. Put the families

vcria not satisfied. The bodies lay at the " of the lava lake, thinly crusted ovijr and bubbling up continually, break-

ing the crust and overflowing the shore. conducted on the crater's rim, and the victims buried by exploding dynamite. Suggestions were made for the recovery of ; the bodies. Margaret's father even sought permission to be lowered into the craiter to bring back the remains. In view of the dangers involved, he was dissuaded, according to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. '' Daring Plan by Japanese Most of the suggestions involved the ns<? of cables in way or another, but on« plan ' was for the building of a trail down into the fire-pit. All the plans were rejected.

Then Rikan Konishi —five feet and I Coibs. of nerve and courage —a Japanese contractor hi Hawaii —came forward with a guarantee that for'ICOO dollars .(about £2(iG) lie would recover the'refrains. His proposal evidently impressed the authorities;, for at once he set to work. His plans were at first shrouded in secrecy, but gradually they became apparent to tho watching crowds that ranged in size from £3o' to I'SOO. ' ' v ; • Assisted •by T. H. Yamamoto and others. Mr. Konishi worked day .and night, i'wo platforms were built on Halemauinau's rim,' at the north-east and southeast respectively. Between them yawned the chasm—3sooft. across, 1000 ft. deep. The Oloa Sugar Plantation loaned a mile'of three-quarter-inch cable, whiclj. was stretched from platform to .platform across the abyss- The. officials of thi* Kilauea military camp donated the use of*?! lighting system for night work. From other sources came the tractors that were to lower and raise the cage. The cage ■was 30in wide, 6ft. long and 3ft. 6in. " higli. There were doors at either end. Climax of Enterprise Now the crowds could see what Mr. Konishi.was about. Travelling on a pulley " the cage with its occupant would run along the horizontal cable over the gulf means of other cables and pulleys and I the two tractors, Mr.. Konishi, won Id make the " .descent intp. Avernus," but not the easy one ,of the proverb. %. AH this, of course, had taken time. Mr. Konishi came into the picture only a day "or two after the tragedy on the crater's rim. The climax of his daring enterprise vas not reached until June 12. On this day the hardy little contractor was ready. Before he began his descent he made a speech in Japanese to the crowd, which included about 50 of his compatriots who were; helping him. . M.r. Konishi said he appreciated the cooperation of the national park rangers and the sugar plantation. He expressed the hope that the people at the rim would assist himrby keeping back S.O.S. calls. He wanted -no-interference signals .when descending. The wooden cage swung over the pit "in a preliminary trial, stopping cmce.: The little man dashed about excitedly. He wore a dirty straw hat tied bonder his chin, and horn-rimmed glasses. "He had on a big grey sweater, khaki trousers and old yellow shoes. Beginning o 1 the Descent Entering the cage at 9.30 a.m., Mr. Konishi sat on a low with his head j almost touching the roof. He wore no gas-mask. Packed about him were two bags of earth, two stevedore hooks, a cane knife, a rake, a gant-line, c . package of lunch,, a movie camera, binocular, glasses, red aiid white signal flags, two •canvas slings, a coil of heavy rope, a • hammer, four sticks and a telephone con- • nected by cable with a telephone in tho hands of his brother-in-law, Kiyoshida iJishida. Mr. Konishi was tied in the cage with a cotton rope held by a slip-knot. He lit a cigarette as, at 10 o'clock, the cage was hoisted by a wincfi, held suspended for ; a -short time, and swung to the rim of the crater, • where a few rocks were dislodged. "" Slowly the cable paid out, swinging the email cage over the abyss. The cage completed trie horizontal portion of the trip at 10.20 o'clock and the vertical descent Was started. ' ""The rope fouled when Mr. Konishi was 75ft. below the horizontal cable. He climbed out, dangling in mid-air, and released the guide line. Spectators were breathless .•Mr. Konishi, telephoning continually, asked- to haVe the cage hailed in mid-air while !ie took motion-pictures of the in ttyior of the crater. After that the decent continued gradually. Watchers with saw' him remove his hat and ..adjust a head cloth. Hecovery of the Bodies l.- r .The cage landed on the talus above ;tjte- bodies 10 minutes past noon. Mr. Konishi got out, calmly surveyed the Situation, asked to have the cable skit'kened. and tried to push the cumbersome box down the talus toward the -bodies. This attempt, apparently, was unsuccessful. He "then resorted to a coil of "tope, running it from the cage down the - slope. He descended the rope over the loose rocks and viewed the bodies at closer range Mr. Konishi returned to the cage, got tho canvas slings and descended again to girl's body. He bundled it into one of the slings and returned for Nunes' body, which was lying beside a large rock. He \yrapped that in the other caniVas, then rested and had lunch, a guest ©f Mtidamo Pele in her awesome home.

At 2.15 p.m. lie placed a white flag in a conspicuous position to, indicate sue-

cess. The boy's body was too heavy to carry. Both bodies were connected by ropes to the cage. Mr. Konishi asked to be hoisted so that the bodies dangled below the cage. They lay about 30ft. and 75ft. respectively ' from it. He had them raised and then lowered to one spot. When the cage was lowered again Mr. Konishi fastened the bodies-to it and rested. At 4 p.m. the intrepid little man drank water and then planted" a white flag to commemorate' the descent. Then he • climbed into the cage and signalled for the ascent, which was, completed in an hour. During all this, Mr. Konishi's helpers I' on the cratei's rim were doing their part. At a strategic spot an observation communication post was established, 'lhere Hi6ato iscmoto. another Ililo contractor and friend of Mr. Konishi, " lay on a plank extending sft. over the edge of the crater wstchiiig with binoculars, while .Tallies lhara held Isemoto s feet. Mr. Nishi.da sat near by telephoning to Konishi." The aspent from the fire-pit with the bodies was accomplished without much incident. When ' the cage reached tlio horizontal cable., with Mr. Konishi continually telephoning instructions, he climbed out in nid-air again to make some v necessary adjustments of the ropes. Then he called the {Japanese equivalent- of "O.K!" to the watchers' on solid . ground, and tlu cage was pulled up to the rim of the era-tor. It was not possible immediately to pull the rage over the rim, so Mr. Konishi. eager to feel rock and soil beneath his feet once more, had them put over, seme boards, and oil these .ho crossed, as if ho. were coming down a gangplank, while the " hurrahs " and l< banzais " of the watchers made the welkin ring.