Arizona republican., 1909-09-07
TWENTY HOURS OF TERROR
Rescued At Last, They Re late a Story That Beggars the Fanciful Descriptions of Rider Haggard and Clark Russell

Flagstaff, Sept. 6.-(SpeclaI to lhe Republican)-Today has been one of intense excitement in Flagstaff and the success of the pioneers picnic has been greatly interferred with on account of two men, J. s. Price and John Molenpah, being lost in ice caves nine miles from town. They were both rescued alive but almost frozen at 2 o'clock this afternoon, after being lost twenty hours
 John Molenpah of Newark, Ohio, stopped in Flagstaff on his return from the Seattle exposition to visit his uncle, Adam Molenpah. Yesterday morning young Molenpah accepted an invitation to join a horseback party Having his attention called to the ice caves he was not content to pass with out peeping inside.
 MT. MoIenpah, accompanied by J. s. Price, entered the cave, the remainder of the party waiting outside. When the two did not return after half an hour the rest of the party became un- easy and began shouting to them. but no response came. At dark the party decided they had better come to town and organize a rescue party. TWO horses were tied at the mouth of the cave so that should the two men find their way out they could return to town At II o'clock last night rescue party left for the caves. It was ter ribly dark night and raining, and the party did not reach the caves until 30 this morning. bonfire was made at the mouth of the cave, and Deputy Pulliam emptied the contents of his revolver that the lost men might know that an effort was being made to find them. Al Sims, who has often been in exploring expeditions in the ice caves, headed the rescue party. He picked twelve men, making thirteen with himself, and started the search with ropes, lanterns and candies. After being in the cave an hour or more they would come out and rest, counsel for a few minutes and with undaunted courage resumed their try ing and dangerous search.
 This morning, as soon as the news became known that two men were lost, parties begun leaving for the ice caves. and before noon a large crowd had reached there and there was con siderable excitement owing to the fact that many believed the lost men would never be brought out alive. At l o'clock this afternoon the two men were found crouched in narrow passage almost frozen, where they had been for twenty hours without food or drink. They were given stimulants, of which they partook freely
 Both objected to being blindfolded, saying they would be all right if taken into the light gradually, but even the twilight that came from the mouth of the cave daZed them for several moments. and upon emerging into the open they were again daZed to total blindness by the glare of light.
 A Republican reporter lost no time in interviewing both of the lost men. MT. Moenpah said: After entering the cave MT. Price and I wandered for about ten minutes when we turned to come out We must have been near the mouth of the cave when we came to two passages and were uncertain which led out. Luck was against us and we chose the wrong one. We had a good supply of matches, but as these dlInDSI tapers of the leaves of my notebook until it was exhausted, then burned my necktie and collar for light. The col lar burned so poorly I wished it had been celluoid. We then took off our shirts and tore them into shreds, which we also burned for light. My last match failed me when we were in a marrow passage stooping almost to our knees. Just ahead of us was a precipice and the way behind was so dangerous we could not think of re- tracing out steps There was nothing to do but remain there until our friends should rescue us. It was an experience that made me think of some of those described by H. Rider flag gard. We were crouched in most un- comfortable positions on the rocky, wet surface, with cold water dripping on us from crevices above. Before en- tering the cave we had been drenched by a shower I suppose the actual temperature must have been about 40, but we felt like it was below freez
 ing point With our teeth chattering until we could scarcely understand each other, we had to keep changing from one uncomfortable position to another, rubbing our limbs vigorously to keep them from becoming numb. Never for moment did we have any