Valdez daily prospector., 1914-03-26
American Tells of His PeriI0uS
 Descent Amid Deadly Fumes. FEAT THOUGHT IMPOSSIBLE.
Birmingham and His Companions Went Down Into crater's Depths 1,212 Feet, With Death Logging Every step-Found Temperature of 600 De- erees Centisrade at Bottom.

1 Frederick Birmingham, the American ] who made descent into the crater of Vcsuvius on Dec. 21, has just told i more sensational story of his feat than 1 was published when the news first
 came out in Naples.
 1 Mir Birmingham reached the extreme
 bottom of the crater. q depth of 1,212 l feet, while the volcano was active at
 that depth. Professor Mercalli, direc- 1 tor of the Vesuvius observatory, had
 believed this impossible.
 Professor Malladra, who made a de
 scent into the crater to depth of
 l,2OO feet. says Burlingham's trip was i the most dangerous ever attempted.
 He surmises from Burlingham's story
 that another part of the floor of the
 crater has collapsed, owing to the in-
 creasing activity of the volcano.
 Professor Malladra. Professor Mer- l calli's assistant, made descent into 1 the crater in May last and obtained ! wonderful photographs of the interior. 1 He had many narrow escapes from ! asphyxiHtion. but said he found also !, many spots where he could have pitch 1 ed tent and remained indefinitely. i He found the floor of the crater to be 1 at depth of 9S7 feet from the mouth. 1 The highest temperature he found was 29o degrees C.
 Let Down by Rope.
 Birmingham said that three Italians. 1 Sonnino. Formassino and Gaudino. | aided him. They slept three nights on 1 the top of the mountain waiting for
 pr0pitious moment for the descent. This came on Dec. 2l. Ropes were
 launched over the precipIce, and the l descent began. On account of the un-
 steady wind making the descent very
 difficult Gaudino remained on the edge
 of the second precipice to watch the 1 ropes as the others descended.
 "As my companions kept talking of
 danger" said Mir. Birmingham. Il vol
 unteered to carry the cinematograph
 machine. which weighed nearly thirty
 pounds. l also had to carry the half
 plate camera. Sonnino carried the tri-
 pod. which weighed twenty pounds While descending below the third
 precipice. almost immediately over the large sulphur fumerole. the wind | changed, and we were enveloped in | dense sulphur fumes. A cloud of dan 1 gerous acid fumes came next We had taken the precaution to tie cloths around our faces. We stood motion.
 less there for twenty minutes, breath ing as little .as possible. hoping for the l fumes to pass,
 "As they continued we decided to de-
 scend farther and eventually reached the floor of the crater by passing over q steep slope between the sulphurOus 1 fumerole and the main mouth of the
 crater. which was opened in July. Took Lives In Their Hands. "rhere was no immediate danger there. so we took motion picture of the new crater and the precipitous sur
 rounding walls. Then suggested mak l ing descent of 200 feet through the tunnel to the mouth Sonnino, who Is an expert on Vesuvlus, warned me that the lives of all would be in danger, but
 we finally agreed to take the risk.
 Fl continued to carry the cinema ma i chine. We reached the edge of the
 opening, from which redh0t smoke was l issuing in great volume. l estimated
 that the temperature was coo degrees centigrade. ."'a Frederick Birmingham arrived in
 Paris in 19Oa joining the editorial staff of. the Paris edition of the New York Herald as a reporter. He soon became
 a we'll known. figure in American. cir
 cles and greatly amused the Latin quarter, where he took up his resi- .dence. by his curious habits Of dress. Having decided that shoes were un-
 healthy. he discarded them'iu favor Of
 sandals. and with his long. flowing red