The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-03-03
Men Escape From Death Cham
Der Underground.
Thrilling Story of Three French
Soldiers Buried Alive.
HEAR BATTLE RAGING ABOVE
Finally Blast Rends Earth,
Making Way of Escape.
Immersed in Blood Trickling
Down From Battlefield.

Paris. March 3-The story of three
French sappers who were buried alive
for hours during the battle of Verdun
and who finally dug their way out to
safety was told by one of them who
arrived in Paris on a hospital train
today. 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 little charge of powder. fuses
and tools started down mine gallery
to fill the mine chamber. to lay tn ;
wires and to pack the gallery behind
1--WE did this without difficulty and
were on our way back when heavy
explosion shook US. Had our mine
gone off already? I hear stones fall
ing, 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 exam
! ined the walls in feverish haste.
I'VE 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.
Nothing to Eat.
There is plenty of air and the
| gallery is roomy but there Is nothing
to eat I replied
"sWell. what's the good of a few
hours more or less?' he said. Why
wait? I for one have already made
up my mind
He took out his revolver but 1
/ Ut ba
fool. Let US wait while, we may hit
on some way OUT
| The first horror having passed
! over, we began to discuss ways and
means. Let's wait patiently for our
mine to explode. If it makes big
! it. said. We sat down in silence and
could hear all the sounds of battle
above us. We tried to distinguish the
character of the various vibrations, so
as not to miss the noise when our
mine exploded. Finally we heard it
/ and we rushed forward through a
wave of hot air.
Hope strengthened our arms and
we piled our picks furiously but our
| packing had been so well done that it
took us two hours before we got into
the empty mine chamber. I listened
| but the sounds of firing seemed SO far
| off that 1 judged there was n thick
! layer of earth between us and the out
er world. Then drops fell upon US.
Were we going to be flooded? so
much the better said Jean. We shall
died more quickly
| Blood Flows Into Crater.
| Something trickled down on my
| lips and I recognized the taste. 1t
was blood and I 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 ali
injured, Bernard's leg being broken,
jeans head cut and my left arm brok-
en-. Despite our pain we continued
our efforts and after a while we came
on a number of dead bodies of Ger
mans which had rolled to the bottom
| of the crater which the mine explo-
sion 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
side of the crater. After eight hours
waiting, ambulance attendants foun j
US and by that time we had but little
left in u.s.,