New Orleans daily crescent., 1860-11-05

LosT IN THE CATAcoMBs. The Paris correspond
ent of the London Times relates the following incl
dent:
The Paris catacombs, once visited by all the
strangers who came sightseeing to the French
capital and afterward closed to the public as un-
safe, are, as most people are doubtless aware, old
quarries, extending under portion of the Fau-
bourg st. Germain-the streets Of La Harpe, Saint
Jacques Vaugirard, and others, and also under the
Pantheon, the Observatory, the Odeon Theater,
and other large buildings. The roof or crust of
these vaults is, as may be imagined from the weight
it supports, of great thickness and sodity but in
certain places it is comparatively thin. 1t was
about l7S5 that the catacombs first received human
remains. quantity of bones were removed thi-
ther from the Charnel House of Innocents Dur
ing the revolution of 1879 they served as burial
places to numerous victims, and from 1702 to 1911
large quantities of bones were deposited in them,
taken from churches that were pulled down, and
from cemeteries that were closed. Three stair
cases lead into the cataeombs. Great precautions
have, of course, been taken to prevent any falling
in of the ground, and the place is watched and
kept in repair. Two days ago NJ. Katery, one of
the guardians, wishing to have lock changed in
one of the galleries, went down with a locksmith
his apprentice, and an architect. Carrying light
ed candle, he conducted these three persons to
distance of more than quarter of an hours walk
from the entrance. Incredible as it appears, the
candle was unprotected by lantern, and none of
the party had matches
They had scarcely reached the spot where they
were to work when a puff of air extinguished the
light. In the dark there was little hope of retrac
ing their steps, for the turns and windings were
numerous. 1t was more likely they would get
deeper into the labyrinth Nevertheless, Katery
Judging that from the point where they were twas
impossible anybody could hear them, bade his
companions follow him, and sought his way out
But after groping for several hours in profound
darkness he felt it was hopeless case SO he called
halt, and the four men strained their lungs in
shouting for help. Hour after hour passed, and no
suceor came, or sound replied, At last, towards
O'Clock in the morning, when they had been for
eleven hours in this immense subterranean grave
yard, when they were exhausted by fatigue and
hunger, and tormented by the fear Of being for
gotten, they suddenly heard voice inqniring what
they were doing there. Some matches were
thrown down to them and the candle was lighted.
They found they were just below the street Of
Duguay Trouin. 1t appeared that compositor,
going to his home in that street. at the still hour of
2 A. NJ, heard faint cries, which seemed to. come
from beneath his feet in the noisy daytime they
would have been inaudble. Unable to account for
the phenomenon, he hurried off to the nearest
police station, whence some serge1s de UiHe aecom-
panied him to the spot. These men knew that the
catacombs passed under that street. and it was
through draught hole nearly opposite to the COM
positor's house that they were able to commune
cate with the prsoners.''