The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1913-05-23
LONG BURIED IN SNOW
FAMILY RESCUED AFTER FIVE
WEEKS BENEATH DRIFTS.
Authentic Record Of Almost Mlraou-
lous Escape From Death In an
Avalanche In the Euro
pean Alps.

IL seems incredible that any human
being could survive for five weeks
under a snow-drift; yet In the year
1855 three inhabitants OF the hamlet
of Bergoletto, In the valley of the
Upper Stura, at the foot Of the Alps
did just that.
During the winter of that year the
fall Of snow was unusually heavy. On
March 19, the parish priest, on his
way to church, heard a terrifying roar
from the mountain top. Casting up
his eyes. he saw two ayalanches de-
scending toward the village. He gave
the alarm, and then ran back into his
own house
The avalanches buried over thirty
houses, twenty-five persons were
missing including the parish priest
who had given the alarm. The mass
of snow that lay over the ruined
dwellings was about forty.two feet
deep.
When the surviving peasants had
shaken off their terror, they set about
trying to save whatever life or prop
erty they could. Peasants from neigh.
boring villages came to their assist
ance. But they could do little; the
depth of the avalanche was so great,
and the snow continued to fall in
such quantity that they had to wait
for the warm April winds to melt the
gigantic snow piles.
On April is the villagers returned
to their melancholy task. They had
no hope Of finding any human being
alive. One of them, named Roccia,
whose entire family was beneath the
avalanche, was most active in the
search. BY April "a he had got so far
that, after breaking through six feet
Of icy snow, he could touch the
ground with q long pole. Three
friends worked with him.
The four worked vigorously, and
made their way at length into Roc
cias house, but no one, dead or living,
was there. AS it was probable that
the victims had sought shelter in the
stable, about hundred feet from the
house, Roccia and his companions be-
gan to dig in that direction. After
they had burrowed for some time,
they reached the stable. One of the
men thrust a pole through a hole in
the wall, and on Withdrawing it, heard
a hoarse, faint cry for help.
The workers now toiled with re-
doubled activity, and soon they had
made a large opening. And there, to
his joy, Roccia found his wife, his
and a sister-in,law. The
three sufferers could not move, and
were shrunken almost to skeletons.
The men carefully carried them to a
nearby house, and took measures for
reviying them. In a few days they
mad pretty we'll recovered.
They owed their lives to these cir
They had taken refuge
n the manger, which, being strong,
lad withstood the weight of the snow,
although the roof fell in. Fortunately,
.wo goats were near them, and these
animals supplied them with milk
enough to keep them alive.
They had, of course, to feed the
5oats. Over the manger was a hole
nto the hay-loft. Through this hole
me Of the women was able to pull /.
lown fodder into the rack; and when
he could no longer reach the hay, the
agacious animals climbed upon her /
houlders and helped themselves.
Through the whole of their five
weeks imprisonment they were in to-
al darkness. After the first five or
tx days, they suffered little from
lunger, although a quart of goats
milk had to suffice for the three.
hey suffered far more from the chill
f the melted snow-water that trickled +
yer them, and from the cramped po-
itions in which they had to sit and
e.-Youth's Companion