Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-24
HICKS TELLS OF
HIS AWFUL TIME
IN LIVING GRAVE
Special to The Herald.

Special to The Herald.
BAKERSFIELD, Dec. l23.-"I am glad
TO be here. / am glad to breathe the
air, to see the sunshine and the green
trees again." said Lindsey B. Hicks, the
sturdy Kentuckian who has had the
most wonderful experience that ever
befell man.
Fifteen days and nights the miner
remained buried in the heart Of a
mountain. His rescue is one of the
remarkable things that have occurred
i'll the history of mining.
Il owe my life to the boys who
worked so hard all this time to get me
out. I owe my life to a score of things
that make me believe that the day of
miracles is not passed. To a flickering
match and to a loose rock which could
grasp and use to signal to the outside
at the moment when to have had Moth
ing would have meant death.
IT owe my life to luck, good fortune
call it anything-I have no words to tell
1t all.
"There are some things I saw and
thought of in that hole which 1 shall
never discuss. I've faced death before
in dozens of ways
Needed His Soldiers Bravery
my life as a soldier stood me in good
stead when / first found myself under
the car. After the first shock when
consciousness came 1 scarcely knew
where L was. l didn't realize it for
hours.
After a while it came to me that ]
was imprisoned in the center of a
mountain. Then l thought that death
was indeed near me. 1 thought for a
time after the pipe was driven in that
the men were foolng me as to the time
1 had been in. 1 had figured it out in
my own way that l had been im-
prisoned twelve days before it came
through and that / had been imprisoned
ten days before the boys heard my sig
nails on the rail-
"They tell me this is December %
1 can hardly believe that. According
to my calendar it Is February 3.
counted the days and made it out that
/ was in there thirty-three days.
81 slept some time what seemed tc
be seven or eight hours, and when ]
would wake they'd be ready to give me
breakfast
"Then they would tell me nice little
yarn about feeding me three or -four
hours before that, and would lie there
and wink at myself and say Dock
you're wise old owl, but l am wise
to your game Then ] got out with
the aid of those brave lads and found
they had not lied to me.
"It was about the only thing 1 went
wrong on. But try it yourself, and II
three hours in that awful blackness
isn't day I'll eat my hat.
Almost Gave Up Hope
81 had about given up all hope wher
l sank back from pecking at that raj
with rock. Then came an answer
and 1 felt like yelling, gave more
signals and they came back. l signaled
| some more and then had to take q
strong grip on my feelings. / began tC
| figure how far the boys were away and
II seemed to me they couldn't reach me
through all the stones and dirt thai
separated us. That almost put me dowr
and out again.
81 lay there for four days then, by
my own figuring of time. Then hearc
the pipe coming. l didn't savey whai
1t was for time, but could hear this
continual plunk, plunk as the boys
drove her home.
"When the pipe burst through "a bow,
me had the most awful feeling of the
whole time They kept driving.
seized a stone and hammered. l grab
bed the pipe and tried to hold ii, bu
on she came. beat on the rail and OF
the pipe and shrieked aloud in terror
and despair.
II loosened a big rock and madly
struck blow after blow on the pipe.
ooh, God Would they never stoI
that awful driving? Would they driv'
II beyond me?
For hours they kept on. ages I
seemed, with that awful driving, Again