And They Were Saved.

Otago Witness, Issue 2104, 21 June 1894, Page 49

And They Were Saved.

Not long back sis: labourers who were working in a great day pit near Chafceaudun, in France, were overwhelmed by the caving in of the pit. A great mass of earth had fallen in upon them. No one connected with the work believed that their lives could be saved ; they were simply somewhere in the midst of a vast deposit of clayey earth, and must already, it w&s said, be smothered. Nevertheless, the aid of science was invoked. Not very far away was Versailles, and from there an army engineer and a little corps of sappers were brought at once. The engineer ascertained as nearly as he could the' spot where the clay workers must have been when they were overwhelmed, and using his technical knowledge in calculating distances, drove a long tube cautiously in the direction of the spot.

Grouched in a little air space beneath a couple of timbers, the six clay miners, all still alive, heard the dull sound of the blows upon the cylinder, and knew that an effort was being made to save them. This buoyed them up, though they were nearly suffocated. At last the sound of the blows came nearer and nearer. They seemed to be struck in the clay itself, not far away. The men had with them a bit of candle. They lighted it, and by it, flickering faintly in the foul air, was revealed a strange object entering, in little jerks of a quarter of an inch each, their place of refuge. It was the capped head of the tube. The engineer had calculated with such nicety that he had 6tmck the very spot where the miners were crouching. One of the men sprang at the tube and knocked off the cap with his pick. Then he put his mouth to the tube and shouted as loudly as he could. The sappers at the other end heard what seemed a faint wail from the bowels of the earth. They stopped their pounding, and shouted through the tube in their turn. " Hullo ! " the engineer called. " How are you ? " " We're all right ! " the voice came from the pit. " Have you anything to eat ? " "Not a thing." " Can you breathe ? " " Yes, through this tube." " Have you a light ? " " About an inch of candle." "What would you like to eat — milk or soup ? " " Soup ! " called the voice eagerly. " Then watch the end of the tube." A big kettle of soup had been prepared for such an emergency. It was poured into the tube, and the six men took their turns in catching the liquid as it came through. By-and-bye one of the buried miners called : "What time is it ?" " Midnight," answered the engineer. "Midnight! We thought it was noon the next day."

The sappers had now but to follow the tube with their digging [operations, and in due time

they reached the imprisoned miners, and restored them to daylight and the open air.