New Orleans daily crescent., 1860-09-17
Dufayel's Adventure.

DRfaNet'S adventure
One morning, early in September, 1886. as Dufa'
vel, one of the laborers empoyedin sinking wen
at a place near Lyons, in France, was anout 70
descend in order to begin his work, one of his com
paniens called ont to him not to SO down, as tne
ground was giving way, and threatened to fall IN,
Dufavel, however, did not profit by the warning,
but excaiming, Il shall have plenty OF ule , " II
down for my basket frst, he entered the wen,
which was siXty.two feet in depth. When anoslt %
half way down he heard some large stones talnhg,
but he nevertheless continued his descent, ana
| reached the bottom in safety. After placing TWO
nieees of plank in his basket he was preparing to
| Taaseend. when he suddenly heard crashing
above his head and, looking up, he saw tive OF the
| side supports of the well giving way at once.
Greatly alarmed, he shouted for assistance as
lol1tiIv as he was able: but the next moment
large mass of the sandy soil fell upon him, preclud
ing the possibility Of his escape. BY singular
good fortune the broken supports fell together in
such manner that they formed species OF arch
over his head and prevented the sand from pour
ing down, which must have smothered him at once.
To all appearance, however, he was separated
from the rest of the world, and doomed to perish
by suffocation or famine. He had wife and ehlld,
| who now came into his mind. and the thought OF
them made him feel still more bitterly his mprudent
| obstinacy in descending into the well after being
warned Of the danger 20 which he was exposing
\ himself. @44
But although Dufavel regretted the past and
feared for the future he did not give way to des-
! pair. Calm and selfpossessed, he raised ms heart
in prayer to God, and adopted every precautlon
! in his power to prolong his life. His basket was
| fastened to the cord by which he had descended
i and when his comrades above began to pull the
| rope in the hope Of drawing him up to the sur
face he observed that, in their vain efforts they
/ were causing his basket to strike against the
/ broken planks above him in such manner as to
bring down stones and other things. He therefore
cut the rope with his knife, which he had no sooner
done than it was drawn up by those at the top OF
| the we'll; and, when his friends saw the rope so
cut, they knew that he must be alive, and deter
mined to make every exertion to save him..
The hole made by the passage Of this rope
through the sand that had fallen in of the great
4 est use to Dnfavel; through it he received sup
ply of fresh air, and, after while his friends con-
trived to convey food to him, and even to speak to
him. Of course, he was in utter darkness; but he
was enabled in a curious manner, to keep a
| reckoning of time. a large fly was shut up with
him and kept him company all the time that he
remained there. When he heard it buzzing about
4 he knew it was day, and when the fly was silent he
knew that it was night The fly boarded as we'll
| as lodged with him; he as careful as he could
be not to interrupt it while taking its share of his
meal; when he touched it, it would fly away, buzz
zing if offended, but soon return again, He often
\ said afterwards that the company of this fly had
{ been great consolation to him.
More skiliful persons than the poor laborers OF
| the village of Champyert were soon engaged in
1 the ATTEMPT to liherate Dufavel. The municipal
authorities of Lyons procured the assistance OF
band of military miners, who, under the direction
of experienced officers, began to form subterra-
mean passage for the purpose of relieving him.
Prayers for his safety we're daily offered up IN the
| churches Of Lyons, and the most intense interest
prevailed. 1t was found necessary to erect bar
ricade, and station guard Of soldiers round the
| scene of the accident, to keep off the focking
crowd from the neghborhood, all eager to obtain
news and see what was being done.
| The cavity at the bottom of the well, over which
the wooden rafters had so provdentially formed q
sort Of roof at first about seven feet in hight
but owing to the sand constantly running through,
and pressing down from the roof above, by the
third day the space became so small that the poor
1 man could no louger stand, or even sit upright,
but was crushed upon the ground in peculiarly
1 painful manner his legs doubled under him and
his head pressed on one side, against his left
shoulder. -E-zA
| His arms, however, were free, and he used his
knife to cut away such parts Of the wood work as
| particularly incommoded him, and to widen the
| hole the passage OF the rope had made. Through
| this hole, by means of small bottle, soup and
| wine were let down to him, and, after few days,
! what was quite as important, q narrow bag to re-
ceiye and bring to the surface the constantly accu-
/ muating sand, which must soon have smothered
| him if this means of removing it had not been de-
4 yised, and he had not had strength and energy for
such painful labor as the constantly filling and
refilling the bag soon became. OF any pressure
4 from above would have forced in the temporary
roof that nothing could be attempted in the way
of removing the mass of sand, etc. that had fallen
4 in. They dared not to touch the surface above !;
but they contriyed, by means of tube, to speak
4 to him. A cousin of his, himself well digger
4 was let down for this purpose. The man spoke to
| Dafavel, and assured him the miners were making
| progress, and would soon reach him. He inquired
after his wife and child and charged his cousin to
tell her, from him. to be of good cheer and not lose
/ heart. At this time he had been week in the
| we'll.
4 Day succeeded day, and still the expectations
| of the miners were deceived. They worked night
| and day, but such was the treaeherous nature Of
the SOIL that neither pickaxe nor shovel could be
/ used the foremost miner worked upon his knees
Il inanr ay n nje of MT
ground and afterward gathering up with his hands
and passing to those behind him the sand which
I lie thus disturbed. On the twelfth day of his i'm
prisonment they calculated they were only twelve
longer before they were able to reach him. Every
minute the ground was giving way, and it some
4 times took them many hours to repair the damage
| that a single moment had produced. Besides,
they felt ii necessary to proceed with the utmost
4 caution, when they approached Dufavel for there
| was great reason to fear, whenever an opening
| was made, the mass of sand above his head would
| fall down and suffocate him.
4 AT length, about two O'Clock on the morning OF
| Friday, September 10th, they made small open
| ing into the well, just above his shoulders. The
| poor man shouted for Joy, and was able, with his
| knife, to assist in extrcating himself. He was
i carefully conveyed along the horizontal gallery
4 and wrapped in blankets before he was drawn up
into the open air. Several medical men were in
attendance, and one of them had him conveyed to
| his house and put to bed.
| We will not attempt to describe Dufavels happy
meeting with his wife, nor the tears OF Joy which
he shed his infant boy. who did not at first re
eognize him, nuilled as he obliged to be TO pro
teot him from the cold, and his chin covered witt
a beard of more that fortnight's growth. In the
evening he was SO well that Doctor Bienyenu con
sented to his being conveyed to his own home
and he was accordingly transported thither in
litter, attended by great concourse of happy anG
thankful spectators.
A notable lady (of Edinburgh suppose) ha,
long been annoyed and fretted by her town sery
ants, and being no longer able to bear their mani
fold tricks and malpractices, she intimated to hel
L friends her purpose of getting unsophistcatet
4 girl from the country whom she could train to fle
i mind; and she was fortunate enough in securing
y young woman from remote corner in the land
q and thoroughly recommended for activity honesty
and good nature How the process Of trainin,
q went on, you may judge from the following speci
. men: The girl having seen something very won
. derfui going on5in the street. in tone of e unso
phistieateda familiarity, called to her mistress
aEh, womann come here and see this.n Wo
man Do you presume to call me woman - LAY
# ye are not Q woman, what arc ye? Are ye
speeIit?
i Mr.. Theophilus Popp, of Poppville in Popl
county, fancying himself to very popular witt
his lady-love, popped the question: TO her unde