Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-23
NEW ENGLAND FEAST RESCUED FROM Tomb
One Hundred and First Annive After Many Days of Impso
sary of Society," ment Hicks is Free
BISHOP LAWRENCE TALKS lHE NEVER LOST HIS NERVE
~ Toast Pa
fathers Day." uence 10 the Last
DOCTRINE OF STATES RIGHTS HARD BATTLE LIFE
Of Several Companions
vreini. Discusses to
subject-Necessary Union to Keep Him cheered
HE NEVER LOST HIS NERVE
Maintained His Self Control and Pa
thence to the Last.
HARD BATTLE FOB HIS LIFE
For Several Days His Companions
Have Been Close Enough to Him
to Keep Him Cheered.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
BAKERSFIELD, CAL, December a.
Hicks. the miner. who has been buried
under Granite mountain for the past two
weeks, was rescued tonight. He was found
to be in fairly good condition, considering
the horroring experiences he has been
through, as the physicians expect to save
his eyesight.
The rescue of Hicks. the miner, a full
two weeks after the cavein at the Edison
Companys plant. is fitting climax to one
of the most sensational. dramatic and ex-
traordinary real-life happenings that has
been recorded in the public prints for many
a long day. Between the covers of fc-
ton product the story of Hicks would be
branded as improbable to the point Of
absurdity. In the daily newspapers,
vouched for by reliable men. the incidents
of the miners Imprisonment and rescue
can be read only with unmixed wonder.
It's a safe bet that nine men out of ten
placed In Hicks predicament would have
cut the story short by passing in their
checks. The tenth man would probably
have gone raving mad inside Of three days.
Only those on the ground can appreciate
what Hicks has gone through. Penned up
for two weeks in coffin-like cavity many
IeeC underground, III d Dldck VI
silence. without hope of rescue faced by
the prospect of slow and inconceivably
horrible death, Hicks retained throughout
every minute of the time not only his mind,
but his health. 1t Is, of course, too early
to say positively that his eyesight will be
saved. but DR.. Slinchf1eld and the other
physicians in attendance hold out strong
hopes. If the miner comes through the
ordeal unscathed, mentally and physically.
he will be for the rest Of his life walking
proof that the age of miracles has come
again.
Every incident connected with the en-
tombment Of Hicks has been out of the
ordinary and has helped to make the
story of his two weeks burial seem like
the product of a dsordered imagination.
1t Is wonderful that he survived the first
four days of his terrible imprisonment
the four days that he spent in black
misery, without hope of deliverence,
beating upon the rock walls of his prison
with stone. fighting for a right to the
one chance out of a million that he had
of being heard The fact that he lived
through those days and retained his rea.
son put Hicks in a class by himself from
tie start. The remainder of the story
only makes more secure his right to that
distinction.
Task of the Diggers.
For the past ten days-ever since the
moment when his blows upon the walls of
his earth cell We're heard-rescuers friends
of Hicks and of the six men buried with
him. have been working night and day in
shifts. without intermission, to pierce the
great mountain of earth that lay above
the miner. Half a dozen times it has
hot
BILE workers must be successful within a
brief while, and each time something has
occurred to set back the hour of deliver
ance. And through 1t all Hicks, the Won
der, has retained his courage and his spirit,
has been more cheerful than even the
most optimistic Of those burrowing for him,
and has cheered on the rescue parties with
songs and stories and light-minded con-
versation.
All this time Hicks has communicated
with the outside world through an iron
pipe. Through this pipe he has been given
the liquid nourishment that has kept him
not only alive, but strong-wonderfully so,
considering what he has been through
Through this pipe he has heard grapha-
phone music and stories. has had the
Presidents message read to him and has
received his hourly messages Of encour-
agement and his news of the outside world
Twelve days after his burial under Granite
mountain he discussed with interest the ex-
clusion Of Japanese children from the pub
lie schools of San Francisco, sang my Old
Kentucky Home" asked for chew of to-
bacco and delivered an grafton that as he
modestly put 1t, beat anything that Daniel
Webster sad.' And all this from nearly
hundred feet underground, from cell that
GrnI n o1v
him was the cold, unyielding earth. and
above his head from one of the walls of
his little cell projected the foot of one of
the men who was buried with him and
who died quick and a merciful death.
Never Lost His Nerve
Even after repeated disappointments as
to the time of his rescue Hicks remained
cheerful. Each new setback only seemed
to make him the more determined to wind
up the marvellous story of his two weeks
imprisonment with a miraculous climax
Being a miner he appreciated the difficult
ties In the way of his rescue and by his
advice and suggestions gave material aid
to the working parties in their fight
against what seemed at times to be al
most insurmountable obstacles.
This town of Bakersfield Is wild tonight
When it became known that the rescue
of Hicks was at last a fact assured every
boiler in town was fired up to the limit that
it's whistle might blow for an hour II
necessary There was a man, too, at every
bell, and when the mile and three-quarters
journey from the cell that had been Hicks
prison for two weeks. and that all but was
his coffin, began, pandemonium broke loose
in Bakersfield.
Strong men wept like little children; wo-
men became hysterical, strangers became
friends; enemies Joined hands. The story
of Hicks is the story of Bakersfield To-
night Bakersfield is just Hicks There is
not another thought in town; nothing else
is talked of; the rescue of Hicks is the
only happening of the past twentyfour
hours.
So Near and Yet So Far.
For the past day members of the rescue
party have been able, through a small tun-
mel beneath the tramcar to touch Hicks
body, to shake hands with him to be as
sured in the most convincing way that he
was alive and, comparatively speaking,
WELL The most minute precautions were
taken to prevent his sudden removal from
his prison from having any Immediately
detrimental effect Hicks bandaged his own
eyes with a cloth passed to him for that
IA.