Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-08-30
Your true son,
FRED A. DILL

letter recently received by an Au-
gusta lady from soldier now in
France and are most interesting:
We'll right at the door of my office
there is the most remarkable hstori-
cal discovery of a long time.
Everyone was looking for place to
hide, and an old. old Frenchman told
them that under this town that I'm
in now, there was an underground
city.
Now this sounds moro like Aesops
fables or Jules Verne than il does the
goth century.)
He told them that as little boy he
remembered going down long flight
OF stone steps. with candle. and
finding and playing in this under
ground city 1t Lad PAT rooms, shops,
bathing pools. etc. He said that 1t
was built in Caesars time, the days
of the old Gaelic Wars. That in the
Hundred Years War that the French
and English had, the English invaded
this town, that all the inhabitants de-
scended into the underground city.
fortified themselves, and that al
though the English destroyed the
town, they did not find the entrance
to the underground city, and that
they the popuation) lived down
there for three weeks, after the Eng
lish left, they came out and built up
their homes on the surface again.
Well of course this town looked like
any other French town to me. and his
r9N vi
OF an old man in his dotage. Oh, yes.
he said this: His father had charge
of a detail of men who filled in the
only entrance, because SO many chill
dren got lost down there, and died
| from starvation.
Well, he showed us where the en-
franc, was, as near as he could re-
member So we put a crew of SOL
diers to work with pick and shovel,
and they dug down about ten feet and
didn't hit anything, and were going 20
quit, but he said no. keep on, SO they
dug about three feet more and cX-
cavated the stones of an archWay
over a door. They kept on digging.
and cleared away the dirt and found
that the doorway had been hricked
up. So they tore down the brick and
there was a long flight of stone steps,
leading apparently into the bowels OF
the earth.
1t reminded me Of the Subway en-
trance to Keiths Theatre. The steps
we're made from one large stone. the
sides were large stone and the roof
was arched stone. 1t was about ten
feet high and eight feet wide.
Well after they got the bricks
knocked out from the entrance l
couldn't hold my curiosity any longer
50 put a gas mask on and grabbed an
electric 1ashlight and was the first
one down the steps. AS a matter OF
fact the only one for some time. They
wanted to see if ] came out before
they ventured in.
Well il certainly was wonderful
| Hundreds of years old, yet in the
most rema rkable state Of preserva-
ton, and all hand made. Every once
in a while rooms opening II this
main passage. and up in the center
passage running in the opposite di
rection.
No one had been it for fifty or sixty
wears. Shops, with counters and
shelves of stone. A church with alter
OF stone, and a long passage swing
ing sharply to the rear.
There were cave ms, two places
which filled the passage up, so that
couldn't get by, but those will be dug
cut and propped Up as soon as pos
sible.
1t seemed that about two years ago
hole appeared in the courtyard Of
a house here. The owner hauled in a
load of rock expecting to fill the hole.
well it didn't. and the more he
dumped in, the madden he got and he
kept on hauling until he did fill it IN
But in reality he was just dumping in
rock into this underground citJ
There are dates. mems names and
pictures scratched in the rock sides.
and in several places where they hit
Lodges they kept right on going and
DRILL out rooms from the solid rock.
Well l went back and reported it
was safe and there was soon a throng
Of soldiers and officers in it, with
matches, candles, flash lights. etc.
The oldest date l saw was 17l2, but
haven't had time to examine it very
carefully. There were all sorts OF
trinkets on the floors of the rooms,
but nothing Of any value, and in one |
Of the rooms the bones OF . emilio ~