The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1916-03-10
FRENCH SAPPERS' THRILLING
STORY
German Shell Explosion Traps Them
Arm Mine Gallery.

! UerDl4n SMeH EAplOS1OM Traps AAcM
in Mine Gallery.
Paris, March 3.-The story Of the
three French sappers, who were
buried alive for hours during the bat
tie of Verdun and who finally dug
their way out to safety, Is told In de-
tail by one of them who arrived In
Paris on a hospital train this morn
ing. He said:
with my friends, Bernard and
Jean, I was posted in a trench at the
edge OF the Vauche woods. The enemy
showed a disposition to attack and
according to orders, the three OF US,
with charge Of powder, fuses and
tools, started down mine gallery to
I'll the mine chamber to lay the
wires and to pack the gallery behind
It, We did this without difficulty and
we're on our way back when heavy
explosion shook us. Had our mine
guns gone off already? L hear stones
falling said one of my comrades. We
rushed forward: the gallery was full
of gravel. We realized the horrible
truth we were walled up. An enemy
shell had exploded above the gallery,
causing the roof to fall in.
We examined the walls in feyerish
haste. We are done for, said Jean.
We were not afraid of death-it was
all part of the game, but we did not
like to die there in the darkness.
! How long can We stay here?' Jean
asked again. There is plenty of air
and the gallery is roomy, but there is
nothing to eat replied. Well, what's
the good of a few hours more or
less?' he said Why wait? / for one
have already made up my mind He
took out his revolver, but / stopped
him and said, Don't be fool. Let us
wait a while; we MAY hit on some way
out"
THE first horror having passed ev-
er, we began to discuss ways and
means. Let us wait patiently for our
mine to explode. If it makes a big
enough hole we can dig through into
it, / said.
We sat down in silence and could
hear all the sounds of battle above
us, for the earth is a good conductor
of sound. We tried. to- distinguish the
character of the various vibrations,
so as not to miss the noise when our
mine exploded. Finally we; heard II
and we rushed forward through a.
wave of hot air Hope strengthened
our arms and we piled our picks flu
riously, but our packing had been SO
we'll done that it took us two hours
before we got into the empty mine
chamber. | listened but the sound of
firing seemed so far off that | judged
there was thick layer of earth be-
tween us and the outer world. Then
drops fell upon us. We were going to,
be flooded? SO much the BETTER said
Jean, we shall die more quickly.
Something trickled down on my
lips and l recognized the taste. 1t
was blood and | realized that if blood
was coming through we could not be
far from the surface. With renewed
hope we set to work again, but rather
clumsily, for we started a fall Of earth
which nearly buried us. We were all
injured, Demands leg being broken,
Jeans head cut and my left arm
broken. Despite our pain we contin-
ued our efforts and after a while we
came on a number of dead bodies OF
Germans, which had rolled to the bot
tom Of the crater which the mine ex-
plosion had made.
After an hour of digging and
crawling among these bodies we got
out into the air. Both my comrades
were so exhausted that they tainted
I watched over them, being sheltered
from shells and bullets by the steep
sides of the crater. After eight hours
waiting ambulance attendants found
us and by that time We had but little
life left in u.s.