The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-31
ALIVE 20 DAYS UNDERGROUND
Continued from First Page.

remembers he scrambled through at least
fifty bodies. Finally he rea ohed the end
Of the workings and heard voices. He
went in the direction of the voices and
came upon a party Of his comrades that
were sheltered in a remote niche. There
we're twenty of them at the time. Later
on seven wandered of and nothing more
was heard from them.
Nemy. from mere force Of character,
took the leadership. He got the party
finally to a sort Of stable where the mules
Of the mine had been kept. While they
were making their way to that stable they
had nothing to eat save the dry bark they
tore from the timber supports in the gal
leries. Their condition as regards FOOD
was better when they reached the table.
There they found a quantity OF oats, a
measure Of carrots and portions Of food
that had been intended for the lunches
Of mule men who had persisted in the ex-
ploeion. There were thirteen mouths to
feed and even the resourceful Nemy found
1t difficult to restrain his famished FOL
lowers. The decomposing body OF a horse
was found near the stable and it was cut
to pieces. Some of the men ate from it.
Others could not.
There were times when some OF the party
became nearly insane from suffering. but
in every CAGE, the men all said, Nemy
Gained them. encouraged them and in
fused into them something Of his W
dauntless spirit. They had only a little
water at the very first, and the little was
soon exhausted. 1t was the lack OF water
that so intensified their sufferings. To re-
lieve their thirst they were compelled to
resort to measures which cannot be de -
scribed. They had plenty Of matches, but
~curiously enough they did not attempt to
make a light and endured the darkness all
the while.
At times. Nemy said, faint noises came
to them through the walls of the galleries.
rappings and tappings as If others were try
ing to communicate with them. Nemy
is positive that there are more alive in the
mine.
Nemy said that he was confident all the
time that efforts were being made to rescue
them, but they were doing all they could
for themselves. Nemy had a general
idea where they were and gradually led
the party to a gallery near pit 2. They
broke through this gallery, and it was Nemy
himself who first appeared to the aston
ished salvage men in the pit, shouting:
Il am brin ging twelve with me-
Nemy chatted increasingly with Director
Lavaurs, who begged him to stop.
.Why, no at ALL" said Nemy. 4 don't
feel very i'll. l hope soon you will let me
go home"
He laughed and added: "You know
have been quiet while l have been away.
l feel like talking
DR.. Loutiers, who took charge Of the
exhausted men, managed to get Nemy to
n hospital. His wife came to the bed where
he was living. She was dressed in deep
mourning, having given him up for dead
for two weeks. Nemy looked at her a long
time before he spoke. Then he pointed
to her black gown.
For whom are you In mourning?" said
he. Not I, your husband, that is certain"
The widow Castel went to the hospital
when all had been taken there and seeing
her son Louis lying on a bed threw her
self into his arms.
Where is your brother?" she asked.
Louis Castel, understanding, looked
around vaguely and shrugged his shoulders.
His mother fell to the floor. She had to be
carried from the room.
Nine. Prov ost, seeing her husband,
tainted from Joy. The doctor wished to
restrain the relatives Of the survivors
from unnerving the men by such displays
Of emotion, but 1t was impossible to keep
hack the crowd. 1t was Proves who, on
coming out into the shaft, remarked coolly
to one of the salvage men, Goubet by name:
aWe saved ourselves, but we had some
trouble doing it
Leon Boursier, another OF the survivors,
said. "Nemy has told a true story of our
DAVIS in the mine. He kept exact count Of
the DAYS and wound his watch daily. 1t was
on the tenth day that we found the carcass
~ a horse. 1t was putrid, but we were so
hungry we cut off parts of it and ate them.
Nemy kept saying; Don't become discour-
aged, There is hope still. Let us keep
trying to escape
Anselm Provost was the worst sufferer Of
the party. At the moment of the explosion
he WAS thrown down. A lamp fell on his
head and the wound became a fostering sore,
which panied and weakened him greatly.
Another of the thirteen, Iefebre. said that
Nemy would not permit them to sleep much.
Victor Martin said they suffered intensely
from the cold. The chamber above their
refuge in the stable appeared to be on fire,
he said, but the heat did not raise the tenn
| nnTAtuIe Ill llo buiiS "'NiS my WIZ.
DIR, Loutiers placed the thirteen in a
dsrkened room and began to feed them
milk, a spoonful to each every half hour.
All Of the men are suffering from ptomaine
poisoning, he said, on account Of the wood,
oats and putrid horse flesh they ate.
Soon after the men had been taken to the
hospital, the anger Of the mining people
against the mine authorities broke loose.
Crowds Of women went about denouncing
the director. the engineer and the others
in authority, crying;
IF you had given us womeh trousers
and tools in our hanis we would have saved
our husbands
The women OF the district are furious
at the thought that many OF the men who
must nave been slowly dying underground
might have been rescued. They cursed
everybody connected with the mine, direo-
tor, manager and engineers. Their cries