The Hawaiian gazette., 1913-08-15
RESCUED FROM
LIVING TOMB
Commander Hubbard and Crew Of
u. s. s. Wilmington Save
Chinese in Hongkong.

Commander John +. Hubbard OF the
United states gunboat Wilmington, sta.
toned at Hongkong, China, who is well
known in Honolulu, was with members
Of his crew, responsible for the rescue
Of Chinese from living tomb at
Hongkong recently after engineers had
proclaimed that there was no way Of
releasing the man from the strange
rock.ribbcd PRISON in which the vic.
tim claimed he had been placed by the
devil.
Hubbard and his men hewcd away at
the granite walls, finally securing ac.
cess to the tomb
In Rock-Walled Prison.
The story of the living tomb as told
in the Hongkong Daily Press is AS fol.
lows:
An extraordinary discovery. border.
ing on the miraculous, was made nv
the Hongkong police at Bay View on
June 10. Some grass cutters who were
working on The hillside about 500 yards
above the Bay View Police Station
were mystihed and alarmed to hear the
sound of a mans voice ascending from
pile of great granite boulders, and af
ter making sure that they were not
dreaming, fastened to the Bay View
Police Station to report this remark.
| able occurrence.
European police were soon on the
spot, and being less prone to believe in
the supernatural, made closer inspec.
tion. They heard the mans voice. and
saw his legs and arms through assures
in the rock. They also observed that
he was in a reclining position, and that
it was impossible for him to rise. In.
vestigation proved that he was in q
low rnri'.Dou1l cav; auI nlibauru
no exit could be found, the widest
opening in the rock being of a width
of not more than six inches.
The entombed man is Northern
Chinese of middle age and medium
build. It was some time before any
one could be found who spoke his dia
iect, but an interpreter was eventual,
Forthcoming and questioned him as e
how he got into his unenvihble prison
The victim, however, was uncommuni
cative. To all inquiries he invariabl,
answered "The devil put me here. ,
Beyond this remark he was dumb
With the fatalistic tendency of hi
race, however, he appeared rcsigne,
and satisfied. In fact, he seemed to b,
quite cheerful for a man who might b,
regarded as Gin the balance weighed, ,
for not even the engineers of the pub
lie works department were able to dis
cover way to release him from hi
living tomb.
Engineers Puzzled.
The discovery was promptly reporte,
, to police headquarters, and later in TN
day Mr.. c. Mel. Messer, the captai
superintendent, Mr.. p. +. j. Wode
house, the deputy superintendent. an
, other officers visited the scene. The
were followed by engineers from tn
public works department and numbe
of artillerymen who were requisitione
for excavation purposes. EXcavatio
work, however, was found to he in
practicable, and all the ingenuity o
j. w. ID. engineers was not suflicien
, to discover n way to release the eI
tOmbed man by other means than blast
ing. Below him are probably hundred
of feet of granite. Above him the sam
rock is at least five feet thick, and O
the few cracks in it the widest, as pre-
. viously mentioned is not more than 81
inches.
) How long the man has been there
, not known, and unless he speaks, no,
he got there will probably never b
known. When found he was not hur
, cry, as was Indicated by his returnin
biscuits which were thrown to hin
, and remarking that "thc devil wa
, feeding him. Thirst would not troubl
him, as a small stream of water trickle
down near his head. Seeing that
is in reclining position, aud canno
move more than his arms and his leg.
it is possible that ne has been disco,
cred and fed by countryman, but o
this head the inquiries of the polio
have been fruitless.
The story became widely known an
hundreds of people, both Chinese an
foreign, visited the scene. All cam
away puzzled and wondering. FurC
peans admitted that they had neve
read of anything stranger in the realr
of romance, and quite number of Chi
nese expressed the opinion that tn
unfortunate man had been placed i
this more hopeless than Chillon prise
by the fan kwei (foreign deviD.
Rescued.
The police authorities were to con
plete their investigations on Wednes
day when they were to decide whethe
they would take the long risk of blast
ing to release the man.
The man was subsequently release
by sailors from the U. $. S. Whining
ton who hewed away portions of tn
rocks and lifted the man out. The vic
tim was certified to be insane.